"Never Let Me Down Again" was recorded between recording sessions in late 1986 at Studio Guillaume Tell in Paris and
Konk Studios in London.
Daniel Miller, citing growing tension in the studio during the recording of
Black Celebration, had stepped away from producing Depeche Mode's music for the new songs, and instead they worked with David Bascombe, who had just completed working as a recording engineer with
Tears for Fears on their album
Songs from the Big Chair (1985). Wilder and the other members of the band considered the track an "obvious single" with much potential, Although primarily known as an all-synth band, the song included a strong guitar riff, albeit "heavily treated and processed", played by Gore, as they had done as far back as 1982 when recording their single "
Get the Balance Right!". Bascombe noted that both he and the band had brought a "library" of samples to the sessions, which they used for the song. The guitar intro of the song on the album was not originally intended, according to producer Bascombe, who said that "the sequencers we were using in those days, that guitar was sampled and it just ran on the count-in over the start of the track but it wasn't supposed to be. We all went, 'That's great' and so that was a happy accident." Final mixing of the track took place at Puk Recording Studios in Denmark. The main
remix version of the track, known as the "Split Mix", was created with direct involvement of the band. Years later, after remixes began being made by various hired producers, Wilder suggested that the band should have kept making their own mixes instead of farming them out to others. ==Lyrics==