Blue Monday
16. New Order Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To treat me like you do?
When you've laid your hands upon me
And told me who you are?
Thought I was mistaken
I thought I heard your words
Tell me, how do I feel?
Tell me now, how do I feel?
Those who came before me
Lived through their vocations
From the past until completion
They'll turn away no more
And I still find it so hard
To say what I need to say
But I'm quite sure that you'll tell me
Just how I should feel today
I see a ship in the harbour
I can and shall obey
But if it wasn't for your misfortune
I'd be a heavenly person today
And I thought I was mistaken
And I thought I heard you speak
Tell me, how do I feel?
Tell me now, how should I feel?
Now I stand here waiting
I thought I told you to leave me
While I walked down to the beach
Tell me, how does it feel
When your heart grows cold?
In Blue Monday, New Order sings about the confusion and pain that comes with a failing relationship. The singer of the song is trying to understand how their partner treated them so poorly despite all their love and effort. The opening lines ask how it feels to treat someone badly, making the partner aware of their cruel behavior. The singer feels hurt and betrayed after their partner has revealed themselves to be someone different than they thought.
Then, the song takes a turn and talks about those who came before, hinting at the theme of legacy and the idea of how people pass on knowledge and experience to those who come after. The singer finds it difficult to say what they need to say, indicating a communication breakdown in the relationship. The lines “But I'm quite sure that you'll tell me, just how I should feel today” depict how sometimes others try to tell us how we should feel instead of letting us process our emotions.
The final verse is the singer waiting while their partner has gone off, deciding whether they want to be with them or not. They feel frustrated and betrayed by their partner’s actions and the line “Tell me, how does it feel when your heart grows cold?” expresses how deeply hurt they are.
Overall, Blue Monday is an introspective song that highlights the pain resulting from miscommunication and the misaligned expectations in love relationships.
Line by Line Meaning
How does it feel
Asking how it feels when someone is treated badly
To treat me like you do?
Questioning why someone treats the singer so poorly
When you've laid your hands upon me
Referring to physical abuse or mistreatment
And told me who you are?
Asserting dominance over the artist by revealing their identity
Thought I was mistaken
Feeling unsure about the situation
I thought I heard your words
Suspecting that the other person is lying or being deceitful
Tell me, how do I feel?
Asking the other person to acknowledge the singer's emotions
Tell me now, how do I feel?
Repeating the question to emphasize the importance of understanding the artist's feelings
Those who came before me
Referring to previous generations and their experiences
Lived through their vocations
Finding purpose and identity through their work
From the past until completion
Through their lives until death
They'll turn away no more
No longer ignoring or overlooking the struggles of others
And I still find it so hard
Admitting difficulty in expressing oneself
To say what I need to say
Struggling to communicate effectively
But I'm quite sure that you'll tell me
Expecting the other person to be condescending or dismissive
Just how I should feel today
Believing that the other person will dictate the artist's emotions
I see a ship in the harbour
Observing a ship in the distance
I can and shall obey
Willing to follow orders or expectations
But if it wasn't for your misfortune
Blaming the other person for one's own shortcomings or failures
I'd be a heavenly person today
Expressing regret or longing for a better life
And I thought I was mistaken
Doubting one's own perception or understanding of the situation
And I thought I heard you speak
Misinterpreting the other person's words or actions
Tell me, how do I feel?
Repeating the question to seek validation or understanding
Tell me now, how should I feel?
Questioning the other person's authority over the artist's emotions
Now I stand here waiting
Waiting for a response or resolution
I thought I told you to leave me
Remembering a previous request for space or distance
While I walked down to the beach
Leaving the situation to find solace or clarity
Tell me, how does it feel
Asking the other person to consider their own emotions or actions
When your heart grows cold?
Questioning the other person's empathy or compassion towards the artist
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Gillian Lesley Gilbert, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Stephen Paul David Morris
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@UrosBjedov
0:00-0:16 - Kick
0:16-0:30 - Kick & Synth
0:30-0:59 - Drums, Synth & Synth Bass
0:59-1:03 - Hi-hats
1:03-1:18 - Drums & Synth Bass
1:18-1:33 - Drums, Synth Bass & Bass Guitar
1:33-1:36 - Drum fill
1:36-2:09 - Drums, Synth Bass, Choir & Strings
2:09-3:07 - Vocals, Synth Bass, Synth, Drums, Bass Guitar
3:07-3:21 - Drums, Synth Bass, Synth, Trumpet
3:21-3:34 - Drums, Sampling
3:34-4:02 - Vocals, Bass Guitar, Synth, Synth Bass
4:02-4:17 - Bass Guitar, Synth, Synth Bass, Drums
4:17-4:32 - Vocals, Synth Bass, Synth, Drums
4:32-4:47 - Drums, Bass Guitar, Synth, Synth Bass
4:52-5:24 - Drums, Synth Bass, Synth, Trumpet, Slapping
5:24-5:46 - Drums, Kick, Drum fills
5:46-6:08 - Drums, Synth Bass, Choir
6:08-6:22 - Drums, Synth Bass, Bass Guitar, Choir
6:24-7:30 - Drums, Synth, Strings, Synth Bass, Bass Guitar
@Xenwarrior5
So you know, this video is based off of how the original single was sold.
It was sold in a sleeve designed to look like a floppy disc, with the band and song's name printed on one edge with a colored block code. Due to the way the paper sleeves had to be made, how many colors were in the code, and the total lack of faith in this song selling any copies, it was actually sold for less than it cost to print. So, of course, it got so popular that it nearly bankrupted the printing company.
EDIT: In case you were wondering if the code is exactly the same in this video as it is on the album, the answer is YES. The code was used by the artist Peter Saville, who used it on four albums:
Power, Corruption and Lies; by New Order: FACT75 (also comes with decoder ring seen on this video's opening shot)
Blue Monday; by New Order: FAC 73 BLUE MONDAY AND THE BEACH NEW ORDER
Confusion; by New Order: FAC 93
It was also used on the cover of From the Hip by Section 25, unfortunately, the only picture I can find of the cover is so blurry I can't actually make out the code.
Also worth mentioning; they initially wrote this song because the band never did encores (which might explain the lyrics), and they wanted a song that they could just push a button on the synth machine and leave the audience to it. But they started having too much fun getting this weird, experimental (for the time) song to work, so they packaged it as a single, and have since become known to play this song as an encore.
@sephalon1
1:37: Based on the letter codes in the rest of the video, the text on the side of the floppy reads "FAC? BLUE MONDAY AND". The question mark is the fourth character from the top, which doesn't appear anywhere in the song. It should be noted that between the first space and the letter "B" there appears to be a letter that is black on the left and gray on the right, but that isn't a letter at all. It is the orientation notch of the floppy disk itself. So no letter was placed there at all.
Throughout the song, all letters are represented except X and Z. When putting the codes next to the letters in order, a very obvious pattern emerges. The letters are encoded in base 10. A=1, B=2, C=3, and so on. The colors are:
0=White
1=Green
2=Yellow
3=Pink
4=Orange
5=Cyan
6=Pink
7=Navy Blue
8=Magenta
9=Blue
For the first nine letters (A through I), they are simply solid blocks with their number's color. All subsequent letters are two rectangles, the left being the tens digit and the right being the ones digit. Example: U is the 21st letter of the alphabet, so its icon is Yellow on the left, green on the right.
From this pattern we can deduce that, although never shown, the letter X (24th letter of the alphabet) would be yellow on the left, orange on the right. And Z (26th letter) would be yellow on the left and pink on the right.
The mystery character is Navy Blue on the left and purple on the right, which would correspond to letter number 73 - far outside the range of possible letters. So this is either a mistake or a simple artistic choice. While the center portion of the message "BLUE MONDAY" makes perfect sense, the words before and after, "FAC?" and "AND" don't seem to make sense, even though the latter is a word.
A final note: There is a typo in the video. At 3:06 in the line "Just how I should feel today", the "T" in "just" is represented by a solid green square (which is "A"). In all other cases, T is correctly represented as Yellow on the left, White on the right.
And finally, the codes at the very beginning of the video read, unsurprisingly, "NEW ORDER BLUE MONDAY"
I have a lot of free time.
UPDATE: The record label that produced "Blue Monday" was named "Factory 73". This explains the "FAC" followed by the 73 character. The "AND" at the end is explained because the full name of the single was "BLUE MONDAY AND THE BEACH". Because it was released as a 45rpm record and the B-side was the New Order song "The Beach".
@simonzabell9770
@@chonkz5858
Goose bumps, goosebumps or goose-pimples[1] are the bumps on a person's skin at the base of body hairs which may involuntarily develop when a person is tickled, cold or experiencing strong emotions such as fear, euphoria or sexual arousal.[2]
Goosebumps
Other names
Goose-pimples, goose-skin, goose-flesh, cutis anserina, horripilation, horripilatio
The formation of goose bumps in humans under stress is considered to be a vestigial reflex.[3] Its function in other apes is to raise the body's hair, and would have made human ancestors appear larger to scare off predators or to increase the amount of air trapped in the fur to make it more insulating. The reflex of producing goose bumps is known as piloerection or the pilomotor reflex, or, more traditionally,[4] horripilation. It occurs in many mammals; a prominent example is porcupines, which raise their quills when threatened, or sea otters when they encounter sharks or other predators.
Wikipedia
Hope that helps :-)
@UrosBjedov
0:00-0:16 - Kick
0:16-0:30 - Kick & Synth
0:30-0:59 - Drums, Synth & Synth Bass
0:59-1:03 - Hi-hats
1:03-1:18 - Drums & Synth Bass
1:18-1:33 - Drums, Synth Bass & Bass Guitar
1:33-1:36 - Drum fill
1:36-2:09 - Drums, Synth Bass, Choir & Strings
2:09-3:07 - Vocals, Synth Bass, Synth, Drums, Bass Guitar
3:07-3:21 - Drums, Synth Bass, Synth, Trumpet
3:21-3:34 - Drums, Sampling
3:34-4:02 - Vocals, Bass Guitar, Synth, Synth Bass
4:02-4:17 - Bass Guitar, Synth, Synth Bass, Drums
4:17-4:32 - Vocals, Synth Bass, Synth, Drums
4:32-4:47 - Drums, Bass Guitar, Synth, Synth Bass
4:52-5:24 - Drums, Synth Bass, Synth, Trumpet, Slapping
5:24-5:46 - Drums, Kick, Drum fills
5:46-6:08 - Drums, Synth Bass, Choir
6:08-6:22 - Drums, Synth Bass, Bass Guitar, Choir
6:24-7:30 - Drums, Synth, Strings, Synth Bass, Bass Guitar
@phantom1715
Ok
@brunocriar
👏👏👏👏👏
@marklee1376
Thanks for this👏👏👏👍
@benjaminriveramorales5205
god has abandoned us
@p8ntballrDemon6667
@@phantom1715 This is useful even if it isn't to you. If one wanted to sample this is a good guide where to find the bit you wanted very easily for example.
@charlessomerset9754
As a club dj in the eighties, my fondest memory was the moment I could drop this masterpiece into my set. People would freak the fuck out, nearly tearing their clothes in an effort to get to the dance floor. I have never before and rarely since seen dancers experiencing such moments of total kinetic bliss. The word "floorgasm" was coined just to describe that scene. One of the highpoints of my 25+ years working as a DJ.
P.s. It's a year since I wrote this. Just wanted to thank all those who have shared their experiences and memories of this legendary track. The stories that you've told me are as varied as they are amazing. In clubs, on the radio, in the car. It still amazes me to this day that one track could change so many lives and fill people with such joy. So thanks again.
@FloodlightGamingReal
Did djs use aliases back then or is that a more recent thing, and if you did what was yours I'm legit curious
@charlessomerset9754
@@FloodlightGamingReal Not really. That was before the whole superstar dj Keoki sort of thing. People appreciated what I did, but few really cared what my name was. I just used my last name, which was Summers. A few clubs, a lot of private house parties, and a ton of Sci fi and fantasy conventions. Thanks for asking. I have some great memories. A little hazy, to be sure. It was a crazy sexy decade. Lots of blow, the introduction of E, and every person under 30 partying like we weren't going to survive the millennium. But I wouldn't change anything.
@jesescareno4498
Best comment of 2021! Got my laughing in my seat.