Procession (New Order song)
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| "Procession" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by New Order | ||||
| B-side | "Everything's Gone Green" | |||
| Released | September 1981 | |||
| Recorded | 10–13 March 1981 | |||
| Studio |
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| Genre | Post-punk | |||
| Length | 4:27 | |||
| Label | Factory FAC 53 | |||
| Songwriters | Gillian Gilbert, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, Bernard Sumner[1] | |||
| Producer | Martin Hannett | |||
| New Order singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Procession" on YouTube | ||||
"Procession" is the second single by the British group New Order, released in September 1981 on 7" vinyl record. It is a double A side with "Everything's Gone Green". The single's Factory Records catalogue number is FAC 53.[2] (Labelled as B Music)
Along with "Everything's Gone Green", "Procession" was recorded during a three day studio session with Martin Hannett in Strawberry Studios and Yellow Two Studios.[3] Bernard Sumner, at the request of Hannett, re-recorded his vocals at least forty-three times. In retrospect for his book Substance: Inside New Order, Peter Hook wrote: "Procession was a good song and Barney was doing a good vocal. The only problem in the studio that night was Martin."[4] Hannett additionally requested the backing vocals from Gillian Gilbert; Hook was against it, but was outvoted by the rest of the band.[4]
Composition
Though all of New Order's songs are credited as group compositions, Hook has stated that the lyricist of "Procession" is Stephen Morris:
"Procession" was a complete contrast to "Ceremony": Steve had written the lyrics and the vocal hook, and it sounded very poppy and immediate. It also helped us find a great use for that Yamaha amp we'd bought in America that cost us a fortune in import duty. It had a reverb spring in it, and when you shook it, it made a great noise. So we shook it like hell, recorded it and featured it in the song.[5]
Availability
The song does not appear on any of New Order's studio albums; it does, however, appear on the EP 1981–1982, the CD, cassette, and Digital Audio Tape releases of the 1987 singles compilation Substance (where it is erroneously listed as a B-side), the 2005 compilation Singles,[6] and the 2008 Collector's Edition of the band's debut album Movement.[7]
Artwork
Similar to the album cover for Movement, the artwork is taken from a "Dinamo Futurista" magazine cover done by Italian futurist designer Fortunato Depero. Notably, the UK release's sleeve came in nine versions, all with different colours: black, blue, aqua, yellow, red, brown, orange, green and purple.[2] The second side of the single contains a shortened version of "Everything's Gone Green", the full-length version of which was later released as a 12" single on its own.
Although the original UK single does not indicate which is side A or B (the runoff matrix simply lists "SOFT" and "HARD" for each side), the French edition of the single actually has "Everything's Gone Green" labeled as the A-side track, and some Spanish and Portuguese pressings have reversed labels.[8]
