How I Built “Blue Monday”
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'Songbook' is a UK TV program where various musicians explain and demonstrate how they wrote famous songs in their career. Last week it was the turn of Bernard Sumner.
Along the course of a 30 year career there were some interesting insights (Joy Division's distinctive bass sound happened because Bernard had his cheap amp turned up loud to get distortion and Peter Hook moved to the top strings to be heard above the racket) but none more so than how he wrote "Blue Monday".
He decided to take pieces from his favourite records of the time and put them together.
The bass line comes from Sylvester, "You Make Me Feel Mighty Real".
The arrangement is a duplication of Klein & MBO's "Dirty Talk". Not literally, but when they added an instrument or moved to a breakdown, he did the same.
The choir-like voices are Kraftwerk. While he didn't name the song, "Radio-Activity" is a very likely contender. Interestingly it also has a lot of other elements that show up in "Blue Monday".
The drums were from a Donna Summer song. This is intriguing, because most of her songs have a very 'rock' drum pattern. Was he referencing "I Feel Love"?
Put them all together and you get the world's most popular 12 inch single.
Bernard: "It isn't really a song, it's a machine."
Comments (22)
Jonh - killer post. Interesting to see the evolution, and that studio outtake - was/is the bomb.
Cheers,
Van
Weird, I always thought of that Sylvester song when I heard "Blue Monday" without being smart enough to know why....
wow, I have a few new order documentaries but this was probably the most interesting thing I have heard about my favorite band
Just goes to show that recycling can art in and of itself. "Blue Monday" will always bring a smile to my face, and knowing how it was written only adds to its appeal.
The white shorts, though ... ugh. ;)
Casting my vote as well ... great post! And I'm with Dale ... "Temptation" is my fave New Order song, and one of the best available videos of it comes from that same session ... it's hard to truly love the performance, good as it is, when those shorts are staring me in the face.
The movie 24 Hour People is a must see for Blue Monday fans!
The shorts win! I just kept thinking "gay bar" every time he moved.
Wow I had no idea.... I'll be keeping an eye on this show, Jonh, cheers!
White shorts and Blue Mondays for Evah ;)
Really analytical and insightful piece, Jonh. I'm having fun retracing the steps. Thank you!
now that is a 21st century piece of music writing, interactive, visual, and easy to follow
you are on the cutting edge sir ingham!
those shorts make me wanna go hit the treadmill though rather than build a hit frankenstein tune
very cool recap. i'd like to see the show sometime. just yesterday a friend and i were talking about how far-reaching kraftwerk's influence is. wonder how many top songs have borrowed from them in some way.
Remember watching and recording that live version of Blue Monday. They did five tracks at the BBC studios in Maida Vale, hence the dodgy vocals..
During the late 80's, early 90's the refused to play Blue Monday live and on the odd occassion they did, Bernard always introduced it as 'It's THAT fucking song again!'
Really nice post Jonh...
Great post John, thanks for the insight
Intriguing post, Jonh. It's odd looking at the final video and seeing most of them them just stand there looking at devices, creating a sound that evokes great movement.
I knew the various elements that were cribbed and knew that they had done it, but when you pull it all together like you did here, Jonh, it all seems so...diabolical!
"It's not a song, it's a machine." I just cracked up when Bernard said that, but it's so true. Part of the show is the artist playing acoustic versions and Bernard refused to play it on the reasonable grounds that it's impossible to play on acoustic guitar. That's when he said the quote. But part of me wondered if he was also thinking, as Neil said, 'It's THAT fucking song again!'
On the other hand, with 2 members of his new group he played a blinding version of 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'.
Excellent bit of history there.
Those shorts are, uh,... yikes.
I knew there was a reason I always dug that Donna Summer song.
Really fascinating. I didn't know any of this. Also didn't know of Klein & MBO, liking the song. That bassline on Sylvester's song is just killer. No wonder I fell hard for New Order, since they were emulating so many classic electronic/disco artists.
Yeah his listening tastes seem to reflect what every switched on arty type was listening to at the time. Like you I was unfamiliar with Klein and MBO.
John, check your mogmail. I sent you a message last week about an artist I think you might enjoy after our convo on Dr. Dre.
I don't know. Many songs have similar drum patterns and Bass Lines. The only one you referenced here that has any validity to me is the Sylvester song..
This is one beautiful post man.
And recycling and recontextualizing is old as dirt people.
-G.