Front page

Blarchive

Monday Music: Surprised by perception

11 May 10 | Re: Bizarrely affective turn of phrase

A day late again, here’s Monday Music for Tuesday and the chosen tune is another goodie. It’s a New Order song and I’m not sure how well known it is - it’s not right up there with Regret but I suppose it must be in the top ten:

New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle on We7

The above linked version is actually Bizarre Love Triangle ’94, the remix that appeared on their weird best-of. I think this is the superior version - it gets to the point a bit more and ditches some of the extraneous 80sness.

Remixology aside, this track is a good example of the fine line between lyrical genius and lyrical shipwreck. When I first heard it I found some of the rhyming a bit of a cringe to be honest (if slightly better than Thieves Like Us which I swear sounds like he’s making it up as he goes along). But then I reached a certain situation in life and it was uncanny - one after another, each successive line stuck its finger right on another facet of the exact way I was feeling. Truly bizarre.

So I can conclude that I and whichever member of New Order wrote that song have both experienced the exact same mix of hope, uncertainty, awkwardness, quasi-religious devotion and conflicting morality that the song describes. Maybe we’re the only two people on the planet who have. Take a listen and tell me: have you?

Posted by THE LION OF HARLESDEN at 21:59

[Back to main blog]

[Or dive into the blarchive...]

---

Take me home