Insight Lyrics
Guess your dreams always end
They don't rise up, just descend
But I don't care anymore
I've lost the will to want more
I'm not afraid not at all
I watch them all as they fall
But I remember
When we were young
[Verse 2]
Those with habits of waste
Their sense of style and good taste
Of making sure you were right
Hey, don't you know you were right?
I'm not afraid anymore
I keep my eyes on the door
But I remember
[Verse 3]
Tears of sadness for you
More upheaval for you
Reflects a moment in time
A special moment in time
Yeah, we wasted our time
We didn't really have time
But we remember
When we were young
About
“Insight” is perhaps one of the most overlooked Joy Division songs and probably one of their saddest, too. It is the track from Unknown Pleasures that most explicitly deals with the theme of death and Curtis’s apathy towards living, which he rages about over a gentle but driving rhythm section.
The song begins with the sound of a lift at Strawberry Studios, where the album was recorded.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
‘Insight’ is one of my favourite songs and also one of my favourite bass riffs. […] There was a rumour that he’d [Martin Hannett, producer] recorded the lead vocal down a telephone line to get the distortion just right, but I doubt that’s true; in those days it would have been very difficult to achieve. I reckon he would have ‘pumped’ the vocal. This was a technique that he pioneered, where you used an external speaker in a very ambient room. Using a fader on the desk, you’d send the signal out into the room at a suitable volume and bring it back through a microphone into the control room to mix in with the original track.
– Peter Hook via his memoir, Unknown Pleasures (2012)
The “pumped” technique he describes was also used for the piano on “Transmission” and the kick drum on New Order’s “Blue Monday”.
- 1.Disorder
- 3.Candidate
- 4.Insight
- 7.Shadowplay
- 8.Wilderness
- 9.Interzone
