"Elegia" is an instrumental composed and performed by the British rock band New Order. It was released on their third studio album, ''

Low-Life A low-life (or lowlife) is a term for a person who is considered morally unacceptable by their community. Examples of people society often labels low-lives include aggressive panhandlers, bullies, criminals, drug dealers, freeloaders, hobos, ...

'' (1985). The track was written and produced by

Gillian Gilbert Gillian Lesley Gilbert (born 27 January 1961) is an English musician and singer, best known as the keyboardist and guitarist of the band New Order. Early life Gilbert's family moved from her birthplace, Manchester, to the nearby market town of ...

, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris and

Bernard Sumner Bernard Sumner (born 4 January 1956) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is a founding member of the bands Joy Division, New Order, and Electronic. Sumner was an early force in several areas, including the po ...

. Elegia is an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

tribute to

Joy Division Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. Sumner and Hook formed the band after atte ...

frontman

Ian Curtis Ian Kevin Curtis (15 July 1956 – 18 May 1980) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He was best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and lyricist of the post-punk band Joy Division, with whom he released the albums ''Unknown P ...

, whom the members of New Order previously played in. Due to its somber mood, it has been used in a variety of media, including

Pretty in Pink ''Pretty in Pink'' is a 1986 American teen romantic comedy-drama film about love and social cliques in American high schools in the 1980s. A cult classic, it is commonly identified as a "Brat Pack" film. It was directed by Howard Deutch, produc ...

, Stranger Things and

The Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

. Elegia is Greek for

elegy An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...

Background

Elegia was originally written for a film commissioned by

i-D magazine ''i-D'' is a British bimonthly magazine published by Vice Media, dedicated to fashion, music, art and youth culture. ''i-D'' was founded by designer and former '' Vogue'' art director Terry Jones in 1980. The first issue was published in the fo ...

and was inspired by Ennio Morricone's '' For A Few Dollars More'' score. The film was not completed, so the band saved the recording for their upcoming album. Elegia was recorded at CTS Studios in Wembley in a single, 24-hour session with the working title ‘Ben and Justin’. It is in the key of A minor with a time signature of 12/8. The song uses the E-mu Emulator II for several sounds, including choir and strings.

17-minute version

The original recording of "Elegia" had a duration of 17:29 which was edited down to 4:56 for the album version on ''

''. The full-length version was included on the limited five-disc version of the compilation album, ''

Retro Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from history, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. In popular culture, the "nostalgia cycle" is typically for the two decades that begin 20–30 ...

,'' as well as the 2008 Collector's Edition of ''

''. The full version was also released on vinyl in 2012.

Use in media

* It was featured in the

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-nominated short film ''

More More or Mores may refer to: Computing * MORE (application), outline software for Mac OS * more (command), a shell command * MORE protocol, a routing protocol * Missouri Research and Education Network Music Albums * ''More!'' (album), by Booka S ...

'' by Mark Osborne. * It was used in the 1986 film ''

.'' * The trailer for the 1992 film ''

Night of the Living Dead ''Night of the Living Dead'' is a 1968 American independent horror film directed, photographed, and edited by George A. Romero, with a screenplay by John Russo and Romero, and starring Duane Jones and Judith O'Dea. The story follows seven pe ...

.'' * The ''

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'' episode "

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". * It was used in an ''

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'' documentary about writer

Truman Capote Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...

. * In the fifth episode of the first season of the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

series '' Stranger Things.'' * Comedian

Sam Hyde Samuel Whitcomb Hyde (born April 16, 1985) is an American comedian. He co-created the sketch comedy group Million Dollar Extreme (MDE) with Charls Carroll and Nick Rochefort. Hyde is known for his involvement in several public pranks and int ...

used it for the trailer to his web series "Kickstarter TV". * "Rust" – a black-and-white music video by Nenko Genov. * The

E3 2015 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2015 (E3 2015) was the 21st E3 held. The event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. It took place from June 16 to June 18, 2015, with 52,200 total attendees. Major exhibit ...

trailer of the

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

'' Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain''. * The song is also used in the first episode of the show "

Deadly Class (TV series) ''Deadly Class'' is an American television series developed by Rick Remender and Miles Orion Feldsott for Syfy. It is based on the comic book series of the same name created by Remender and Wesley Craig and published by Image Comics. The serie ...

". * It is used in ''

'' season 4 episode "The Heredity Principle".

References

New Order (band) songs 1985 songs Songs written by Bernard Sumner Songs written by Peter Hook Songs written by Stephen Morris (musician) Songs written by Gillian Gilbert {{1980s-rock-song-stub