Barney's lyrics

I've just been reading through some lyrics... And I was struck by how good they actually were! I don't know if it's because of the late/early hour (3:20 AM), but suddenly everything made sense... I read through the lyrics for 60 mph, a song that I don't like much, and those are really really good lyrics... I think I've said something about them - that they are naïve lyrics, but they are not... Maybe it's because when he's singing them it doesn't make sense?

Hmm I'm the one not making sense.. Maybe I'll delete this message in the morning.

Please don't delete it, S. lady.

I mean, it doesn't happen every day that we have some nice comments about Barney's lyrics... :)

"we" Buster, you mean you and the Lady?

Cos' I still love all the lyrics.

Hey Jeff!

Have you always wanted New Order to turn out to be the Smiths.........???? why?

I think was Jeff means is that, luckily, it didn't turn out to be The Smiths...

Erm.. wadya mean there Klumpsy boy? Should we understand that you don't appreciate this band ??

No, Pitch, it's just that I couldn't imagine New Order turning out to be The Smiths, it would be out of character.

But I do like The Smiths.

Originally posted by Buster Klumpy No, Pitch, it's just that I couldn't imagine New Order turning out to be The Smiths, it would be out of character.But I do like The Smiths.

So do I - you'd probably guessed.. :D Nothing offending, though.

Mozzer is quite a bit of a character, you're right.

My opinion exactly, Jeff.

By the way, Jeff, is "wanker" a term that you picked up here? It's not a word I had ever heard before seeing it used here.

Originally posted by Patrick By the way, Jeff, is "wanker" a term that you picked up here? It's not a word I had ever heard before seeing it used here.

I'd say Muffler & Huntsy are using it a lot, but.. I may be wrong? :p

It's no american-english, is it??

i've always found Barney's lyrics to be quite enigmatic believe it or not!

he did an interview for Electronic some while ago where he mentioned his "insouciant" lyric writing style!

I've heard it a lot and not only here, Patrick.

Klumpy, the reason I asked Jeff is that I didn't think it was a U.S. term.

Pfew!

I am glad that I misunderstood Jeff!

I also like the Smiths, but I am VERY VERY VERY HAPPY the New Order (still... ha ha) are way differing from the Smiths (as they were... ha ha).

When only you start comparing those two... Barrissey and Morney! eeeeeeeeehhhhhhhh.

The lyrics for the songs on Brotherhood are also really, really, good.. but even if the songs are good too (melodywise and so on), there is something that doesn't sound good with that record.. I can't fugure out what it is ...could it be the production?

About Brotherhood, I was complaining here a while ago that to me the mix sounded muddy; the vocals aren't sufficiently separated from the rest. Turning it louder helps, but there is still some kind of problem there.

Just thought i'd mention how terrible i thought the lyrics were for half of Get Ready. It seems that if Barney isn't taking loads of acid (temptation-PCL) or E (Technique) or fighting with the band (Republic) he has nothing to say. Who ever said he writes about love is right but he's writing about things that mean nothing to him and in turn, they mean nothing to us. I know his lyrics don't have to mean anything but it would be nice if they at least made sense. I believe the best lyrics on Get Ready are Primitive Notion followed by Vicious Streak and Turn My Way is decent. The rest are empty rhyme after empty rhyme. Every fucking line on Get Ready rhymes with the one before it (practically). I wish i didn't speak English so I could just enjoy the sound of his voice but Barney's inability to come up with subject matter that means something to him translates into lyrics that are shallow and meaningless. Slow Jam is so bad it's embarassing and who the fuck drives 60MPH and thinks they're going fast? (maybe he was in a school zone). Run Wild is beautiful except for the words Barney says. If this song is supposed to be for S&G's sick child, Barney does a shit job of keeping the same theme throughout the song. How many lines of the song can be attributed to this theory? Cetainly Barney doesn't think singing "I'm gonna live to get high" is appropriate to add to a song dealing with the possible death of a friends child. I think he takes the easiest way out and writes whatever he thinks of first that rhymes with the previous line. "i'm gonna live til i die (very original barney), i'm gonna live to get high" In school we call this plagurism (but we might spell it slightly different). I enjoy hearing Barney's voice but I think he's running out of interesting things to say. Nothing on Get Ready has the impact of Dream Attack or Leave Me Alone and frankly, i doubt if Barney can write a good lyric anymore. He's middle aged with a family and tons of money and he gets along with his band. He has no inspiration lyrically. In fact, the bland lyrics of Get Ready sort of match the straightforward "rock" approach to most of the album. New Order are not trying as hard as they used to and its starting to show. Same set every night, mtv darling guests on their albums (kill Billy Corgan!), multiple releases for one song, never ending new versions of Blue Monday (yet the same boring version in concert). Peter Hook should be reminded of his statement that putting singles on albums was a rip-off.

The only plus to New Order 2001 that I can see is that they sound great together (if only they would play something else now) and they seem happy.

I love New Order but i hate where they're headed.

Anyone here remember Barney's crazy explanation for how he gets his lyrics, around the time of Brotherhood in 1986-1987: he was banging on about this "ball of juice" in his head and how this thing inspires him to write what he feels it tells him to. Honestly - what drugs was he on then? I think this appeared in an interview in Melody Maker around this time (Ted Mico probably wrote the piece) - when his surreal sense of hummous was perhaps at its most extreme. What a wag!

Originally posted by Brian Geoghagan Just thought i'd mention how terrible i thought the lyrics were for half of Get Ready. It seems that if Barney isn't taking loads of acid (temptation-PCL) or E (Technique) or fighting with the band (Republic) he has nothing to say. Who ever said he writes about love is right but he's writing about things that mean nothing to him and in turn, they mean nothing to us. I know his lyrics don't have to mean anything but it would be nice if they at least made sense. I believe the best lyrics on Get Ready are Primitive Notion followed by Vicious Streak and Turn My Way is decent. The rest are empty rhyme after empty rhyme. Every fucking line on Get Ready rhymes with the one before it (practically). I wish i didn't speak English so I could just enjoy the sound of his voice but Barney's inability to come up with subject matter that means something to him translates into lyrics that are shallow and meaningless. Slow Jam is so bad it's embarassing and who the fuck drives 60MPH and thinks they're going fast? (maybe he was in a school zone). Run Wild is beautiful except for the words Barney says. If this song is supposed to be for S&G's sick child, Barney does a shit job of keeping the same theme throughout the song. How many lines of the song can be attributed to this theory? Cetainly Barney doesn't think singing "I'm gonna live to get high" is appropriate to add to a song dealing with the possible death of a friends child. I think he takes the easiest way out and writes whatever he thinks of first that rhymes with the previous line. "i'm gonna live til i die (very original barney), i'm gonna live to get high" In school we call this plagurism (but we might spell it slightly different). I enjoy hearing Barney's voice but I think he's running out of interesting things to say. Nothing on Get Ready has the impact of Dream Attack or Leave Me Alone and frankly, i doubt if Barney can write a good lyric anymore. He's middle aged with a family and tons of money and he gets along with his band. He has no inspiration lyrically. In fact, the bland lyrics of Get Ready sort of match the straightforward "rock" approach to most of the album. New Order are not trying as hard as they used to and its starting to show. Same set every night, mtv darling guests on their albums (kill Billy Corgan!), multiple releases for one song, never ending new versions of Blue Monday (yet the same boring version in concert). Peter Hook should be reminded of his statement that putting singles on albums was a rip-off. The only plus to New Order 2001 that I can see is that they sound great together (if only they would play something else now) and they seem happy.I love New Order but i hate where they're headed.

Fuck me, you are SO right! Look at Noel Gallagher as well: There's virtually no difference between the two. I've always thought of Barney as a lazy lyricist, just like King Thunderbird Monobrow himself, some writers may think he's being enigmatic and oblique, but such asinine rhyming just undermines the beauty of every New Order song we should ever care about - check out some of his earlier howlers like "State Of The Nation" for instance (I keep mentioning this one as an example). He doesn't seem to make the effort. And Get Ready IS chock ful of embarrassingly trite non-wordsmithery. What a buffoon indeed.

Originally posted by Brian Geoghagan Just thought i'd mention how terrible i thought the lyrics were for half of Get Ready. It seems that if Barney isn't taking loads of acid (temptation-PCL) or E (Technique) or fighting with the band (Republic) he has nothing to say. Who ever said he writes about love is right but he's writing about things that mean nothing to him and in turn, they mean nothing to us. I know his lyrics don't have to mean anything but it would be nice if they at least made sense. I believe the best lyrics on Get Ready are Primitive Notion followed by Vicious Streak and Turn My Way is decent. The rest are empty rhyme after empty rhyme. Every fucking line on Get Ready rhymes with the one before it (practically). I wish i didn't speak English so I could just enjoy the sound of his voice but Barney's inability to come up with subject matter that means something to him translates into lyrics that are shallow and meaningless. Slow Jam is so bad it's embarassing and who the fuck drives 60MPH and thinks they're going fast? (maybe he was in a school zone). Run Wild is beautiful except for the words Barney says. If this song is supposed to be for S&G's sick child, Barney does a shit job of keeping the same theme throughout the song. How many lines of the song can be attributed to this theory? Cetainly Barney doesn't think singing "I'm gonna live to get high" is appropriate to add to a song dealing with the possible death of a friends child. I think he takes the easiest way out and writes whatever he thinks of first that rhymes with the previous line. "i'm gonna live til i die (very original barney), i'm gonna live to get high" In school we call this plagurism (but we might spell it slightly different). I enjoy hearing Barney's voice but I think he's running out of interesting things to say. Nothing on Get Ready has the impact of Dream Attack or Leave Me Alone and frankly, i doubt if Barney can write a good lyric anymore. He's middle aged with a family and tons of money and he gets along with his band. He has no inspiration lyrically. In fact, the bland lyrics of Get Ready sort of match the straightforward "rock" approach to most of the album. New Order are not trying as hard as they used to and its starting to show. Same set every night, mtv darling guests on their albums (kill Billy Corgan!), multiple releases for one song, never ending new versions of Blue Monday (yet the same boring version in concert). Peter Hook should be reminded of his statement that putting singles on albums was a rip-off. The only plus to New Order 2001 that I can see is that they sound great together (if only they would play something else now) and they seem happy.I love New Order but i hate where they're headed.

Phew...Brian, I hope the Order do come on tour to the states because all this stuff about lyrics won't mean a thing when your pogoing down the front to the opening bars of Crystal, Transmission, Regret and Ceremony.

Originally posted by Martin Gray Fuck me, you are SO right! Look at Noel Gallagher as well: There's virtually no difference between the two. I've always thought of Barney as a lazy lyricist, just like King Thunderbird Monobrow himself, some writers may think he's being enigmatic and oblique, but such asinine rhyming just undermines the beauty of every New Order song we should ever care about - check out some of his earlier howlers like "State Of The Nation" for instance(I keep mentioning this one as an example)

No Martin there is a monumental difference between Barney and Monobrow... Barney has a sense of humour whereas Noel is just inane. He seems to be dead serious about everything and probably sees his lyrics as 'profound' and himself as 'genious'. This is generally speaking, I'm not referring only to the latest things they've done.

Nice topic. I must say that i actually like most of the lyrics,wether they make sense or not. There's lots of humour in them and if they are about love well then they are about love. one of my favourites is: "i think you are a pig , you should be in a zoo". I also was a huge smiths fan. excellent music and great lyrics, but i guess Barney is not the same guy as Morse.(thank god for that).

Well, Jeff, I just thought it would be interesting if those of us on this side of the ocean were having our language affected by the influence of the large numbers from the other side that come here.

Interesing topic. I do agree with a lot of whats said about the lyrics to Get Ready, though I think your being a little harsh. Lyrically stuff like PN, VS and 60mph are pretty good, the rest at best average. I've always thought the music was far more important than the lyrics with NO. Barney himself has said he asn't got a particlar message to give to the world + Id rather him write nonsense lyrics than try to force something profund.

RE the drivve at 60mph lyric...I'd always thought it was quite a clever lyric indicating they wouldn't drive at full speed, but a notch below. ie not take the 'relationship' too fast. Maybe I'm reading too much into it...