Songfacts®:

• Robbie Williams wrote "Make Me Pure" after turning 30 and feeling like he had a "spiritual void" in his life. The song is addressed to God, with Williams asking in the refrain: "Oh Lord, make me pure, but not yet." This is a paraphrase of a quote by Saint Augustine of Hippo, who once said: "Da mihi castitatem et continentiam, sed noli modo (Give me chastity and continence, but not yet)."
• Williams wrote this song with Stephen Duffy and Chris Heath. Before he collaborated with Williams on Intensive Care, Duffy was a member of both Duran Duran and The Lilac Time. Chris Heath, meanwhile, is a British author who spent almost two years working with Williams on his biography Feel, which came out in September 2004.
• The music video for "Make Me Pure" depicts Williams and his band performing the song in a garage-turned-studio. It received minimal promotion at the time, with most television channels choosing instead to broadcast the video for the more popular A-side single, "Tripping."
• "Make Me Pure" was the first single released from Williams' sixth album, Intensive Care. It was issued as a double A-side along with "Tripping" in the UK, with both songs peaking at #2. "Make Me Pure" also peaked at #15 in the Netherlands, despite not being released as an official single there.