Best/Worst lyrics from New Order?

It's no secret that Sumner is not exactly the most oblique of lyricists in popular music but I've always held the opinion (and part of the reason I'm such a fan of New Order) that his lyrics and expressions have an undeniable charm to them, even if many of them do come off as silly-sounding .

What are some of your favorite (and unfavorite) lyrics from New Order?

I've always liked the first verse of "Vanishing Point", there's a certain mystery and dreaminess to it, both musically and in imagining the lyric. Ditto for the second verse.

Grow up children, don't you sufferAt the hands of one anotherIf you like a sleeping demonListen can you hear him weepingTears of joy and tears of sorrowHe buys love to sell tomorrow

The first verse in "Angel Dust" sounds like an almost surreal retelling of The Last Supper, and has a potency in its lyrics. A parable perhaps?

What shall I sayI fear you will betray meHow many waysCan you prolong this tragedyWho told you that I would be backYou came here to seize my freedomI will send you falling slowlyTo the earth I see below me

The worst (and best!) to me is "Sooner than you Think", it's actually so cheesy you can't help but laugh at it....Ya gotta love the way their minds work!

Your country is a wonderful placeIt pales my England into disgraceTo buy a drink that is so much more reasonableI think I'll go there when it gets seasonable

....My apologies if this has been done before. The search function on this forum does not work well at all.

Yeah that reasonable / seasonable stuff got me too. People go on about Low-Life but for me the second side's way inferior - dull then average then about wanking then the full horror of Face Up. I always liked the lyrics to Round and Round, True Faith and TLU - in fact those were the first songs I heard. After that I was collecting and while I loved purchasing regular slabs of vinyl I used to cringe at lyrics like 'Deprivation / Death inflation' or 'I like that kinda stuff, it beats arithmetic'. Special mention to the ending of 'Your Silent Face' and the start of 'Every Little Counts' but that's part of the charm.

best = true faith, vanishing point worse = everthing else

I think the Technique and Republic albums have superb, thoughtful, generally well written lyrics from Bernard.

As far as songs go, I think that Blue Monday, True Faith, Temptation, BLT, Angel Dust, Crystal, WFTSC, I'll Stay With You, Special, Vanishing Point, Round and Round, This Time of Night, Sunrise, TPK, Touched By the Hand of God, and Here To Stay all have great lyrics.

Worst lyrics....Rock the Shack, Primitive Notion (music for this tune is amazing though), Dracula's Castle....I am sure there are more.

Yeah I always thought Primitive Notion would be equal to Sunrise, maybe even 24 Hours, if he'd written stronger lyrics. And Republic is strong lyrically, weak musically.

We could stop at a grocery store...

My favorites include --

I wouldn't even trust you I've not got much to give We're dealing in the limits And we don't know who with You may think that I'm out of hand That I'm naive, I'll understand On this occasion, it's not true Look at me, I'm not you

and...

I've watched your face for a long time It's always the same I've studied the cracks and the wrinkles You were always so vain But now you live your life like a shadow In the pouring rain

and...

Oh, I'd tear you out of heaven And I'd tear you out of hell And I'd see your life in ruins Because mine lies there as well And I'd cry out in my loneliness While you sleep in your peace But you'll never see my face again While I need words like these

As for the worst....

He crossed that picket line In trouble all the time Where did it all go wrong House music all night long

I think the lyrics for Procession are absolutely brilliant:

There is no end to thisI have seen your faceBut I don't recognize all these thingsYou must have kept behindIt's a problem, you knowThat's been there all your lifeI try to make you see the world without youThat just turned black and whiteAt night it gets cold andYou'd dearly like to turn awayAn escape that failsMakes the wounds that time won't heal aloneAlone, alone, alone.There is no end to thisI can't turn awayAnother picture but the sceneIt's still the sameThere is no room to moveOr try to look awayRemember, life is strangeLife keeps getting stranger every dayA mass of harmless attitudesA type that won't subsideNo matter what they sayYou knew your heart beats you late at nightYour heart beats you late at nightYour heart beats you late at night

Bernard's recent 2000+ era lyrics are more "professional", and it seems like he is more proud of them than his 80s work... but the newer stuff seems so formulaic/mundane and full of clichés. The older stuff I view as obtuse/quirky with possible subtle meanings, while the newer stuff just seems straight up simple and sometimes bordering on inane. Maybe it is all inane and I'm just remembering the older songs more fondly. But then I liked New Order in the first place because it lacked the posturizing and faux poetry of much of pop music.

I wonder how much 80s New Order helped influence the style of indirect song writing that because common later in late 80s, early 90s indie rock, such as Pixies, Pavement, Guided By Voices, etc...

Good point. In the 80s they'd thrash things around live and in the studio till they were ready, hence the fun but (cos?) haphazard nature of the gigs 'n' lyrics. In '93 The Other Two said they missed the more spontaneous nature of the old days. There really are a LOT of clichés in his later texts - 'I'll Stay With You', easily my favourite from 'Lost Sirens', is one cliché after another. Googlin', anyone?

agree all of procession's lyrics are great especially

I can't turn away Another picture but the scene It's still the same

mind you i hear that as

I can turn away Another picture but the scene Is still the same

which on the first line makes much more sense. also World. especially the start

I turn sideways to the sun keep my thoughts from everyone it's a jungle, I'm a freak hear me talk but never speak

worst? goddam it, is it sabotage with this monstrosity

I'm a capable person, free to roam i don't need a curtain when i'm at home.

ironiclly he sings that bit really well, perhaps some of his best ever going down from caaaaaaapable person!

as for overall quality though, I think the album twisted tenderness has the best set of lyrics he's ever done across a whole album.

ZASmusic wrote: I think the Technique and Republic albums have superb, thoughtful, generally well written lyrics from Bernard.

Totally agree with that.

M1 wrote:

ZASmusic wrote: I think the Technique and Republic albums have superb, thoughtful, generally well written lyrics from Bernard.

Totally agree with that.

Thank you! I think both album, in terms of lyrics, work thematically as well. Technique is the party, Republic is the come down. I love the worn out, weary, somewhat sad lyrics of Republic.

ZASmusic wrote:

M1 wrote:

ZASmusic wrote: I think the Technique and Republic albums have superb, thoughtful, generally well written lyrics from Bernard.

Totally agree with that.

Thank you! I think both album, in terms of lyrics, work thematically as well. Technique is the party, Republic is the come down. I love the worn out, weary, somewhat sad lyrics of Republic.

Party?

Technique "...ain't no holiday". Listen more closely and you'll realize most of it's about relationships ending.

Never had an interest in lyrics, prefered bass.

This open book Waiting to be read.

'such a good thing' captures a child's anticipation for a football game very nicely. "close range" takes me back as well . 'behind closed doors' is seductive . ' temptation's words are sublime . when i want something profound i guess there is bob dylan, john lennon, or , paul simon or paul mccartney, but the songs of danny kirwan and his earlier fleetwood mac songs, and bernard sumner/ neworder/electronic/bad lieutenant usually occupy 99 % of each day

These are my favourite lyrics:

Touched by the Hand of God:

I was standing by the ocean when I saw your face I couldn't look at you I guess you knew it but I never realized That we were through

I never hoped to do the things in this world I wanted to Because everything I own It belongs to you

I never looked at you in a sexual way In my life before And I've never woken up like this So desperately before

Those verses are just amazing, never thought they would end up describing something that actually happened to me. I think the older I've become the more I appreciate Barney's lyrics.

Round and Round: ou think I am crazy, but what can I do You waste your time, like my money It ain't so funny, but it's true (Don't waste my money, baby) Now you can't tell me what's going on And that I am weak while you are strong What is it you need, that makes your heart bleed Do you really know? 'Cause it doesn't show

Also Republic is full of top quality lyrics

The worst?

Shellshock, Subculture (the remix with the backing singers, I think its the way Barney sings it) also anything from the newer albums just isn't as good as the old stuff.

Special mention to Young Offender with this absolute beauty

We're strong, we do our thing Let the world cry, watch the birds sing Give me the freedom, I need to recover Words cannot heal, when a line is your lover

keepitcoming wrote: ... paul mccartney...

Yes. My fave Macca lyrics are from 'Press':

Oklahoma Was Never Like This... Never Like This, It Was Never Like This. Ever Like This, Tell Me Was It Ever Like This? Oklahoma Was Never Like Thi-i-i-i-is... Oh, It Was Never Like This!

Michael Monkhouse wrote: Good point. In the 80s they'd thrash things around live and in the studio till they were ready, hence the fun but (cos?) haphazard nature of the gigs 'n' lyrics. In '93 The Other Two said they missed the more spontaneous nature of the old days. There really are a LOT of clichés in his later texts - 'I'll Stay With You', easily my favourite from 'Lost Sirens', is one cliché after another. Googlin', anyone?

I concur, especially around the time of Thieves like Us, Low Life etc. probably everything that turned up as a studio release was in one way or another taken on the road, demoed, recorded and taken back into the studio at some point. The lyrics weren't planned, maybe Pernod induced !

There was certainly none of this rhyming of words at the end of each line..

My tuppence worth anyhow, but interesting comments from all.

Avalanche.

Andy Thank you! I think both album, in terms of lyrics, work thematically as well. Technique is the party, Republic is the come down. I love the worn out, weary, somewhat sad lyrics of Republic. [/quote wrote:

Party?

Technique "...ain't no holiday". Listen more closely and you'll realize most of it's about relationships ending.

Agreed. I remember when Republic came out, and when I stopped laughing at the fact I'd waited four fucking years for this half-assed over-hyped Eurodiscopap, I noticed people considered it the downer after the upper. Steve himself told Select, 'With Technique the garden was all rosy, with Republic it was bad vibes all round.' But Technique is hardly Spiceworld is it? Back in my petentious little cunt days (now I'm a pretentious big cunt) it was precisely the dark aspect that appealed to me. I didn't agree with the common verdict of Republic as 'their most exquisitely doom-laden opus since Closer', more their most lack-lustre effort since - well, ever with the possible exception of Movement. Mind you, I had tolerated One True Passion, all bluster and no tunes!

themightyspang wrote: I turn sideways to the sun keep my thoughts from everyone it's a jungle, I'm a freak hear me talk but never speak

worst? goddam it, is it sabotage with this monstrosity

I'm a capable person, free to roam i don't need a curtain when i'm at home.

Yeah, World reverses the usual formula of hesitant lyrics, strong orchestration. Sorry to be a trainspotting geeky little buttface, but that lyric's from Player in the League aka Field. It's still shit though.

"Crows! Crows! Crows! I hate them!" From Murder

Ha! i've only just made the connection about murder and crows nearly 30 years after the song was released .The track has the sample from Caligula ( was that the film the sample's from? Not sure) about crows. A group of crows is of course a murder, a murder of crows.I'm so slow sometimes.

...And Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey. I tried to watch that film once then decided I would rather be beaten across the eyes with a breezeblock doused in acid.

Every single word of Dracula's Fookin Castle...