Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth

Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth opens the second side of Propaganda and was released as a single from it. It reached number 13 in the UK, not as high as the hits from Kimono My House. Ron Mael wrote it. Pitchfork's Stuart Berman called it a resplendent piano ballad that addressed the planet's fragility long before global warming became a catchphrase, and noted that its urbane sarcasm is the opposite of tree-hugging hippie earnestness.

Sparks returned to the song in 1997 for Plagiarism, in a version with vocal backing from Metro Voices and orchestral arrangements and conducting by Tony Visconti. Martin Gore recorded separate versions in and out of Depeche Mode, and Neko Case made it the thematic centrepiece of her 2009 album Middle Cyclone.