Music and British Identity: Joy Division

Primary members: Ian Curtis, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris
Band Biography
Albums of focus: Closer (1980; entire album); songs from Unknown Pleasures (1979), Still (1981), Substance (1988)
Songs for study:

From Unknown Pleasures (1979):
  1. "Disorder"
  2. "Day of the Lords"
  3. "Candidate"
  4. "Insight"
  5. "New Dawn Fades"
  6. "She's Lost Control"
  7. "Shadowplay"
  8. "Wilderness"
  9. "Interzone"
  10. "I Remember Nothing"

 

From Closer (1980):
  1. "Atrocity Exhibition"
  2. "Isolation"
  3. "Passover"
  4. "Colony"
  5. "A Means to an End"
  6. "Heart and Soul"
  7. "Twenty-Four Hours"
  8. "The Eternal"
  9. "Decades"
From compilations Still (1981) and Substance (1988):
  1. "Leaders of Men"
  2. "Walked in Line"
  3. "Atmosphere"
  4. "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
  5. "Exercise One"
  6. "Digital"
  7. "The Only Mistake"
  8. "Komakino"

 

"Leaders of Men" - from Substance (song from 1977)
Born from some mother's womb
just like any other room
Made a promise for a new life
Made a victim out of your life
When your time's on the door
and it drips to the floor
And you feel you can touch,
All the noise is too much
And the seeds that are sown are no longer your own

Just a minor operation
To force a final ultimatum
A thousand words are spoken loud
Reach the dumb to fool the crowd
When you walk down the street
and the sound's not so sweet
And you wish you could hide
Maybe go for a ride
To some picture arcade
Where the future's not made
A nightmare situation
Infiltrate imagination
Smacks of past holy wars
By the wall with broken laws

The leaders of men
Born out of your frustration
The leaders of men
Just a strange infatuation
The leaders of men
Made a promise for a new life

No saviour for our sakes
To crush the internees of hate
Self-induced manipulation
To crush all thoughts of mass salvation

 

"Walked in Line" - from Still (song from 1978)
All dressed in uniforms so fine
They drank and killed to pass the time
Wearing the shame of all their crimes
With measured steps they walked in line

They walked in line (repeat)

They carried pictures of their wives
And numbered tags to prove their lies
And made it through the whole machine
With dirty hearts and hands washed clean

They walked in line (repeat)

Full of a glory never seen
They made it through the whole machine
To never question any more
Hypnotic trance - they never saw

They walked in line (repeat)

"Exercise One" - from Still (song from 1979)

When you're looking at life in a strange new room
Maybe drowning soon—is this the start of it all?
Turn down your TV, turn down your pulse
Turn away from it all, it's all getting too much

When you're looking at life, deciphering scars
Just who fooled who, sit still in their cars
The lights look bright when you reach outside
Time for one last ride before the end of it all

 

"Digital" - from Substance (song from 1978)

Note: This track was recorded in the band's first session with Martin Hannett as producer. The title was reputedly inspired by Martin Hannett's AMS Digital Delay equipment.

Feel it closing in
Feel it closing in
A fear of whom I call,
every time I call
I feel it closing in
I feel it closing in
Day in, day out! (repeat)

I feel it closing in, as patterns seem to form
I feel it cold and warm, as shadows start to fall
I feel it closing in
I feel it closing in
Day in, day out!

I'd have the world around
to see just what happens
Stood by the door alone,
and then it's fade away

I see you fade away
Don't ever fade away
I need you here today
Don't ever fade away
Don't ever fade away
Fade away...

Fade away! (repeat, shouting)

 

"The Only Mistake" - (song from 1979)
Made the fatal mistake
Like I did once before
A tendency just to take,
Till the purpose turned sour

Strain
Take the strain
These days, we love

Strain
Feel the strain
These days, we love

Yeah, the only mistake
Was that you ran away
Avenues lined with trees
Planned your course for today

Yeah, the only mistake
Like I made once before
Yeah, the only mistake
Could have made it before

Strain
Take the strain
These days, we love

Strain
Take the strain
These days, we love

And the only mistake
Led to rumours unfound
Led to pressures unknown
Different feelings and sounds

Yeah, the only mistake
Like I made once before
Yeah, the only mistake
Could have made it before

 

Background to "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (1979):
This song is regarded as an all-time classic; after Ian Curtis's suicide, it spiraled into immense popularity and took on the stuff of myth. It has two key sources, one personal and one artistic. Curtis was suffering from worsening epilepsy, the strain of the band's live performances, and increasing romantic problems he faced between Annik Honore (a woman he met while on tour in Belgium) and his wife, Debbie. Artistically, Curtis (and most radio listeners in the U.S., UK, and Europe) would have undoubtedly been aware of The Captain & Tennille's hit single, "Love Will Keep Us Together" (1975), which went to number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 nine weeks after its debut in 1975 and went on to win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. It reached #32 on the UK pop charts that same year, received massive radio airplay, sold over one and a half million copies, and was certified Gold in July 1975.

Below you will find The Captain & Tennille's song, and then Joy Division's song for your listening/study comparison:

"Love Will Keep Us Together" - The Captain & Tennille (1975)
Love, Love will keep us together
Think of me, babe, whenever
Some sweet talkin' girl comes along
Singin' a song
Don't mess around,
You just got to be strong

Just Stop, 'cause I really love
You Stop, I'll be thinking of you
Look in my heart and let love keep us together

You, You belong to me now
Ain't gonna set you free now
When those girls start hanging around
Talking me down
Hear with your heart and you won't hear a sound

Just Stop, 'cause I really love you
Stop, I'll be thinkin' of you
Look in my heart and let love
Keep us together, whatever

Young and beautiful
Someday your looks will be gone
When the others turn you off
Who'll be turnin' you on?
I will, I will, I will, I will,
I will be there to share forever
Love will keep us together
I said it before and I'll say it again
While others pretend
I need you now and I need you then

Just stop, 'cause I really love you
Stop, I'll be thinking of you
Look in my heart and let love keep us together,whatever
Whatever, I will, I will, I will, I will

You better stop, 'cause I really love you
Stop, I've been thinkin' of you
Look in my heart and let love keep us together, whatever
Whatever, I will, I will, I will

La la la la laaa...

"Love Will Tear Us Apart" - Joy Division (1979)
When routine bites hard,
And ambitions are low
And resentment rides high,
But emotions won't grow
And we're changing our ways,
Taking different roads

Then love, love will tear us apart again
Love, love will tear us apart again

Why is the bedroom so cold?
You've turned away on your side
Is my timing that flawed?
Our respect run so dry?
Yet there's still this appeal
That we've kept through our lives

Love, love will tear us apart again
Love, love will tear us apart again

You cry out in your sleep
All my failings expose
There's a taste in my mouth,
As desperation takes hold
Just that something so good
just can't function no more

But love, love will tear us apart again
Love, love will tear us apart again
Love, love will tear us apart again
Love, love will tear us apart again ...

 

"Atmosphere" - from Substance (song from 1979)
Walk... in silence
Don't walk away
In silence
See the danger
Always danger
Endless talking
Life rebuilding

Don't walk away

Walk... in silence
Don't turn away
In silence
Your confusion
My illusion
Worn like a mask of self-hate
Confronts and then dies

Don't walk away

People like you find it easy
Naked to see
Walking on air
Hunting by the rivers, through the streets, every corner
Abandoned too soon
Set down with due care
Don't walk away - in silence

Don't walk away...

 

"Komakino" - from Substance (song from 1980)
This is the hour when the mysteries emerge
A strangeness so hard to reflect
A moment so moving goes straight to your heart
The vision that's never been met
The attraction is held like a weight deep inside
Something I'll never forget
The pattern is set, her reaction will start
Complete but rejected too soon
Looking ahead in the grip of each fear
Recalls the life that we knew
The shadow that stood by the side of the road
Always reminds me of you...

How can I find the right way to control
All the conflicts inside, all the problems beside
As the questions arise, and the answers don't fit
Into my way of things, into my way of things

 

"She's Lost Control" - live TV performance, 15 September 1979, on BBC2 TV's Something Else programme

Note about Ian Curtis's dancing:

"He never did any drugs. A lot of people think he did because on some of the performances, TV performances, he looks like he's on some sort of drugs because of his eyes. But he wasn't on any drugs at all—that was just him losing himself in the music." - Bernard Sumner, Joy Division guitarist

Confusion in her eyes that says it all
She's lost control
And she's clinging to the nearest passer-by
She's lost control
And she gave away the secrets of her past and said
I've lost control again
And of a voice that told her when and where to act, she said
I've lost control again

And she turned to me and took me by the hand and said,
I've lost control again
And how I'll never know just why or understand, she said
I've lost control again
And she screamed out, kicking on her side and said
I've lost control again
And seized up on the floor - I thought she'd die - she said
I've lost control [again]

She's lost control again - she's lost control --

Well I had to phone her friend to state her case and say
She's lost control again
And she showed up all the errors and mistakes and said
I've lost control again
But she expressed herself in many different ways
Until she lost control again
And walked upon the edge of no escape and laughed
I've lost control [again]
She's lost control again - she's lost control --

 

"Shadowplay" - Live at the Apollo Theatre, Manchester
(27 Oct. 1979)

To the center of the city where all roads meet, waiting for you
To the depths of the ocean where all hopes sank, searching for you
I was moving through the silence without motion, waiting for you
In a room with a window in the corner I found truth

In the shadowplay, acting out your own death, knowing no more
As the assassins all grouped in four lines, dancing on the floor
And with cold steel, odor on their bodies made a move to connect
But I could only stare in disbelief as the crowds all left

I did everything, everything I wanted to
I let them use you for their own ends
To the center of the city in the night, waiting for you
To the center of the city in the night, waiting for you

 

 

"Atrocity Exhibition" - from Closer (1980)

Note about the making of the album: “I remember one night when we were making Closer very late—it was about four o’clock in the morning—I was asking [Ian] how his lyric writing was going, and he said that it was amazing; he said, ‘It’s just coming one after another, I’m writing really quick. I know exactly where the end of a song is, and normally I don’t do that—I just write and write.' And he said, ‘I feel as if I’m swirling down into a dark void,’ I remember him saying, ‘and as I’m doing it I’m throwing out pieces of paper with writing on them.’ So,…I guess he felt—I got the impression that he felt some force was taking him somewhere.”

--Bernard Sumner, Joy Division guitarist

Asylums with doors open wide
Where people could pay to see inside
For entertainment they watch his body twist
Behind his eyes he says: I still exist
This is the way - step inside

In arenas he kills for a prize
Wins a minute to add to his life
But the sickness is drowned by cries for more
Pray to God, make it quick - watch him fall
This is the way - step inside

This is the way
This is the way - step inside

You'll see the horrors of a faraway place
Meet the architects of law face to face
See mass murder on a scale you've never seen
And all the ones who try hard to succeed
This is the way - step inside

And I picked on the whims of a thousand or more
Still pursuing the path that's been buried for years
All the dead wood from jungles and cities on fire
Can't replace or relate - can't release or repair
Take my hand and I'll show you what was and will be

"Isolation" - from Closer (1980)
In fear every day, every evening
He calls her aloud from above
Carefully watched for a reason
Painstaking devotion and love

Surrendered to self-preservation
From others who care for themselves
A blindness that touches perfection
But hurts just like anything else
Isolation (repeat)

Mother I tried, please believe me
I'm doing the best that I can
I'm ashamed of the things I've been put through
I'm ashamed of the person I am
Isolation --

But if you could just see the beauty
These things I could never describe
These pleasures a wayward distraction
Is this my one lucky prize?

Isolation (repeat)

 

"Passover" - from Closer (1980)
This is a crisis I knew had to come
Destroying the balance I'd kept
Doubting, unsettling and turning around
Wondering what will come next

Is this the role that you wanted to live?
I was foolish to ask for so much
Without the protection and infancy's guard
It all falls apart at first touch

Watching the reel as it comes to a close
Brutally taking its time
People who change for no reason at all
It's happening all of the time

Can I go on with this train of events?
Disturbing and purging my mind
Back out of my duties, when all's said and done
I know that I'll lose every time

Moving along in our god-given ways
Safety is sat by the fire
Sanctuary from these feverish smiles
Left with a mark on the door
Is this the gift that I wanted to give?
Forgive and forget's what they teach
Or pass through the deserts and wastelands once more
And watch as they drop by the beach

This is a crisis I knew had to come
Destroying the balance I'd kept
Turning around to the next set of lives
Wondering what will come next...

 

"Colony" - from Closer (1980)
A cry for help, a hint of anaesthesia
The sound from broken homes,
We used to always meet here
As he lays asleep she takes him in her arms
Some things I have to do, but I don't mean you harm

A worried parent's glance, a kiss, a last goodbye
Hands him the bag she packed - a tear she tries to hide
A cruel wind that howls down to our lunacy
And leaves him standing cold here in this colony

Surrendered to self-preservation
From others who care for themselves
A blindness that touches perfection
But hurts just like anything else
Isolation (repeat)

I can't see why all these confrontations
I can't see why all these dislocations
No family life, this makes me feel uneasy
Stood alone here in this colony
In this colony... (repeat)

God in his wisdom took you by the hand
God in his wisdom made you understand (repeat)

In this colony!

 

"A Means to an End" - from Closer (1980)
A legacy so far removed
One day will be improved
Eternal rights we left behind
We were the better kind
Two the same - set free too
I always looked to you --

We fought for good - stood side by side
Our friendship never died
On stranger waves - the lows and highs
Our vision touched the skies
Immortalists with points to prove
I put my trust in you --

I put my trust in you
I put my trust in you
I put my trust in you!
I put my trust in you!

A house somewhere on foreign soil
Where ageing lovers call
Is this your goal - your final needs?
Where dogs and vultures eat
Committed still, I turn to go
I put my trust in you --

I put my trust in you
I put my trust in you
I put my trust in you!
I put my trust in you!

In you, in you, in you
Put my trust in you, in you...

 

"Heart and Soul" - from Closer (1980)

Instincts that can still betray us
A journey that leads to the sun
Soulless and bent on destruction
A struggle between right and wrong


You take my place in the showdown
I'll observe with a pitiful eye
I'd humbly ask for forgiveness
A request well beyond you and I

Heart and soul - one will burn (repeat)

An abyss that laughs at creation
A circus complete with all fools
Foundations that lasted the ages
Then ripped apart at their roots

Beyond all this good is the terror
The grip of a mercenary hand
When savagery turns for good reason
There's no turning back, no last stand

Heart and soul
One will burn

Existence - well what does it matter?
I exist on the best terms I can
The past is now part of my future
The present is well out of hand,
The present is well out of hand...

Heart and soul
One will burn
One will burn, one will burn
Heart and soul
One will burn

 

"Twenty-Four Hours" - from Closer (1980)
So this is permanence, love's shattered pride
What once was innocence, turned on its side
Grey cloud hangs over me, marks every move
Deep in the memory of what once was love

Oh how I realised how I wanted time
Put into perspective, tried so hard to find
Just for one moment I thought I'd found my way
Destiny unfolded: I watched it slip away


Excessive flashpoints beyond all reach
Solitary demands for all I'd like to keep
Let's take a ride out, see what we can find
A valueless collection of hopes and past desires

I never realised the lengths I'd have to go
All the darkest corners of a sense I didn't know
Just for one moment I heard someone call
Looked beyond the day in hand: there's nothing there at all

Now that I've realised how it's all gone wrong
Got to find some therapy—this treatment takes too long
Deep in the heart of where sympathy held sway
Got to find my destiny before it gets too late  

 

"The Eternal" - from Closer (1980)
Procession moves on, the shouting is over
Praise to the glory of loved ones now gone
Talking aloud as they sit round their tables
Scattering flowers washed down by the rain

Stood by the gate at the foot of the garden
Watching them pass like clouds in the sky
Try to cry out in the heat of the moment
Possessed by a fury that burns from inside

Cry like a child, though these years make me older
With children my time is so wastefully spent
Burden to keep, though their inner communion
Accept like a curse an unlucky deal

Played by the gate at the foot of the garden
My view stretches out from the fence to the wall
No words could explain, no actions determine
Just watching the trees and the leaves as they fall

 

"Decades" - from Closer (1980)

Here are the young men, a weight on their shoulders
Here are the young men, well where have they been?
We knocked on doors of Hell's darker chambers
Pushed to the limits, we dragged ourselves in


Watched from the wings as the scenes were replaying
We saw ourselves now as we never had seen
Portrayal of the traumas and degeneration
The sorrows we suffered and never were free

Where have they been? (repeat)

Weary inside, now our heart's lost forever
Can't replace the fear or the thrill of the chase
These rituals showed up the door for our wanderings
Opened and shut, then slammed in our face

Where have they been...? (repeat)

 

"Disorder" - from Unknown Pleasures (1979)

I've been waiting for a guide
to come and take me by the hand,
Could these sensations make me feel
the pleasures of a normal man?
The sensations barely interest me for another day,
I've go the spirit, lose the feeling, take the shock away.

It's getting faster, moving faster now,
it's getting out of hand,
On the tenth floor, down the back stairs,
it's a no man's land,
Lights are flashing, cars are crashing,
getting frequent now,
I've got the spirit, lose the feeling, let it out somehow.

What means to you, what means to me,
and we will meet again,
I'm watching you, I'm watching her,
I'll take no pity from your friends
Who is right, who can tell,
and who gives a damn right now,

Until the spirit, new sensation takes hold,
then you know,
Until the spirit, new sensation takes hold,
then you know,
Until the spirit, new sensation takes hold,
then you know

I've got the spirit, but lose the feeling,
I've got the spirit, but lose the feeling.
Feeling, feeling, , feeling, , feeling, , feeling, , feeling, , feeling.

 

"Day of the Lords" - from Unknown Pleasures (1979)

This is the room, the start of it all,
No portrait so fine, only sheets on the wall,
I've seen the nights, filled with bloodsport and pain,
And the bodies obtained, the bodies obtained.

Where will it end? Where will it end?
Where will it end? Where will it end?

These are your friends from childhood, through youth,
Who goaded you on, demanded full proof,
Withdrawal pain is hard, it can do you right in,
So distorted and thin, distorted and thin.

Where will it end? Where will it end?
Where will it end? Where will it end?

 

This is the car at the edge of the road,
There's nothing disturbed, all the windows are closed,
I guess you were right, when we talked in the heat,
There's no room for the weak, no room for the weak,

Where will it end? Where will it end?
Where will it end? Where will it end?

This is the room, the start of it all,
Through childhood, through youth, I remember it all,
I've seen the nights, filled with bloodsport and pain,
And the bodies obtained, the bodies obtained, the bodies obtained.

Where will it end? Where will it end?
Where will it end? Where will it end?

 

 

"Candidate" - from Unknown Pleasures (1979)

Forced by the pressure,
The territories marked,
No longer the pleasure,
I've since lost the heart

Corrupted from memory,
No longer the power,
It's creeping up slowly,
That last fatal hour

Oh, I don't know what made me,
What gave me the right,
To mess with your values,
And change wrong to right

Please keep your distance,
The trail leads to here,
There's blood on your fingers,
Brought on by fear

I campaigned for nothing,
I worked hard for this,
I tried to get to you,
You treat me like this

It's just second nature,
It's what we've been shown,
We're living by your rules,
That's all that we know

I tried to get to you,
I tried to get to you,
I tried to get to you,
I tried to get to you

 

 

"Insight" - from Unknown Pleasures (1979)

Guess the dreams always end
They don't rise up just descend,
But I don't care anymore,
I've lost the will to want more,
I'm not afraid, not at all,
I watch them all as they fall,
But I remember when we were young

Those with habits of waste,
Their sense of style and good taste,
Of making sure you were right,
Hey, don't you know you were right?
I'm not afraid anymore,
I keep my eyes on the door,
But I remember….

 

Tears of sadness for you,
More upheaval for you,
Reflects a moment in time,
A special moment in time,
Yeah, we wasted our time,
We didn't really have time,
But we remember when we were young

And all God's angels beware,
And all you judges beware,
Sons of chance, take good care,
For all the people not there,
I'm not afraid anymore,
I'm not afraid anymore,
I'm not afraid anymore,
I'm not afraid anymore

 

"New Dawn Fades" - from Unknown Pleasures (1979)

A change of speed, a change of style
A change of scene, with no regrets
A chance to watch, admire the distance
Still occupied, though you forget
Different colours, different shades,
Over each mistakes were made
I took the blame
Directionless, so plain to see,
A loaded gun won't set you free
So you say

We'll share a drink and step outside,
An angry voice and one who cried,
We'll give you everything and more,
The strain's too much, can't take much more
Oh, I've walked on water, run through fire,
Can't seem to feel it anymore
It was me, waiting for me,
Hoping for something more,
Me, seeing me this time, hoping for something else

 

"She's Lost Control" - from Unknown Pleasures (1979)

Confusion in her eyes that says it all,
She's lost control
And she's clinging to the nearest passer-by,
She's lost control
And she gave away the secrets of her past,
And said: I've lost control again,
And of a voice that told her when and where to act,
She said: I've lost control again

And she turned to me and took me by the hand
and said, I've lost control again
And how I'll never know just why or understand,
She said: I've lost control again
And she screamed out kicking on her side
and said, I've lost control again
And seized up on the floor, I thought she'd die
She said: I've lost control

She's lost control again
She's lost control
She's lost control again
She's lost control

Well I had to phone her friend my case,
And say, she's lost control again
And she showed up all the errors and mistakes,
And said, I've lost control again
But she expressed herself in many different ways,
Until she lost control again
And walked upon the edge of no escape,
And laughed, I've lost control

She's lost control again
She's lost control
She's lost control again
She's lost control

 

"Shadowplay" - from Unknown Pleasures (1979)

To the centre of the city where all roads meet,
waiting for you,
To the depths of the ocean where all hopes sank,
searching for you,
I was moving through the silence without motion,
waiting for you,
In a room with a window in the corner I found truth

In the shadowplay, acting out your own death,
knowing no more,
As the assassins all grouped in four lines,
dancing on the floor

 

And with cold steel, odour on their bodies,
made a move to connect
But I could only stare in disbelief as the crowds all left

I did everything, everything I wanted to,
I let them use you for their own ends,
To the centre of the city in the night, waiting for you,
To the centre of the city in the night, waiting for you

 

 

"Wilderness" - from Unknown Pleasures (1979)

I traveled far and wide through many different times,
What did you see there?
I saw the saints with their toys,
What did you see there?
I saw all knowledge destroyed.
I traveled far and wide through many different times.

I traveled far and wide to prisons of the cross,
What did you see there?
The power and glory of sin,

 

What did you see there?
The blood of Christ on their skins,
I traveled far and wide through many different times.

I traveled far and wide and unknown martyrs died,
What did you see there?
I saw the one-sided trials,
What did you see there?
I saw the tears as they cried,
They had tears in their eyes,
Tears in their eyes,
Tears in their eyes,
Tears in their eyes!

 

"Interzone" - from Unknown Pleasures (1979)

I walked through the city limits,
Someone talked me in to do it,
Attracted by some force within it,
Had to close my eyes to get get close to it,
Around the corner where a prophet lay,
Saw the place where she'd a room to stay,
A wire fence where the children played,
Saw the bed where the body lay,
And I was looking for a friend of mine.
And I had no time to waste.
Yeah, looking for some friends of mine.

The car screeched hear the sound on dust,
Heard a noise just a car outside,
Metallic blue turned red with rust,
Pulled in close by the building's side,
In a group all forgotten youth,
Had to think, collect my senses now,
Are turned on to a knife edged view.
Find some place where my friends don't know,
And I was looking for a friend of mine,
And had no time to waste.
Yeah, looking for some friends of mine.

Down the dark streets, the houses looked the same,
Getting darker now, faces look the same,
And I walked round and round.
No stomach, torn apart,
Nail me to a train.
Had to think again,
Trying to find a clue, trying to find a way to get out.
Trying to move away, had to move away and keep out.

Four, twelve windows, ten in a row,
Behind a wall, well I looked down low,
The lights shined like a neon show,
Inserted deep felt a warmer glow,
No place to stop, no place to go,
No time to lose, had to keep on going,
I guess they died some time ago.
I guess they died some time ago.
And I was looking for a friend of mine
And I had no time to waste.
Yeah, looking for some friends of mine.

 

"I Remember Nothing" - from Unknown Pleasures (1979)

We were strangers
We were strangers, for way too long, for way too long,
We were strangers, for way too long
Violent, violent,
Were strangers

Get weak all the time, may just pass the time,
Me in my own world, yeah you there beside,
The gaps are enormous, we stare from each side,
We were strangers for way too long

 

Violent, more violent, his hand cracks the chair
Moves on reaction, then slumps in despair
Trapped in a cage and surrendered too soon

Me in my own world, the one that you knew
For way too long
We were strangers, for way too long
Were strangers,
We were strangers, for way too long,
For way too long