Andrew Eldritch is probably laughing at us. Or at least, he’s smirking behind those wraparound aviators while he lights another cigarette. When the Sisters of Mercy dropped "More" in 1990, the "goth" crowd—a label Eldritch hates with a burning passion—didn't quite know what to do with it. It was too big. Too loud. It sounded less like a damp crypt and more like a stadium in Las Vegas exploding in slow motion.
The Sisters of Mercy More lyrics aren't just a collection of cool-sounding words. They are a calculated, maximalist attack on greed, desire, and the hollowness of the 1990s. If you’ve ever found yourself screaming "I want more!" along with the track, you’re participating in what might be the most self-aware pop song ever written.
The Unholy Alliance: Eldritch and Steinman
You can't talk about these lyrics without talking about Jim Steinman. Yeah, the Bat Out of Hell guy. The man who made Meat Loaf a superstar. People thought Eldritch had lost his mind when they teamed up for the Vision Thing era.
Steinman didn't just produce; he co-wrote the music. He brought that "everything louder than everything else" energy. But the lyrics? Those are pure Eldritch.
He was living in Hamburg at the time, watching the world shift. The Berlin Wall had just come down. The Cold War was "ending," but the consumerist hunger was just starting to ramp up. The song basically functions as a parody of Western excess, wrapped in a glittery, hard-rock shell.
Decoding the Sisters of Mercy More Lyrics
Let’s look at that opening.
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"Some people get by with a little understanding / Some people get by with a whole lot more."
It sounds like a simple play on words, right? But Eldritch is mocking the "peace and love" platitudes of the previous decades. "Understanding" isn't the currency of the 90s. Power is. Money is.
The English Zloty and Counterfeit Dollars
One of the weirdest lines in the song refers to "Counterfeit dollars or the English zloty."
Honestly, it’s a brilliant bit of writing. At the time, the Polish zloty was notoriously unstable. By pairing it with the English pound, Eldritch is suggesting that all currency is becoming equally meaningless—just paper used to fuel an insatiable "want."
He follows this up with:
"Learning to cry for fun and profit / I'm not done yet."
This is a direct jab at the performative nature of celebrity and the "suffering artist" trope. He’s telling you he’s a fraud. He’s telling you he’s selling you a product. And the kicker? We still buy it.
"And I Need All the Love That I Can't Get To"
This is the part that catches people off guard. Behind the industrial-strength guitars and the "Valkyrian" backing vocals (provided by Maggie Reilly), there’s this desperate, repetitive mantra.
- I want more.
- And I need all the love I can get.
- And I need all the love that I can't get to.
Is it a love song? Not really. It’s a song about consumption. In the world of "More," love is just another commodity to be hoarded, like "the parts of me that don't get nervous." It’s about the frustration of reaching for something—status, affection, power—and finding that no matter how much you have, the hole doesn't fill up.
Why the Song Sounds So "Un-Goth"
A lot of fans of the First and Last and Always era felt betrayed by "More." It was too polished. It reached #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock charts, for God's sake.
But that was the point.
Eldritch wanted to make a "Vision Thing" (the album title) which was a phrase used by George H.W. Bush. The whole album is a cynical, politically charged record. "More" is the anthem for that cynicism.
The lyrics "You won't get what you deserve / You are what you take" basically sum up the corporate ethos of the early 90s. It’s a predatory worldview. By making the music sound like a giant, expensive car commercial, Eldritch made the satire complete.
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The Mystery of "Isabelle" and the 1959 Connection
If you’re a deep-diver, you know Eldritch loves to reference his own lore. While "More" is its own beast, it shares a certain DNA with older tracks like "1959."
In "1959," he sings about a "little child" who can "never kill this clean." In "More," he’s grown up. He’s no longer looking back at the innocence of the past; he’s embracing the grime of the present.
The line "There are parts of me that don't get nervous / Not the parts that shake" is classic Eldritch wordplay. It’s cool, detached, and slightly threatening. It’s the sound of a man who has replaced his soul with a drum machine (the legendary Doktor Avalanche).
Practical Insights for the Modern Listener
If you're trying to really "get" the song today, don't look at it as a relic of the goth-rock era. Look at it as a precursor to our current world of endless scrolling and 15-minute delivery.
- Listen to the full album version: The single edit cuts out the building tension. The 8-minute version is a masterpiece of "Magnificent Stupidity."
- Watch the music video: It was filmed in Petra, Jordan. Eldritch looks like a desert-dwelling spy. It adds a layer of "international man of mystery" to the lyrics that fits the Vision Thing theme perfectly.
- Focus on the backing vocals: Maggie Reilly’s voice (the same woman who sang "Moonlight Shadow") provides the "gospel" feel that makes the greed sound like a religious experience.
The Sisters of Mercy haven't released a new studio album since this era. In a way, they don't need to. "More" said everything Eldritch wanted to say about the trajectory of the modern world. We wanted more, and we got it. Now we're just living in the aftermath.
What to Do Next
If you've got the lyrics stuck in your head, go back and listen to the B-side "You Could Be the One." It’s a much leaner, meaner track that shows the other side of the Vision Thing sessions—less Steinman, more grit. Then, compare the lyrical themes of "More" to "Dominion/Mother Russia" to see how Eldritch's view of global power shifted from the late 80s into the 90s.