They demonstrate the way in which he was interested in the same writers who affected singer-lyricists such as Jim Morrison (Ian famously kept a poster of Morrison in his house) and Patti Smith. The book covers – which include Rimbaud, Artaud, Nietzsche, and Dostoevsky, among others – provide a necessary addition to Curtis scholarship. In addition, Permanence beautifully displays facsimile reproductions of Ian’s handwritten lyrics, journal entries, and drafts for lyrics, as well as striking reproductions of Joy Division artwork, fan letters, images from fanzines, and the covers of the books that most interested Curtis and influenced his work. Permanence is invaluable because it presents in one place Ian’s lyrics in a clear, readable, and definitive manner. “Ian would never had said that,” Hooky claimed, referring to the lyrics that appeared at many sites.Īfter reading Ian’s So This Is Permanence: Joy Division Lyrics and Notebooks (Chronicle Books), which was edited by Ian’s widow Deborah and esteemed rock critic Jon Savage, I understand Hooky’s point about the lyrics scattered across the net.

When I interviewed Peter Hook on a snowy day in Chicago in February 2013, he told me that when he had to learn Ian Curtis’ lyrics to perform Joy Division songs with The Light, he consulted the internet – and what he found there, he said, was “wrong” in many cases.

If (('gtm=off') const isAppRedirect = ('appRedirect') Ĭonst isAndroid = /Android/i.test(erAgent) Ĭonst isIphone = /iPhone|iPad|iPod/i.test(erAgent) This volume features Curtis’s never-before-seen handwritten lyrics, accompanied by earlier drafts and previously unpublished pages from his notebooks that shed fascinating light on his writing and creative process.Īlso included are an insightful and moving foreword by Curtis’s widow Deborah, a substantial introduction by writer Jon Savage, and an appendix featuring books from Curtis’s library and a selection of fanzine interviews, letters, and other ephemera from his estate. The fact of the band’s relatively few releases belies the power and enduring fascination its music holds, especially in light of Curtis’s tragic suicide in 1980 on the eve of the band’s first American tour. So This Is Permanence presents the lyrics and personal notebooks of one of the most enigmatic and influential music artists of the late twentieth century, Joy Division’s Ian Curtis.

A treasure trove of personal writings by the great post-punk singer-songwriter-with a foreword by his wife Deborah and an introduction by Jon Savage.

So this is permanence