Radiohead Covers Joy Division’s Ceremony
From a livestream recorded many years ago, this is Radiohead covering Joy Division’s Ceremony. The song was originally written by Joy Division but the version most people know is New Order’s — it was their first single. From Wikipedia:
“Ceremony” was one of the last Joy Division songs to be composed, with lyrics written by Ian Curtis. According to guitarist Bernard Sumner, the group wrote the song a few weeks before Ian Curtis died “to try and heal him through music” and keep him “involved in the band and involved in music and remind him of what … a great future he had”. Sumner concluded, “Unfortunately, it didn’t work”.
Just three versions of Joy Division performing the song exist, including one on the group’s compilation album Still.




Comments 4
I don't know if you remember, but Karen and I walked into our wedding reception to "Ceremony," only it was the (quite stately, not quite so faithful) Galaxie 500 cover.
!! My spouse and I walked down the aisle to Aphex Twin's "Avril 14th" and used the New Order version of "Ceremony" for our exit music... I may have been slightly influenced by the Marie Antoinette soundtrack at the time.
Hot damn, one of the all time great songs. Great cover.
I've had this on repeat today. Lovely stuff.
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