Songs written mainly by 1 band member

Just listening to Procession and recall reading in Pleasures & Wayward Distractions that this was described as "Steve's song". It's widely known that Temptation is mainly written by Bernard (as he told us at Finsbury - prompting Steve and Hooky to feign walking off much to my amusement) but does anyone know of any other songs that were mainly penned by one band member? I would have thought I'd be able to work it our from all the side projects but I can't!

Much of Republic seems to be Barney's one-man show.

Yes Barney confessed to writing Republic, as they were not on good terms at that time. I think Regret may be the only song they all worked on together.

And I think BLT is mostly Steves idea.

As is Run Wild

Didn't the band members say in a recent interview that most of the work is Bernards, even stuff from the past. The impression I got from this interview is basically Bernard does most of the work, very much in charge and basically the whole thing is his, then the band members step in to do their bit and that's it. that's the overall impression I got from that.

Basically Bernard writes the core of the songs, then the others step in to do there work, and also bernard does songs completely on his own.

That's very much the impression I got.

exactly the opposite for WFTSC album. bernard just wrote the lyrics and contributed to arrangements while the other 3 wrote the music.

Did bernard not write his own parts?

And Crystal was mainly written by Barney, since it was given by him to Corvin Dalek before it was decided to release it as a New Order track.

Yes,I always got the impression Barney writes the bulk of the lyrics,and alot of the music,with Hooky laying down those priceless basslines stamping New Order all over it. It would be very interesting to read whose input was what,on such and such songIts a bit of a Mystery on most songs,musically.But lyrically I always thought Barney did nearly all of it.

Adam R.,

If that was true, then why would Electronic sound so different than New Order? I sincerely doubt it's simply Marr's input...

Also, by listening to Revenge/Monaco or Other 2/Thick Pigeon one can surmise the collaboration that goes into writing the New Order's tracks...

Not to say that Bernard doesn't bear more than 25% of the creative burden though...

;)

michael brown wrote: Yes,I always got the impression Barney writes the bulk of the lyrics,and alot of the music,with Hooky laying down those priceless basslines stamping New Order all over it. It would be very interesting to read whose input was what,on such and such songIts a bit of a Mystery on most songs,musically.But lyrically I always thought Barney did nearly all of it.

In a recent Sound on Sound magazine they interviewed Stephen Hague on the creation of True Faith & 1963. That was quite interesting. They all contributed their bit including Gillian. Funny story; They were running out of time and had no lyrics. Barney "accidentaly" got locked in the studio overnight with no food or drink, and with nothing to do, so he produced those wonderful lyrics.

Avalance is a Steve & Gillian song. On Oz TV Hooky asked Steve; "Didn't you & gillian write a song call Avalanche? " Steve answers "It's on Republic."

New Order, from Joy Division, have always been about the group output. That said, I think it's pretty clear Bernard has been the primary songwriter since Ian's passing. More elaborate tracks such as Thieves Like Us and Perfect Kiss probably had more collaboration, but I think Bernard covered a lot of the writing and arranging of tunes. Reading interviews from the late 80s and thereafter, he said a few times that it irked him that people perceived him as only a lyricist, and that he contributed to the writing and the programming. If anything, Bernard probably downplays his leadership role in the group.

i thought technique was mainly a steve and gillian effort

Thinking about it, 'Avalanche' has the Other Two stamped all over it...

I did read somewhere that Steve was very much the creative behind 586 and particularly the 25 min version. It's a mystery area though..

Ok then Roger, you have a point, but really I guess we'll never really find out who writes what, it's pretty much a band secret wouldn't you say.

I think you'll find with any band that most songs are a joint effort, at very least in terms of the actual parts played (ever tried telling a drummer precisely what groove to play?)

So some songs come from jamming in the rehearasl room. And you'll also find pet project songs, that one or two members are passionate about, and the others do there bit on.

I always think of Dreams Never End as one of Hooky's pets, cos it has a deeply interesting bassline, and he sings and plays. The fact that revenge played as well sort of says it's his.

It is true btw that Bernard is a HELL of a lot smarter than he likes to appear, and does a lot of the programming and stuff, tho i think he's doing less and less these days, and in general his passion for machines seems to have wained.

Bernard said that Hey Now What You Doing is one of Phil's.

Also, I suppose we all know that World in Motion was a Other Two song.

So, their biggest hit (BM) was a follow-on from 586 - Steve's song. Then their ONLY number 1 was a Steve & Gillan track. So the most accessable/commercial stuff was written by the drummer & the one who left the band. I wonder does that ever p1ss the others off?

Someone else will know better than me, but wasn't one of the working titles on technique "Gillian's accoustic one" ... I think it turned into dream attack.

no idea, but it wouldn't surprise me now i think about it

sooo....i think they should work togeather more then just have one person do this while the other adds..... and then changes it and makes draculas caslte lol

ALCON,

Here's an exerpt from a 2001 article about Electronic in which Bernard shed some light on New Order's song writing:

"Years of working in the ultimately democratic New Order has made Sumner respectful of others' input. But it also makes Electronic just that much more fun. 'With New Order, you have to be careful not to tread on anyone else's toes, and everyone has to have a go at the song, even if it's already complete. But with Electronic, we can be very obsessive, and if Johnny writes a track and doesn't [include] me on it or vice-versa, we're cool with that.'"

Interesting, although Bernard puts his stamp on every Electronic song with this lyrics...;)

I read on wikipedia that only Steve and Hooky did the Peter Saville show soundtrack, after getting tired for Bernard to show up at the studio

Joe Williams wrote: I read on wikipedia that only Steve and Hooky did the Peter Saville show soundtrack, after getting tired for Bernard to show up at the studio

Only problem with the Wikipedia is how trustworthy an article is

I wrote most of the core of the Blue Monday, True Faith and TPK articles, for one thing.