Wayback Whensday: Joy Division's "Ceremony"

As the final song written and recorded by Joy Division's Ian Curtis, "Ceremony" carries a gloominess and portent that contrasts the song's decidedly upbeat tone (for a JD song, that is). A bit of history for the uninitiated... Two recordings exist of Curtis' swan song. The first is a rehearsal recording and can be found on the Heart and Soul compilation. The second appears on the compilation album Still and was recorded during the band's final concert at Birmingham University -- sixteen days before Curtis' suicide. He was 23.

After Curtis' death, as with so many bands abandoned by a gifted, ill-fated leader, Joy Division pressed on. They renamed themselves as New Order and rerecorded "Ceremony" twice (first with new vocalist Bernard Sumner, and later after guitarist Gillian Gilbert joined the group). As you can tell from Curtis' original recordings (after the jump), the lyrics are nearly inaudible, and Sumner had to put the rehearsal version through a graphic equalizer to determine what they were.

As a tribute to this storied, truly incredible song, I'm posting as many versions as I can get my hands on, including covers by Galaxie 500, Xiu Xiu, and -- awwww -- Radiohead.

Please be patient, as Imeem is sometimes slow loading... The first track is the rehearsal; the second is the live recording (it starts a few seconds into the song, but is the full version.)



Radiohead performing "Ceremony" on their Radiohead TV webcast, Nov. 9, 2007.