 Genius Meanings
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Joy Division – Dead Souls
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An examination of the internal and external crises facing Ian Curtis, ‘Dead Souls’ opens with one of the singer’s most despairing lines: a plea for the certainty that he has
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Nine Inch Nails – Dead Souls
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“Dead Souls” is a cover of a song by Joy Division – The Crow creator James O'Barr’s favorite band. According to Joy Division bassist Peter Hook, the surviving members of the band (
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Joy Division – Dead Souls (Transmission session 1)
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Someone take these dreams away / That point me to another day / A duel of personalities / That stretch all true realities / That keep calling me / They keep calling me / Keep on
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Joy Division – No Love Lost
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This song first appeared on Joy Division’s debut EP An Ideal for Living, afterwards it appeared on the Substance compilation.
Originally the song had a much longer instrumental
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Joy Division – Heart and Soul
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“Heart and Soul” is a spacious, reverb-laden track built around an electronic bass line from Peter Hook and a skittering drum rhythm from Stephen Morris. Ian Curtis sings in his
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Joy Division – Transmission
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[Intro] / Radio, live transmission / Radio, live transmission / [Verse 1] / Listen to the silence, let it ring on / Eyes, dark grey lenses frightened of the sun / We would have a
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Joy Division – Digital
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This song first appeared on “A Factory Sample,” the first vinyl record released by Factory Records. It was also the last song played live by Joy Division at their Birmingham
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Joy Division – Warsaw
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The song appears to be a lyrical biography of Rudolf Hess, a Nazi and Hitler’s confidante, who later became disillusioned with Hitler’s rule and fled to Scotland in an attempt to
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Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart
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The lyrics ostensibly reflect the problems in Ian Curtis’s marriage to Deborah Curtis, as well as his general frame of mind in the time leading up to his suicide in May 1980.
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Joy Division – Atrocity Exhibition
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The title of this track comes from J.G. Ballard’s disturbing, surrealistic short story collection The Atrocity Exhibition, which sees a name-changing protagonist creating bizarre
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Joy Division – Ice Age
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One of the first and most punk-oriented songs in the Joy Division catalogue, it was written and first recorded when the band was still called Warsaw. The nuclear war theme would
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Joy Division – Novelty
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Joy Division has stated that this song is about the 1970’s punk scene coming to an end.
All the young generation of that era lived for an ideal, the punk ideal. And now that the
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Joy Division – Walked in Line
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Ian Curtis, Stephen Morris, Peter Hook and Bernard Sumner settled stated that all their fathers had fought in World War II. That’s why
Joy Division talks a lot about Nazism in
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Joy Division – Twenty Four Hours
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[Verse 1] / So this is permanence, love's shattered pride / What once was innocence, turned on its side / A cloud hangs over me, marks every move / Deep in the memory, of what once
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Joy Division – Ceremony (Live at Birmingham University, Birmingham, 2nd May 1980)
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One of the primary and captivating differences between the initial Joy Division version of ‘Ceremony’ and New Order’s take are the lyrics. Curtis’s original lyrics were never
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Joy Division – Exercise One
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[Verse 1] / When you're looking at life in a strange new room / Maybe drowning soon, is this the start of it all? / Turn on your TV, turn down your pulse / Turn away from it all
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Joy Division – The Eternal
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Arguably the bleakest thing the band ever recorded, “The Eternal” is a slow and atmospheric track built around a repetitive bassline and reverb-laden drums and piano. According to
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Joy Division – A Means to an End [Live At Birmingham University]
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[Verse 1] / A legacy so far removed / One day will be improved / Eternal rights we left behind / We were the better kind / Two the same, set free too / [Chorus] / I always looked
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Joy Division – From Safety to Where...?
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This was originally supposed to be on Unknown Pleasures and were recorded during the same sessions of all of the other songs of the album. Why in the end it wasn’t included in the
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Joy Division – The Sound of Music
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[Verse 1] / See my true reflection cut off my own connections / I can see life getting harder / So sad is this sensation, reverse the situation / I can't see it getting better / [
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Joy Division – Isolation
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“Isolation” is probably the Joy Division track that is most prophetic of the group’s New Order future, with its relatively upbeat feel and bright-sounding synths. However, the
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Joy Division – Glass
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[Verse 1] / Hearts fail / Young hearts fail / Anytime, pressurised / Overheat, overtired / Take it quick, take it neat / Clasp your hands, touch your feet / Take it quick, take it
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Joy Division – Something Must Break
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[Intro] / One, two, three, four / [Verse 1] / Two ways to choose / A razor's edge / Remain behind / Go straight ahead / Room full of people / Room for just one / If I can't break
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Joy Division – Shadowplay [Live at Birmingham University]
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[Verse 1] / To the center of the city where all roads meet waiting for you / To the depths of the ocean where all hopes sank searching for you / I was moving through the silence
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New Order – Dreams Never End
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The opening track on their debut album Movement. New Order set new heights after the demise of their former band Joy Division and the suicide of Ian Curtis. The song title is a
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Joy Division – Leaders of Men
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Being released closer to the birth of the band, “Leaders of Men” comes up with a more punk, political vibe than the rest of their later work and appeared on their debut EP An Ideal
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Joy Division – Decades
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[Verse 1] / Here are the young men, the weight on their shoulders / Here are the young men, well where have they been? / We knocked on the doors of Hell's darker chamber / Pushed
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