Listen to the isolated vocals for ‘Blue Monday’ by New Order
Every so often, a song comes around that completely transcends time and space, pushing its way into the hearts of the masses for generations to come. Most artists are lucky if they manage to put out a song with that kind of legacy even once during their career. For New Order, those enduring hits seemed to tumble out almost every time they took to the studio.
Between the jangly sounds of ‘Age of Consent’ and the endlessly danceable ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’, New Order forged countless hits that would permeate the USBs of DJs and the record collections of indie kids for decades. Amidst their widely successful discography, though, one track has aged better than any other.
It’s been four decades since ‘Blue Monday’ was first released, but the synth hit holds up just as well today as it did in 1983. A stark contrast to the melancholy its title implies, the now-iconic track comprised futuristic synths, soaring choir backing vocals, and glitchy soundscapes. It’s guaranteed to get people up on their feet and even takes the title for the most-sold 12-inch single ever.
The main appeal of ‘Blue Monday’ is, expectedly, in its dance-inciting soundscapes, but there is just as much to be praised in Bernard Sumner’s lyrics and vocals, which are characteristically blunt and straightforward on first listen. “How does it feel to treat me like you do?” he asks in the song’s opening moments, his words cutting through the instrumentation’s intensity.
Throughout the track, his vocals remain just as intentional in their delivery and as vague in their content. “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,” he declares at the mid-point of the seven-minute epic.
His words are open to interpretation, freely allowing listeners to paste their own feelings and experiences onto them. Still, they retain a calculated intensity that matches their surrounding instrumentation. This vagueness was exactly what the band intended, as Peter Hook once recalled in a conversation with the Guardian, “They’re not about Ian Curtis; we wanted it to be vague.”
As for the iconic title, Hook borrowed it from rock and roll songwriter Fats Domino: “He had a song called ‘Blue Monday’ and it was a Monday and we were all miserable so I thought, ‘Oh, that’s quite apt.’” It certainly matches the vague melancholy and manipulation within the lyricism, a fittingly bleak title that works against the synth-happy instrumentation.
Sumner’s words only hit harder in the isolated vocal version of the track, which removes all of those iconic synths and rhythms, allowing you to really focus on the lyrics and interpret them in your own way.
Listen to the isolated vocals for ‘Blue Monday’ by New Order below.
