Special

Like many of Bernard Sumner's lyrics, initially this one can be interpreted as being about either drugs or a relationship (check out the lyrics to World off this same Republic album for a stronger example of that) However, many of the songs on this album are referencing the demise of Factory Records which happened during the recording process and the sense of betrayal that Barney felt from his longtime friend Factory empresario Tony Wilson. This one seems to be focused more so on that failure and the band's reaction to it. Some of the lyrics seem to be personally addressing the problem ("Patiently you wait for me, You're so blind...") and the rest add to the feeling of melancholy at a dream destroyed. Bones points for the almost poetic nature of some lines.... "Written in my destiny Life is but a dream Covered by the sky" "Drowning in the endless sea" And if they were going to break up after this album - which was a considerable possibility at the time as the band pretty much stopped talking to each other, bickered in the press, etc - this would've been a fine song to sing at the end of a band's career. One of my favorite New Order tracks (if you couldn't tell).