Dreams Never End

Album: Movement (1981)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • New Order were formed in 1980 following the death of Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis. The group comprised the surviving members plus drummer Stephen Morris's girlfriend and future wife, Gillian Gilbert.
  • This is the opening track of their debut album Movement. The song title is a play on a line off the Joy Division tune "Insight," which goes, "Guess your dreams always end."
  • This was the first time that Peter Hook wrote a bass riff around a song.
  • The New Order quartet were undecided over who should fill the role of lead vocalist when they first started recording Movement. All three male members were in contention and bassist Peter Hook sang lead on this song and "Doubts Even Here", before they finally decided that Bernard Sumner should take the main vocalist's role. Hook later recalled to TeamRock:

    "The whole song was written on a six-string bass, and I sang as well, which was quite unusual. So it was unusual for me to play – I was a singing bass player, which I always think are the kiss of death. Until I became one, and then I realised it was the kiss of death!

    We'd just lost our singer, so that was very daunting. It's amazing how vulnerable and naked you feel singing. I realise now why people play and sing, because it's so much better. Even now, if I break a string and I lose the guitar, I really feel like my pants have fallen down."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn YankeesSongwriter Interviews

Revisit the awesome glory of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees: cheesily-acted videos, catchy guitar licks, long hair, and lyrics that are just plain relatable.

Glen Ballard

Glen BallardSongwriter Interviews

Glen Ballard talks about co-writing and producing Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill album, and his work with Dave Matthews, Aerosmith and Annie Lennox.

Randy Newman

Randy NewmanSongwriting Legends

Newman makes it look easy these days, but in this 1974 interview, he reveals the paranoia and pressures that made him yearn for his old 9-5 job.

They Might Be Giants

They Might Be GiantsSongwriter Interviews

Who writes a song about a name they found in a phone book? That's just one of the everyday things these guys find to sing about. Anything in their field of vision or general scope of knowledge is fair game. If you cross paths with them, so are you.

Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics)

Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics)Songwriter Interviews

Mike Rutherford talks about the "Silent Running" storyline and "Land Of Confusion" in the age of Trump.