I always thought that Martin Gore’s lyrics here sounded more like a prayer than a statement. There is more bitterness than hope or optimism in lines like “I’m a living act of holiness, giving all the positive virtues that I possess. I’m going to light up this world.” It drips a self-directed sarcasm, though the words sound at first more like a Stuart Smalley self-affirmation. It’s a bit of looking in the mirror and putting on garish clown makeup to go out and face the world. That’s how it comes off to me.

“Just look at me. I am walking love incarnate.”

Fucking hell, could you even stand him if that line was taken literally? I walked through every other interpretation of these lyrics, and then ‘just look at me’ rang out above the rest. It’s that double edged sword that is half just you watch I’ll show you and half I’m horrible! It’s scary. He loved. He lost. He is deep in it. It’s not the happy song it sounded like on first listen. It’s a brave song in that respect. It’s a confession, if nuanced, of devastation.

Peace will come to me
Peace will come to me

I’m leaving bitterness behind
This time I’m cleaning up my mind
There is no space for the regrets
I will remember to forget

Just look at me
I am walking love incarnate
Look at the frequencies of which I vibrate
I’m going to light up the world

Peace will come to me
Peace will come to me

I’m leaving anger in the past
With all the shadows that it cast
There is radar in my heart
I should have trusted from the start

Just look at me
I am a living act of holiness
Giving all the positive virtues that I possess
I’m going to light up the world

Peace will come to me
Just wait and see
Peace will come to me
It’s meant to be
Peace will come to me
Just wait and see
Peace will come to me
It’s inevitability

The video, by the way, leaves quite a lot to be desired.