Everything Counts Lyrics
Seals the contract
From the contract
There's no turning back
The turning point
Of a career
In career, being insincere
The holiday
Was fun packed
The contract
Still intact
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
All for themselves
After all
It's a competitive world
Everything counts in large amounts
The graph
On the wall
Tells the story
Of it all
Picture it now
See just how
The lies and deceit
Gained a little more power
Confidence
Taken in
By a sun tan
And a grin
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
All for themselves
After all
It's a competitive world
Everything counts in large amounts
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
Everything counts in large amounts
![Album art](../../../images/art-default.webp)
![Album art](../../../images/art-default.webp)
![Album art](../../../images/art-default.webp)
![Album art](../../../images/art-default.webp)
![Album art](../../../images/art-default.webp)
![Cover art for Everything Counts lyrics by Depeche Mode](https://images.songmeanings.com/e5eee692-12dd-4830-8c51-f3f46d91a922.webp)
You people are reading too much into it. I have read many places that this song was their summary of the recording industry, exemplifying all the greed, insincerity and unwarranted self-reverence major labels have for themselves. The Korea line was simply because they were wined and dined especially well (c/o the record company of course) while a world tour of theirs had a few stops over there.
![Cover art for Everything Counts lyrics by Depeche Mode](https://images.songmeanings.com/e5eee692-12dd-4830-8c51-f3f46d91a922.webp)
This song is simply about corporate greed and corruption. A popular theme in the money grabbing 1980s.
It's money GRUBBING. And we had a boom in the 80's followed by economic prosperity. Two good presidents back-to-back (one Repub and one a conservative southern Dem) helped make it possible. I hate to tell ya (not really:), but it's 2013 and there is more greed, corruption, superficiality, and the like NOW than in the past...and it ain't gonna get any better. Human beings left God, family, and country, and with those three basic ideals turning to dust came morals to follow down that dark pathway. Greed has to do with immorality. Hold on tight 'cause you ain't seen nothin'...
It's money GRUBBING. And we had a boom in the 80's followed by economic prosperity. Two good presidents back-to-back (one Repub and one a conservative southern Dem) helped make it possible. I hate to tell ya (not really:), but it's 2013 and there is more greed, corruption, superficiality, and the like NOW than in the past...and it ain't gonna get any better. Human beings left God, family, and country, and with those three basic ideals turning to dust came morals to follow down that dark pathway. Greed has to do with immorality. Hold on tight 'cause you ain't seen nothin' yet...
@TurnMeOn "I hate to tell ya (not really:), but it's 2013 and there is more greed, corruption, superficiality, and the like NOW than in the past...and it ain't gonna get any better."
@TurnMeOn "I hate to tell ya (not really:), but it's 2013 and there is more greed, corruption, superficiality, and the like NOW than in the past...and it ain't gonna get any better."
In the Middle Ages and during the time when Rome was big, there was greed, corruption, etc. in large amounts. Those are only some examples of times where you can see that things were not that great.
In the Middle Ages and during the time when Rome was big, there was greed, corruption, etc. in large amounts. Those are only some examples of times where you can see that things were not that great.
Those things have been around since time immemorial. It has not gotten any worse, it is just more apparent to us right now.
Those things have been around since time immemorial. It has not gotten any worse, it is just more apparent to us right now.
There was never a time when...
There was never a time when things were better, but I believe that, as long as we are able to continue moving forward, someday things will get better.
![Cover art for Everything Counts lyrics by Depeche Mode](https://images.songmeanings.com/e5eee692-12dd-4830-8c51-f3f46d91a922.webp)
it's about gluttony and indulgence, you greedy bastards!!
chuckles!
chuckles!
![Cover art for Everything Counts lyrics by Depeche Mode](https://images.songmeanings.com/e5eee692-12dd-4830-8c51-f3f46d91a922.webp)
I heard this song as a teenager on my FM stereo Walkman in the back seat of the family car from some college station around Hartford, CT while going to pick up my grandparents at the airport who were visiting us. It was around 1982, & I only knew DM from their 1st album, Speak & Spell. Wow! I thought. DM has really changed their sound (harder edged & more industrial), gotten more outspoken about real life...I love DM again! "Everything Counts" summed up the attitude of the '80s: Those Who Die W/the Most Toys Wins. Reagan was the pres. The government was right-wing conservatives w/a "let's have a war" bent, i.e. our fed. gov't sold arms to the wrong side! Like the Iranians, the Contras in El Salvador-all this & Reagan joked, "We will begin bombing in 5 min." :P Kids feared nuclear war in the '80s. But money & status was the ticket to joy, thought social climbers a/k/a Yuppies. I worked in Sales support w/younger mindsets my age. Where did I go wrong, LOL? I was a big DM fan, down to wearing black, w/odd haircuts & Manic Panic-even combat boots and a black trench coat! Call me "AntiYup" because this song predicated how I would become as an free-thinking, non-status-seeking BBWinB (Big Beautiful Woman in Black) in my 20's & 30s.
![Cover art for Everything Counts lyrics by Depeche Mode](https://images.songmeanings.com/e5eee692-12dd-4830-8c51-f3f46d91a922.webp)
Easily Depeche Mode's best song.
![Cover art for Everything Counts lyrics by Depeche Mode](https://images.songmeanings.com/e5eee692-12dd-4830-8c51-f3f46d91a922.webp)
I think they used "Korea" just for the rhyme. However, a great song.
![Cover art for Everything Counts lyrics by Depeche Mode](https://images.songmeanings.com/e5eee692-12dd-4830-8c51-f3f46d91a922.webp)
What about Enjoy The Silence?
![Cover art for Everything Counts lyrics by Depeche Mode](https://images.songmeanings.com/e5eee692-12dd-4830-8c51-f3f46d91a922.webp)
You have to listen to this track from the Mode101 live album. Especially, the last part of the song when the whole stadium sings "the grabbing hands grab all they can, everything counts in large amounts." AWESOME! Wish I was there...
![Cover art for Everything Counts lyrics by Depeche Mode](https://images.songmeanings.com/e5eee692-12dd-4830-8c51-f3f46d91a922.webp)
the video for this song is crazy .. martin gore gets all funky with his dance style
![Cover art for Everything Counts lyrics by Depeche Mode](https://images.songmeanings.com/e5eee692-12dd-4830-8c51-f3f46d91a922.webp)
I think they used Korea because this song is about the greedy, back-stabbing nature of capitalism, and Korea is where a lot of mass-produced products are manufactured, with little regard to the well-being of the proletariat manufacturing those products. This song was written in the early 80's when the yuppie infestation was at it's peak...
'yuppie infestation' LOL :)
'yuppie infestation' LOL :)
@Nexus7 Back in the early 80s, wasn't it all about Japan, though? Or at least it was about Japan for the electronics, while it was all about China for cheap consumer goods like plastic toys. Although Martin did say they got the inspiration for this song while they were on tour in Asia, so who knows what they saw in Korea in 1983?
@Nexus7 Back in the early 80s, wasn't it all about Japan, though? Or at least it was about Japan for the electronics, while it was all about China for cheap consumer goods like plastic toys. Although Martin did say they got the inspiration for this song while they were on tour in Asia, so who knows what they saw in Korea in 1983?