Poison Heart

Single?
No


"Poison Heart" is the eighth track on Spirit.

Lyrics

You have poison in your heart
Yeah I'm sure of it
I knew right from the start
From the moment we met
You know we have to break up
You'll always be alone
You know you've never ever been a friend
Now we're closer to the edge
Oh oh oh, no
Oh oh oh, no
There's poison in your mind
Yeah I'm sure of it
You've never been that kind
With all due respect
You know it's time to break up
You'll always be alone
You know you've never ever been a friend
Now we're closer to the end
Oh oh oh, no
Oh oh oh, no
We've been walking far too long this icy road
My broken heart is colder than a stone
I know you've never ever been a friend
Now you've pushed me to the end
Oh oh oh, no
Oh oh oh, no


Dave's Take

"I was watching the news on TV and I was writing through my own inability to really relate to another human being. There must be something wrong with me, poison in my heart or whatever. So it was fun to play with that imagery, and it became more worldly — greed and lust and wanting what you want when you want it and nothing else matters. So I was breaking up with myself — trying to evolve, trying to break up with old ideas that I think are working for me but are not in actuality. Fortunately, that's not my relationship with my wife."1



My Take

The slow and very simple two-beat progression here sounds very bluesy, but the oddball percussion sounds used also reminds me of Depeche Mode's earlier days of when they used random sounds of objects to produce music, so that's kind of a nice touch. On the surface, this sounds very much like a breakup song between two friends or lovers, where the problem isn't the relationship, itself, but the very person they are addressing. And what a nasty set of qualities this other person seems to have- toxic and unkind being the main ones...no wonder Dave wants to get away from them!

P.S. I like how Dave felt that he had to point out that the bleak lyrics to this song don't describe the relationship with his wife! That's comforting to hear! But that is interesting that he was referring to himself as the person he felt he needed to break up with. I think anyone who has struggled with self-esteem or self-image issues can definitely relate to this. And even someone who doesn't will definitely feel like this on a bad day. So, I like the way this song expresses those particular kinds of feelings and that it compels you to cut that bad side of you off and not let it infect you.



Music Video

There is no music video for this song.



References

  1. "Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan on Urgent New 'Spirit' LP, David Bowie Influence", RollingStone.com (February 2, 2017)