He reuses the verse melody from the previous album's "Dirty Little Religion", the topics of the verses are all over the place, and he packs too many words into one line (goes to show...) and too few in another (it's pretty hard to find), and rhymes "Henley Regatta" with "Persona non grata", but gets away with it all as only he could.
This is the room, the start of it all
No portrait so fine, only sheets on the wall
I've seen the nights, filled with bloodsport and pain
And the bodies obtained, the bodies obtained
Where will it end? Where will it end?
Where will it end? Where will it end?
These are your friends from childhood, through youth
Who goaded you on, demanded more proof
Withdrawal pain is hard, it can do you right in
So distorted and thin, distorted and thin
Where will it end? Where will it end?
Where will it end? Where will it end?
This is the car at the edge of the road
There's nothing disturbed, all the windows are closed
I guess you were right when we talked in the heat
There's no room for the weak, no room for the weak
Where will it end? Where will it end?
Where will it end? Where will it end?
This is the room, the start of it all
Through childhood, through youth, I remember it all
Oh, I've seen the nights filled with bloodsport and pain
And the bodies obtained, the bodies obtained, the bodies obtained
Where will it end? Where will it end?
Where will it end? Where will it end?
No portrait so fine, only sheets on the wall
I've seen the nights, filled with bloodsport and pain
And the bodies obtained, the bodies obtained
Where will it end? Where will it end?
Where will it end? Where will it end?
These are your friends from childhood, through youth
Who goaded you on, demanded more proof
Withdrawal pain is hard, it can do you right in
So distorted and thin, distorted and thin
Where will it end? Where will it end?
Where will it end? Where will it end?
This is the car at the edge of the road
There's nothing disturbed, all the windows are closed
I guess you were right when we talked in the heat
There's no room for the weak, no room for the weak
Where will it end? Where will it end?
Where will it end? Where will it end?
This is the room, the start of it all
Through childhood, through youth, I remember it all
Oh, I've seen the nights filled with bloodsport and pain
And the bodies obtained, the bodies obtained, the bodies obtained
Where will it end? Where will it end?
Where will it end? Where will it end?
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More Featured Meanings
Corpse I Fell In Love With
Gadjits, The
Gadjits, The
The Spy
Doors, The
Doors, The
Like a lot of the other comments are saying, I think this mainly about voyeurism. If the song was about his girlfriend, then why would he use the word spy. If you are a spy it means you shouldn't be caught, that is kind of the whole point, and if you are a voyeur, the whole point of the pleasure you get from it, is the fact that the other people don't know you are watching them. See a bit of a connection there?
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Yes they got a similar touch in the vocals.
This song is for me about someone who have been distorted through childhood and have given up hope for mankind, even in a wider perspective, as an adult.
I guess I should comment on this song because of my username.
If you think about it, "the bodies obtained" could refer to birth as well as death.
i always detected a reference to the horrors of WWII
Wow, in all my years of listening to this song I never saw World War II in this, in others but not this one.
I personally think this is totally about being born and the agony of growing up and living. The first stanza I can only believe to be the description of a delivery room in a hospital:
"This is the room, the start of it all No portraits so fine, only sheets on the wall I've seen the nights full of bloodsport and pain And the bodies obtained, the bodies obtained"
Like I've said, I just can't see how that can be interpreted any other way. A delivery room is the start of it all, there are sheets for privacy, it's somewhat bloody and the body is indeed obtained at birth.
@brokenmach1ne <br /> <br /> Bang on, this is the only way I see it to mean. The hospital forming a full circle, where people come when they are hurt in fights and whatever else.
I took it as not only an indictement of World War 2 but all wars, all the pain and horror that we humans like to inflict on each other. The references to childhood I think are about kids growing up and realising that the world isn't all sunshine and roses and how impossible it is to cope with that without joining in to the problem.
I always took it to be about war atrocities; however, I can also see that it could be about childhood suffering. It might be interpreted as a "Lord of the Flies" allegory.
I heard this song shortly after reading 'Lord Of The Flies' and also made this connection - after all, there are a lot of literary allusions in Ian Curtis' lyrics. Definitely, it seems to be about how easily the mask of civilisation can slip. I always find the lines "I guess you were right, when we talked in the heat, /<br /> There's no room for the weak," to be deeply chilling. Deborah Curtis also wrote that Ian was obsessed with reading about 20th century atrocities; he was trying to come to terms with the horrors of the modern world.<br />
I think this song is about the general agony of life, how it never stops being a fight, and how the weak are defeated by the mercilessness of the world.
The references to birth, youth, are about being brought into a painful existence, and how the innocence of youth was taken by a cruel world and friends who wouldn't accept the person as he was. The bodies obtained and nights with bloodsport and pain seem to be general images of a mechanical (death in a factory sense, bodies being gathered) and savage world.
The car at the edge of the road - a suicide scene. The car is undisturbed, no one has tried to break in, it's an unremarkable sight. There's no room for the weak - this person didn't have the strength to survive.
Overall an extremely bleak song.. but awesome. Obviously open to interpretation... that's just mine.
@zepkid5678 Yeah this is exactly how I have always interpreted it.<br /> <br /> "Through childhood, through youth, I remember it all"<br /> <br /> <br /> Where will it end, indeed
I definitely get the feeling the lyrics are about how his childhood was an unpleasant one due to the other children making fun of him or goading him into doing the wrong things.
I always thought this was a self-relfection from Ian Curtis. He was clearly distrubed about his epilepsy. I always assumed other kids made fun of him. "These are your friends from childhood, through youth, Who goaded you on, demanded more proof".
Day of the Lords is a reference to the "normal" kids who damage all those that appear/act different. "And the bodies obtained, the bodies obtained."
Does anybody else notice that "Where will it end?" kind of sounds like "Where have they been?" from the song "Decades"?