The final and most haunting song of Joy Division's Closer album, almost guaranteed to prompt an introspective reverie throughout the duration of its play.

I went so far as to nominate it as a write-in for the theme song of my high school senior class, but it never gained any further support, sadly enough. In that time of my life, at the age of seventeen, I thought it was an accurate enough musical portrayal of what my last four years there had been like, especially taking into account how damned helpless I felt until the very end of it. But apparently the rest of the student body were hell-bent on stifling such painful memories ("Free Bird" won by a large margin). Either that, or they still had a shred or two of optimism left with regard to their respective futures.

*Sigh*

DECADES

Copyright 1980 by Joy Division

Here are the young men, the weight on their shoulders,
Here are the young men, well where have they been?
We knocked on the doors of Hell's darker chamber,
Pushed to the limit, we dragged ourselves in,
Watched from the wings as the scenes were replaying,
We saw ourselves now as we never had seen.
Portrayal of the trauma and degeneration,
The sorrows we suffered and never were free.

Where have they been?
Where have they been?
Where have they been?
Where have they been?

Weary inside, now our heart's lost forever,
Can't replace the fear, or the thrill of the chase,
Each ritual showed up the door for our wanderings,
Open then shut, then slammed in our face.

Where have they been?
Where have they been?
Where have they been?
Where have they been?

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