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):
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From Closer (1980): |
From compilations Still (1981) and Substance (1988): |
"Leaders
of Men"
- from Substance (song from 1977)
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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
No saviour for our sakes |
"Walked
in Line"
- from Still (song from 1978)
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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 |
They walked in line (repeat)
Full of a glory never seen They walked in line (repeat) |
"Exercise
One"
- from Still (song from 1979)
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When you're looking at life in a strange new room When you're looking at life, deciphering scars |
"Digital"
- from Substance (song from 1978)
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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'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 Fade away! (repeat, shouting) |
"The Only Mistake" - (song from 1979) |
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Made the fatal mistake Like I did once before A tendency just to take, Till the purpose turned sour Strain Strain Yeah, the only mistake |
Yeah, the only mistake Like I made once before Yeah, the only mistake Could have made it before Strain Strain And the only mistake Yeah, the only mistake |
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) |
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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
Just Stop, 'cause I really love you
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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
You better stop, 'cause I really love you
La la la la laaa... |
"Love
Will Tear Us Apart"
- Joy Division (1979)
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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 Why is the bedroom so cold? |
Love, love will tear us apart again Love, love will tear us apart again You cry out in your sleep But love, love will tear us apart again |
"Atmosphere"
- from Substance (song from 1979)
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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)
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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 |
"She's Lost Control" - live TV performance, 15 September 1979, on BBC2 TV's Something Else programme Note about Ian Curtis's dancing: |
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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,
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 |
To the center of the city where all roads meet, waiting for you In the shadowplay, acting out your own death, knowing no more I did everything, everything I wanted to |
"Atrocity Exhibition" - from Closer (1980) Note about the making of the album: “I remember one night when we were making Closer very lateit was about four o’clock in the morningI 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 thatI 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 feltI got the impression that he felt some force was taking him somewhere.” --Bernard Sumner, Joy Division guitarist |
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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 This
is the way |
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 |
"Isolation"
- from Closer (1980)
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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
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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 Isolation (repeat) |
"Passover" - from Closer (1980) |
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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?
Watching the reel as it comes to a close
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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
This is a crisis I knew had to come
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"Colony" - from Closer (1980) |
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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 Surrendered
to self-preservation |
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
In this colony! |
"A Means to an End" - from Closer (1980) |
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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
I put my trust in you
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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 In you, in you, in you
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"Heart and Soul" - from Closer (1980) |
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Instincts that can still betray us
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 Beyond all this good is the terror |
Heart and soul Heart and soul |
"Twenty-Four
Hours"
- from Closer (1980)
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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 |
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 Got to find some therapythis 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)
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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 |
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 |
"Decades" - from Closer (1980) |
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Here are the young men, a weight on their shoulders
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
Where have they been...? (repeat) |
"Disorder" - from Unknown Pleasures (1979) |
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I've been waiting for a guide It's getting faster, moving faster now, |
What means to you, what means to me, |
"Day of the Lords" - from Unknown Pleasures (1979) |
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This is the room, the start of it all, Where will it end? Where will it end? These are your friends from childhood, through youth, Where will it end? Where will it end?
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This is the car at the edge of the road, Where will it end? Where will it end? This is the room, the start of it all, Where will it end? Where will it end?
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"Candidate" - from Unknown Pleasures (1979) |
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Forced by the pressure, Corrupted from memory, Oh, I don't know what made me, Please keep your distance, |
I campaigned for nothing, It's just second nature, I tried to get to you,
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"Insight" - from Unknown Pleasures (1979) |
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Guess the dreams always end Those with habits of waste,
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Tears of sadness for you, And all God's angels beware,
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"New Dawn Fades" - from Unknown Pleasures (1979) |
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A change of speed, a change of style |
We'll share a drink and step outside, |
"She's Lost Control" - from Unknown Pleasures (1979) |
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Confusion in her eyes that says it all, And she turned to me and took me by the hand |
She's lost control again Well I had to phone her friend my case, |
"Shadowplay" - from Unknown Pleasures (1979) |
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To the centre of the city where all roads meet, In the shadowplay, acting out your own death,
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And with cold steel, odour on their bodies, I did everything, everything I wanted to,
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"Wilderness" - from Unknown Pleasures (1979) |
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I traveled far and wide through many different times, I traveled far and wide to prisons of the cross,
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What did you see there? I traveled far and wide and unknown martyrs died, |
"Interzone" - from Unknown Pleasures (1979) |
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I walked through the city limits, The car screeched hear the sound on dust, |
Down the dark streets, the houses looked the same, Four, twelve windows, ten in a row, |
We were strangers Get weak all the time, may just pass the time,
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Violent, more violent, his hand cracks the chair Me in my own world, the one that you knew |