A Pain That I'm Used To

"A Pain That I'm Used To" is the first track and the first single on Depeche Mode's eleventh studio album, Playing the Angel. It was released on December 12th, 2005.

Background
Mute Records released "A Pain That I'm Used To" on 12 December 2005 as the album's second single. The single contains remixes by UK Mute label mates Goldfrapp, and Jacques Lu Cont (Stuart Price), the latter being used often by the band for live performances of the song. There are also two radio versions. The first one is only a slight remix, whereas the second contains a completely different, more electronic introduction and instrumentation.

Although "Better Days" was mentioned to be the B-side for the single in its press release, it ended up being a track called "Newborn" when the track lists were released. "Better Days" went on to be the B-side to the following single, "Suffer Well". "Newborn" is a slow song that transforms into a harder song during the chorus. It is a fan-favourite in terms of B-sides.

The single was only physically released in the UK. The US only had a digital release (i.e., iTunes). Although it did not match the success of its predecessor “Precious”, the song reached number 15 upon UK release. In the US, the song debuted at number 45 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart on 14 January 2006. It eventually reached number 6.

The track is one of the few Depeche Mode songs to feature a real bass, which is played by Andrew Fletcher.

Charts
Coming soon

Trivia

 * 'A Pain That I'm Used To ' was featured in season one episode fifteen of the Fox television series Bones.
 * A unique instrumental version featuring a cold outro ending on the "siren"-like musical part that omits the synth arpeggio that is present in other versions of the track was featured in a trailer for the 2010 Walt Disney film The Sorcerer's Apprentice starring Nicolas Cage.