postpunk:

The Top 35 Or So Songs of the 80’s

#15: New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle (Single Version)

A couple days ago, Some Songs Considered did this song, and I said to myself, “Brian you bastard, you scooped me!” He does a characteristically insightful job with the song, but fortunately for us, he chose a different (inferior) version of the song, which we shall henceforth refer to as the “bummer mix” since it’s not a peppy dance song and it obscures the honesty of the lyrics behind meretricious sound effects. It’s no wonder that Brian finds the narrator an indecisive sadsack—the bummer mix guts the part where a choir sings the chorus and in fact celebrates the narrator’s position as ambivalently dedicated bystander.

Brian’s prey/pray pun is apt and incisive: The narrator dramatically prays upon seeing his unrequited crush falling and he’s lying in wait for that final moment. The dance mix strongly prefers the knight-in-shining-synths heroism of the situation, which is a most brazen self-delusion: I’m not just a friend-zoned guy with a crush—I’m just waiting until she needs to be rescued! Context is crucial, and the bummer mix exposes his passivity while this mix glorifies the dilemma. We can’t help but relate either way.