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Day of the Lords Lyrics
This is the room, the start of it all
No portrait so fine, only sheets on the wall
I've seen the nights, filled with bloodsport and pain
And the bodies obtained, the bodies obtained
Where will it end? Where will it end?
Where will it end? Where will it end?
These are your friends, from childhood, through youth
Who goaded you on, demanded more proof
Withdrawal pain is hard - it can do you right in
So distorted and thin, distorted and thin
Where will it end? Where will it end?
Where will it end? Where will it end?
This is the car at the edge of the road
There's nothing disturbed, all the windows are closed
I guess you were right, when we talked in the heat
There's no room for the weak, no room for the weak
Where will it end? Where will it end?
Where will it end? Where will it end?
This is the room, the start of it all
Through childhood, through youth, I remember it all
I've seen the nights, filled with bloodsport and pain
And the bodies obtained, the bodies obtained
Where will it end? Where will it end?
Where will it end? Where will it end?
No portrait so fine, only sheets on the wall
I've seen the nights, filled with bloodsport and pain
And the bodies obtained, the bodies obtained
Where will it end? Where will it end?
Who goaded you on, demanded more proof
Withdrawal pain is hard - it can do you right in
So distorted and thin, distorted and thin
Where will it end? Where will it end?
There's nothing disturbed, all the windows are closed
I guess you were right, when we talked in the heat
There's no room for the weak, no room for the weak
Where will it end? Where will it end?
Through childhood, through youth, I remember it all
I've seen the nights, filled with bloodsport and pain
And the bodies obtained, the bodies obtained
Where will it end? Where will it end?
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Yes they got a similar touch in the vocals.
This song is for me about someone who have been distorted through childhood and have given up hope for mankind, even in a wider perspective, as an adult.
I guess I should comment on this song because of my username.
If you think about it, "the bodies obtained" could refer to birth as well as death.
i always detected a reference to the horrors of WWII
I took it as not only an indictement of World War 2 but all wars, all the pain and horror that we humans like to inflict on each other. The references to childhood I think are about kids growing up and realising that the world isn't all sunshine and roses and how impossible it is to cope with that without joining in to the problem.
I always took it to be about war atrocities; however, I can also see that it could be about childhood suffering. It might be interpreted as a "Lord of the Flies" allegory.
I heard this song shortly after reading 'Lord Of The Flies' and also made this connection - after all, there are a lot of literary allusions in Ian Curtis' lyrics. Definitely, it seems to be about how easily the mask of civilisation can slip. I always find the lines "I guess you were right, when we talked in the heat, / There's no room for the weak," to be deeply chilling. Deborah Curtis also wrote that Ian was obsessed with reading about 20th century atrocities; he was trying to come to terms with the horrors of the modern world.
I heard this song shortly after reading 'Lord Of The Flies' and also made this connection - after all, there are a lot of literary allusions in Ian Curtis' lyrics. Definitely, it seems to be about how easily the mask of civilisation can slip. I always find the lines "I guess you were right, when we talked in the heat, / There's no room for the weak," to be deeply chilling. Deborah Curtis also wrote that Ian was obsessed with reading about 20th century atrocities; he was trying to come to terms with the horrors of the modern world.
Wow, in all my years of listening to this song I never saw World War II in this, in others but not this one.
I personally think this is totally about being born and the agony of growing up and living. The first stanza I can only believe to be the description of a delivery room in a hospital:
"This is the room, the start of it all No portraits so fine, only sheets on the wall I've seen the nights full of bloodsport and pain And the bodies obtained, the bodies obtained"
Like I've said, I just can't see how that can be interpreted any other way. A delivery room is the start of it all, there are sheets for privacy, it's somewhat bloody and the body is indeed obtained at birth.
@brokenmach1ne
@brokenmach1ne
Bang on, this is the only way I see it to mean. The hospital forming a full circle, where people come when they are hurt in fights and whatever else.
Bang on, this is the only way I see it to mean. The hospital forming a full circle, where people come when they are hurt in fights and whatever else.
I think this song is about the general agony of life, how it never stops being a fight, and how the weak are defeated by the mercilessness of the world.
The references to birth, youth, are about being brought into a painful existence, and how the innocence of youth was taken by a cruel world and friends who wouldn't accept the person as he was. The bodies obtained and nights with bloodsport and pain seem to be general images of a mechanical (death in a factory sense, bodies being gathered) and savage world.
The car at the edge of the road - a suicide scene. The car is undisturbed, no one has tried to break in, it's an unremarkable sight. There's no room for the weak - this person didn't have the strength to survive.
Overall an extremely bleak song.. but awesome. Obviously open to interpretation... that's just mine.
@zepkid5678 Yeah this is exactly how I have always interpreted it.
@zepkid5678 Yeah this is exactly how I have always interpreted it.
"Through childhood, through youth, I remember it all"
"Through childhood, through youth, I remember it all"
Where will it end, indeed
Where will it end, indeed
To me, a song about drug use. The interior of a drug house. The mingling of smacked out people every night, trying to get a fix and sometimes dying from it. Peer pressure. The physical effects of use and abuse. The questioning of why keep doing this.
I definitely get the feeling the lyrics are about how his childhood was an unpleasant one due to the other children making fun of him or goading him into doing the wrong things.
I always thought this was a self-relfection from Ian Curtis. He was clearly distrubed about his epilepsy. I always assumed other kids made fun of him. "These are your friends from childhood, through youth, Who goaded you on, demanded more proof".
Day of the Lords is a reference to the "normal" kids who damage all those that appear/act different. "And the bodies obtained, the bodies obtained."