Failures Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Don't speak of false messiahs
Failure of the modern man
To the center of all life's desires
As a whole not an also-ran

[Verse 2]
Love in a hollow field
Break the image of your father's son
Drawn to an inner feel
He was thought of as the only one

[Chorus]
He no longer denies
All the failures of the Modern Man
He no longer pick sides
Sees the failures of the Modern Man

[Verse 3]
Wise words and sympathy
Tell the story of our history
New strength gives a real touch
Sense and reason make it all too much

[Verse 4]
With a strange fatality
Break the spirits of a lesser man
Some other race can see
In his way he was the only one
[Solo]

[Chorus]
He no longer denies
All the failures of the Modern Man
No, no, he can't pick sides
Sees the failures of the Modern Man

[Verse 5]
Now that it's right to decide
In his time he was a total man
Taken from Caesar's side
Kept in silence just to prove who's wrong

[Chorus]
No, no he can’t despise
All the failures of the Modern Man
No, no longer denies
All the failures of the Modern Man

[Solo]

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About

Genius Annotation

‘Failures’ marks Ground Zero for the band who would become post-punk pioneers. All unhindered thrash and nerve-exposed energy, “Failures” is Joy Division’s most obvious hat-tip to the Sex Pistols. While Curtis' vocals are nigh-on unrecognisable from the unearthly croon he would discover in the months to come on the band’s debut LP Unknown Pleasures, his themes and imagery of disillusionment with the modern world are starting to form the basis from which he would launch his writing.

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Credits
Producer
Engineer
Recorded At
Pennine Sound Studio, Oldham, Greater Manchester, England
Release Date
June 3, 1978
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