In June 2007 just after I had been selected in the Australian Masters Dragon Boat Team, I bought an MP3 player to use at the Gym while I trained. Did not have any music CD's, so one night after training I wandered into a Music Store in King Street Newtown. Was not looking for anything in particular, but I noticed a Double CD Set by New Order and bought a copy on pure speculation.
When I listened to the songs, I was familiar with quite a few of them. One song I had not heard of was Ceremony. I was instantly drawn to the song. It has a complicated history which you can follow on wikipedia. I love the bass guitar that drives the song. The lyrics are a bit of a mystery to me, but I guess like most things you can make it mean what you want for you. My feeling is that you need to have an understanding of the life and death of the song's author, Ian Curtis and the band Joy Division, the predecessor to New Order. A sad story really.
It's almost 4 years since I first heard the song, but I still enjoy it as much as the first time I heard it.
There are many Ceremony Videos on Youtube. I picked the one above because I liked the video. It reminded me of my time in London and a Park (Grosvenor Square which featured in Episode 8 of Series 7 of Spooks I had seen a month early back in Sydney - I recognised the Park instantly from the Spooks Episode) I sat in before I went to see the Murray Fredericks Exhibition in Mayfair. I have a few photos I might dig out of the archives.
Ceremony
This is why events unnerve me,
Define it all, a different story,
Notice whom for wheels are turning,
Turn again and turn towards this time,
All she ask's the strength to hold me,
Then again the same old story,
Word will travel, oh so quickly,
Travel first and lean towards this time.
Oh, I'll break them down, no mercy shown,
Heaven knows, it's got to be this time,
What she heard, these things she said,
The times she cried,
Too frail to wake this time.
I break them down, no mercy shown,
Heaven knows, it's got to be this time,
Avenues all lined with trees,
Picture me and then you start watching,
Watching forever, forever,
Watching love grow, forever,
Letting me know, forever.
Funny, I was also listening to this song recently. One of my favourite Joy Division songs - there's only a couple of recordings, one of which is on Still.
ReplyDeleteYou might also like this.
The Ian Curtis "biopic" Control is really worth watching.
Charlotte. Thanks for the links (enjoyed Disorder).
ReplyDeleteSaw Control at the Newtown Dendy when it first came out. A sad story, but one worth knowing. Enjoyed the black and white film and Anton Corbijn's direction and influence on the cinematography. Loved the fact that the actors convinced Anton Corbijn to play some of the some songs for the movie (i.e. Transmission - it is fun to watch an actual recording by Joy Division in colour). Again the bass drives the song.