This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
So long sitting here, didn't hear the warning
Waiting for the tape to run
We've been moving around in different situations
Knowing that the time would come
Just to see you torn apart
Witness to your empty heart
I need it
I need it
I need it
Through the wire screen
The eyes of those standing outside looked in at her
As into the cage of some rare creature in a zoo
In the hand of one of the assistants she saw the same instrument
Which they had that morning inserted deep into her body
She shuddered instinctively
No life at all in the house of dolls
No love lost
No love lost
You've been seeing things in darkness, not in learning
Hoping that the truth will pass
No life underground, wasting never changing
Wishing that this day won't last
To never see you show your age
To watch until the beauty fades
I need it
I need it
I need it
Waiting for the tape to run
We've been moving around in different situations
Knowing that the time would come
Just to see you torn apart
Witness to your empty heart
I need it
I need it
I need it
Through the wire screen
The eyes of those standing outside looked in at her
As into the cage of some rare creature in a zoo
In the hand of one of the assistants she saw the same instrument
Which they had that morning inserted deep into her body
She shuddered instinctively
No life at all in the house of dolls
No love lost
No love lost
You've been seeing things in darkness, not in learning
Hoping that the truth will pass
No life underground, wasting never changing
Wishing that this day won't last
To never see you show your age
To watch until the beauty fades
I need it
I need it
I need it
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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Yes, really.
Joy Division took their name from the novel "The House Of Dolls" by Jewish author Ka-Tzetnik 135633 (real name Yehiel De-Nur), an Auschwitz survivor (his pen name means "Concentration Camper", and 135633 was his number). He wrote about the horrors committed by the nazis. "The House Of Dolls" is about 'Joy Division' - Jewish women in concetration camps who were made into sex slaves for the pleasure of Nazi soldiers. He claimed it was inspired by the fate of his younger sister who did not survive the Holocaust.
The spoken part from 'No Love Lost' is taken directly from the book.
@nightandday - I realize you posted this in 2006 and I'm just now finding it here in 2023 but wanted to respond even though you may never see it. I'm a dedicated Gen Z rocker, but for some reason did not listen to Joy Division when it became popular on the New Wave radio station where I grew up. I think the most exposure I've ever had to JD was from various television shows using "Bela Lugosi Is Dead" in their soundtracks. Then a couple years ago I found a cover of No Love Lost by The Distillers at Reading Festival and I looked up the lyrics; they haunt me even now and especially now, since I found your entry here explaining the lyrics, how JD chose their name, and the history behind both. Thank you for these details which evoke so many feelings. They are terrible, devastating, heartbreaking, and yet a testament to the evils of Nazi power and control, and the miracle of those who survived and lived to share their lifestory.
this song seems to be a tribute to an author that ian curtis might have been fond of
This song has such a cool intro, and is very different to the other jd songs cos its spoken, well half spoken, but i really do like it.
yes well, the book is the same book he took the name joy division from (i think)
Their punkiest song - I actually thought it was the Buzzcocks when I first heard it
Miss ya Ian
What? This sounds NOTHING like Buzzcocks. There's no pop punk in this, it's way dirtier and garage-ier. It's catchy, but still got a JD sinister feel to it, and that relentlessly awesome bass line.
Seconding what user Nightandday said, Hes right. I have read the book (Hence my user name) and would definately recommend the book to Joy Division fans, You can tell it had really influenced Ian's music.
^actually, the phrase "no love lost" is used to show enmity. no respect or admiration towards (something/someone). it's a completely different idiom. idioms.thefreedictionary.com/no+love+lost
I don't know where the 'two-way mirror in the hall' part came from? as for the song, hands down makes up the best scene in the movie. The jacket was real.
Directly refers to the book "The House Of Dolls" and experiences of female exploits in concentration camps
"In the hand of one of the assistants she saw the same instrument Which they had that morning inserted deep into her body. She shuddered Instinctively. No life at all in the house of dolls."
Sadly, I think this is referring to a man who had raped the protagonist earlier brandishing his penis to rape her or another women in the "Joy Division" Nazi whorehouse.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_Dolls