Music and British Identity: New Order


Primary members: Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, Gillian Gilbert
Band Biography
Albums of focus: Movement (1981); Power, Corruption & Lies (1983); Low-Life (1985); Brotherhood (1986); Substance (1987)

Songs for study:

"Truth" - Live at the Ukrainian National Home, New York City, 18 November 1981 (from Movement)

Peter Hook on the period surrounding the writing for the album Movement:

"The first meeting we all had, which was the Sunday night [after Curtis committed suicide], we agreed that [to continue making music]. We didn't sit there crying. We didn't cry at his funeral. It came out as anger at the start. We were absolutely devastated: not only had we lost someone we considered our friend, we'd lost the group. Our life, basically."

Oh, it's a strange day
In such a lonely way
I saw some children dance
I watched my life in a trance And the people around me
Seemed so glad to be here
Will my time pass so slowly
On the day that I fear?

And the noise that surrounds me
Pulls so loud in my head
From the promise that healed us
To the lies that I said

Oh, it's a strange day
In such a lonely way
Some people look down on me,
I [hope / know] they like what they see

Strange day,
Such a strange day
Such a strange day

 

"Procession" - Live at the Ukrainian National Home, New York City, 18 November 1981 (from Movement)
There is no end to this
I have seen your face
But I don't recognize all these things
You must have left behind It's a problem, you know
That's been there all your life
I try to make you see the world without you
That just so black and white

<
At night it gets cold and you'd dearly like to turn away
The escape that fills that makes you want to turn on heel
Alone, alone, alone, alone

We can't turn away
We can't turn away
Another picture (but the scene)
Remains the same

Emotion, destruction
It's all the same to me
No matter where you are
It's all the same to me
At night

I try so hard but this attitude's
A type that won't subside
No matter what they say
Remember, your heart beats you late at night
Your heart beats you late at night
Your heart beats you late at night
Your heart beats you late at night

 

"Everything's Gone Green" - Live at the Ukrainian National Home, New York City, 18 November 1981
Help me, somebody help me
I wonder where I am
I see my future before me
I'll hurt you when I can

It seems like I've been here before
It seems like I've been here before
It seems like I've been here before
It seems like I've been here before
It seems like I've been here before

Confusion sprung up from devotion
A halo that covers my eyes
It sprung from this first estrangement
No one have I ever despised

Is this the way that you wanted to pay
Won't you show me, please show me the way
Is this the way that you wanted to pay
Won't you show me, please show me the way

Show me
Show me
Show me
Show me
Show me

"Leave Me Alone" - from Power, Corruption & Lies (1983)
On a thousand islands in the sea
I see a thousand people just like me
A hundred unions in the snow
I watch them walking, falling in a row
We live always underground
It's going to be so quiet in here tonight
A thousand islands in the sea
It's a shame

And a hundred years ago
A sailor trod this ground I stood upon
Take me away everyone
When it hurts thou

From my head to my toes
From the words in the book
I see a vision that would bring me luck
From my head to my toes
To my teeth, through my nose
You get these words wrong
You get these words wrong
Everytime
You get these words wrong
I just smile

But from my head to my toes
From my knees to my eyes
Everytime I watch the sky
For these last few days leave me alone
But for these last few days leave me alone
Leave me alone

Leave me alone

 

"This Time of Night" - Live at Shinjuku Koseinenkin Hall, Tokyo, 2 May 1985 (from Low-Life)
We all feel the same
All pleasure nothing to gain
I've known you from the start
I've grown used to your wooden heart
Now you know my name
You search your empty brain in vain
If you don't change your ways
You'll end up here with me unraised

Without you they'll never know
Without you my life won't flow
Without you they'll never show
Without you the night won't go
Without you I'm left alone
Without you I'm on my own
Without you I live in pain
Without you I've gone insane

Now you must decide
What good's a lie when you've nothing to hide
Maps they'll never show
They're dumb like you, they never know
It's time we said goodbye
Bury your head and silence your cry
Know the feel of pain
Join our world and play our game

Without you they'll never know
Without you my life won't grow
Without you they'll never show
Without you the night won't go
Without you I'm left alone
Without you I'm on my own

Without you I live in pain
Without you I've gone insane

Whatever you may think of me
Don't ever take my dignity (x4)
Whatever you may do to me
Don't crucify my dignity

 

"Subculture" - from Low-Life (1985)

 

I like walking in the park
When it gets late at night
I move round in the dark
And leave when it gets light
I sit around by day
Tied up in chains so tight
These crazy words of mine
So wrong they could be right

Chorus:
What do I get out of this
I always try, I always miss
One of these days you'll go back to your home
You won't even notice that you are alone
One of these days when you sit by yourself
You'll realise you can't chat without someone else
In the end you will submit
It's got to hurt you a little bit

I like talking in my sleep
When people work so hard
They need what they can keep
A choice that leaves them scars
A room without a view
Unveils the truth so soon
And when the sun goes down
You've lost what you have found

Chorus:
What do I get out of this
I always try, I always miss
One of these days you'll go back to your home
You won't even notice that you are alone
One of these days when you sit by yourself
You'll realise you can't chat without someone else
In the end you will submit
It's got to hurt you a little bit

(repeat chorus)


"Bizarre Love Triangle" - Live from 1987, Stockport, England (song from Brotherhood, 1986)

 

Every time I think of you
I feel shot right through with a bolt of blue
It's no Problem of mine but it's a problem I find
Living a life that I can't leave behind

There's no sense in telling me
The wisdom of a fool won't set you free
But that's the way that it goes
And it's what nobody knows
While every day my confusion grows

Every time I see you falling
I get down on my knees and pray
I'm waiting for that final moment
You'll say the words that I can't say

I feel fine and I feel good
I'm feeling like I never should
Whenever I get this way I just don't know what to say
Why can't we be ourselves like we were yesterday

I'm not sure what this could mean
I don't think you're what you seem
I do admit to myself
That if I hurt someone else
Then I'll never see just what we're meant to be

Every time I see you falling
I get down on my knees and pray
I'm waiting for that final moment
You'll say the words that I can't say

"The Perfect Kiss" - Live in Manchester studio, May 1985 (from Low-life, 1985)
I stood there beside myself,
thinking hard about the weather
Then came by a friend of mine,
suggested we go out together

Then I knew it from the start
this friend of mine would fall apart
Pretending not to see his guilt,
I said, "Let's go out and have some fun."

I know, you know
We believe in a land of love
I know, you know
We believe in a land of love

I have always thought about
staying in and going out
Tonight I should have stayed at home,
playing with my pleasure zone

He has always been so strange
I often thought he was deranged
Pretending not to see his gun,
I said, "Let's go out and have some fun."

I know, you know
We believe in a land of love
I know, you know
We believe in a land of love

When you are alone at night
You search yourself for all the things that you believe are right
If you give it all away,
You throw away your only chance to be here today

Then a fight breaks out on your streets
We lose another broken heart in a land of meat
My friend he took his final breath
Now I know the perfect kiss is the kiss of death

"Ceremony" - Joy Division song recorded by New Order in 1981; from Substance (1987)

 

This is why events unnerve me,
They find it all, a different story,
Notice whom for wheels are turning,
Turn again and turn towards this time,
All she ask's the strength to hold me,
Then again the same old story,
Word will travel, oh so quickly,
Travel first and lean towards this time.

Oh, I'll break them down, no mercy shown,
Heaven knows, it's got to be this time,
Watching her, these things she said,
The times she cried,
Too frail to wake this time.

Oh I'll break them down, no mercy shown
Heaven knows, it's got to be this time,
Avenues all lined with trees,
Picture me and then you start watching,
Watching forever, forever,
Watching love grow, forever,
Letting me know, forever.

GRAFFITI STUDY WALL: MUSIC & VIDEOS
SEX PISTOLS
KRAFTWERK
THE CLASH
PUBLIC IMAGE LTD.
JOY DIVISION
SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES
AU PAIRS
COCTEAU TWINS
ARTERY
HUMAN LEAGUE
HEAVEN 17
THE SPECIALS
CABARET VOLTAIRE
TEARS FOR FEARS
DEPECHE MODE
THE SOUND
THE GLOVE
THE CURE
ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN
A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS
GANG OF FOUR
NEW ORDER
U2
THE POLICE
CRASS
NEW MODEL ARMY
ELVIS COSTELLO
SPLIT ENZ
THE THE
XTC
THE EXPLOITED
DISCHARGE
THE SMITHS
THE HOUSEMARTINS
RADIOHEAD
PORTISHEAD
PET SHOP BOYS
M Y BLOODY VALENTINE
SLOWDIVE
CRASH MUSIC
MUSIC OF THE TROUBLES

VIDEOS:

SEX PISTOLS
SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES (LIVE)
THE CURE (LIVE)
COCTEAU TWINS (LIVE)
NEW ORDER (LIVE)
PORTISHEAD (LIVE)
JOY DIVISION MINI-DOCUMENTARY
NUCLEAR WAR PREPAREDNESS: PROTECT & SURVIVE MANUAL