When The Body Speaks Lyrics
The body listens
What the flesh requires
Keeps the heart imprisoned
What the spirit seeks
The mind will follow
When the body speaks
All else is hollow
I'm just an angel
Driving blindly
Through this world
I'm just a slave here
At the mercy
Of a girl
Oh I need your tenderness
Oh I need your touch
Oh I dream of one caress
Oh I pray too much
To the soul's desires
The body listens
What the flesh requires
Keeps the heart imprisoned
What the spirit seeks
The mind will follow
When the body speaks
All else is hollow
You keep me waiting
For the promise
That is mine
Please stop debating
Please stop wasting
Your time
Oh I need your tenderness
Oh I need your touch
Oh I dream of one caress
Oh I pray too much






Wait...you all say that it's about Dave talking about drug or an ex-girlfriend...But isn't it Martin who wrote the lyrics of this one???

it's about unrequited love

amazing song. not much to interpret here, but still an amazing song.

it seems, when dave sings this song, that its about his relationship with heroin

no way...how does the following apply? Oh I need your tenderness Oh I need your touch Oh I dream of one caress Oh I pray too much Mos Def about lost love, and his aching desire to be with her....

noooooooo. its about love. imagine someone singing a love song to heroin! it has connotations but its about the girl not heroin, wait.. ill ask him.

No way, this song is about love. Not all Depeche Mode songs are about drugs. There are a few, yes...but not all of them.
Anyways, I think that its basically about wanting...no, needing someone badly.

Maybe Dave misses his childhood sweetheart, Jo. Its said he still loves her, even though he did the dirty on her. She was the one he called on to say he was going to end it all !!! Come back to Essex, Dave... we love you x x x

Martin wrote it

It's about a masochist needing physical pain.
"To the soul's desires The body listens What the flesh requires Keeps the heart imprisoned"
A masochist's flesh requires physical pain.
"What the spirit seeks The mind will follow When the body speaks All else is hollow"
A masochist's body speaks for physical pain.
"I'm just a slave here At the mercy Of a girl"
And he's praying to a woman. He's taken the pain praying for something else. "Oh I need your tenderness Oh I need your touch Oh I dream of one caress Oh I pray too much"
And I guess he's not getting what he's praying for. ;-)