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 suffer
At the hands of one another
If you like a sleeping demon
Listen can you hear him weeping
Tears of joy and tears of sorrow
He 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 say
I fear you will betray me
How many ways
Can you prolong this tragedy
Who told you that I would be back
You came here to seize my freedom
I will send you falling slowly
To 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 place
It pales my England into disgrace
To buy a drink that is so much more reasonable
I 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.

Edited by user 10 July 2013 02:53:55(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

best = true faith, vanishing point
worse = everthing else

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.

Edited by user 12 July 2013 23:34:34(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

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

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...

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.

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.

Never had an interest in lyrics, prefered bass.

This open book
Waiting to be read.

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

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.

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!

"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.

Edited by user 09 August 2013 15:28:41(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

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