The term “post-punk” may erroneously suggest a “lessening of intensity” when, if anything, “Disorder” delivers a more intimate wallop than the (nevertheless enjoyable) anti-authoritarian rails typical of many earlier punk bands. Building upon forceful music that simulates the careening velocity of a careless and callous society, “Disorder” steeps itself in the lyrics of alienation as the singer attempts to wring meaning from the blight surrounding him. “Disorder” easily retains its relevance many years later in a [fill in the blank] world.
Feeling, Feeling, Feeling,
Feeling, Feeling, Feeling, Feeling
From the “searching” quality of
the opening line — waiting for a mortal or supernatural “guide” — to the song’s
puzzling divergence, “I’ve got the spirit, lose the feeling,” Joy Division’s
singer, Ian Curtis, seeks to simply inhabit the (unknown) “pleasures of a
normal man.” Yet a kind of manic fright
takes hold in “Disorder,” as commonplace yearnings perpetually escape his
grasp. With the music as both a reminder of chaos and source of familiar patterns,
Curtis attempts to definitively parse the gap between [having] the spirit and
[losing] the feeling.
When first encountering the song, some may glance past the title, “Disorder,” despite
its connection to multiple scaffolds of interpretation. In our review of
“Digital,” we noted that Curtis dealt with severe medical conditions and regrettably
took his own life. But the “disrepair” in this song may ultimately reside within a
society that cannot “spare the insults” aimed at someone who might contend with
an “ill-fitting” condition; notably, the same society also abandoned the “no man’s land” of decaying
working class neighborhoods. Before the emphatic plea of the song’s finish,
Curtis touches on, perhaps, an unresolved romantic disconnection, pledging “we
will meet again.”
Curtis and his bandmates thus racket a variety
of concepts — societal estrangement, urban decay, interpersonal rift — toward a
ringing outcome. We imagine the setting of this song caught between the indifferent
showers of sodium lamps, a dissonant nocturnal landscape where “lights are
flashing, cars are crashing.” By affirming his abiding “spirit,” Curtis would
seem to underscore a percentage of piety (or righteousness) yet the clipped
language — “I’ve got the spirit, but lose the feeling” — further emphasizes the
tragic dashing of this vulnerability. By shouting “feeling” seven times at the
conclusion of “Digital,” Curtis may be challenging all of us to be “permeable.”
Coda
There is, of course, an
“intangible” when it comes to the greatness of Joy Division. It may have to do
with surprising variations in technique, as with the musicians — Peter
Hook (bass), Stephen Morris (drums), and Bernard Sumner (guitar)
— compelling their instruments to speak in idioms that reimagine our radial
pulses. It may have to do with the unvarnished character of Curtis’s voice as
well as his propensity for awkward (but beguiling) dances at the microphone.
Songs like “Disorder” and “Digital” (in addition to other Joy Division
masterpieces) burrow into us with the “acids of outrage” as well as asymmetrical
“maps of grief.” A glimmering system of points, equal parts diffraction, timbre,
chordal, voicings, traces. Echoes without a source.
Mark Lanegan
Joy Division / “Disorder” / Lyrics and Discography
I’ve been waiting for a guide to
come and take me by the hand
Could these sensations make me feel the pleasures of a normal man?
Lose sensations, spare the insults, leave them for another day
I’ve got the spirit, lose the feeling, take the shock away
It’s getting faster, moving
faster now, it’s getting out of hand
On the tenth floor, down the back stairs, it’s a no man’s land
Lights are flashing, cars are crashing, getting frequent now
I’ve got the spirit, lose the feeling, let it out somehow
What means to you, what means to
me, and we will meet again
I’m watching you, I’m watching, oh, I’ll take no pity from your friends
Who is right? Who can tell? And who gives a damn right now?
Until the spirit new sensation takes hold, then you know
Until the spirit new sensation takes hold, then you know
Until the spirit new sensation takes hold, then you know
I’ve got the spirit, but lose the
feeling
I’ve got the spirit, but lose the feeling
Feeling, feeling, feeling, feeling, feeling, feeling, feeling!
Discography
Joy Division. “Disorder.” Unknown Pleasures,
Factory FAC-10, “Outside” track 1. Manchester, England (1979). Personnel: Ian
Curtis (vocals), Peter Hook (bass), Stephen Morris (drums), and Bernard
Sumner (guitar). Compositional credit: Joy Division.
