"Let's Dance to Joy Division" is a song by English rock band

The Wombats The Wombats are an English indie rock band formed in Liverpool in 2003, consisting of Matthew Murphy (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Tord Øverland Knudsen (bass, backing vocals, keyboards), and Dan Haggis (drums, backing vocals, keyboards). ...

, released as the second single from their debut album ''

A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation ''The Wombats Proudly Present A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation'', usually shortened to ''A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation'', is the debut major studio album by English rock band the Wombats. It was released by 14th Floor Records on 5 Nove ...

''. The song was made available to download on 8 October 2007, with a physical release one week later. It is based on a drunken night out experienced by lead singer Matthew Murphy at Le Bateau, a nightclub in the band's home city of

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, during which he and his then-girlfriend danced on a table to " Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division. The lyrics examine the irony of dancing happily to a famously sad song. It is considered to be one of the band's

signature song A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...

s. There is a

hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...

on the 7" vinyl version of the single which features bassist Tord Knudsen singing the '' Postman Pat'' theme song in his native Norwegian. "Let's Dance to Joy Division" features on the BBC Three show ''

Scallywagga ''Scallywagga'' is a British comedy sketch show, written by Stuart Kenworthy, who has worked on Green Wing and Smack the Pony. The executive producer of series one was Kenton Allen, and the producer was Jon Montague. The pilot episode aired on ...

'' as the theme song, and is featured in an episode of the BBC Three show '' Uncle''.

Formats and track listings

Track listings of major single releases of "Let's Dance to Joy Division". UK CD single
(Released 15 October 2007) # "Let's Dance to Joy Division" # "Let's Dance to Joy Division (KGB Remix)" UK 7" single (numbered yellow vinyl)
(Released 15 October 2007) # "Let's Dance to Joy Division" # "Derail and Crash" # "Postman Pat in Norwegian" (hidden track) UK 7" single (numbered clear vinyl)
(Released 15 October 2007) # "Let's Dance to Joy Division" # "Tales of Girls, Boys and Marsupials (Live from Fuji Rocks)" # "School Uniforms (Live from Fuji Rocks)"

Chart performance

On 14 October 2007, the single entered the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

at No. 35 on downloads alone. A week later, after a physical release, it peaked at #15, before falling gradually down the chart in the following weeks. The song also came in at No. 12 in the

Triple J Hottest 100 The Triple J Hottest 100 is an annual music listener poll hosted by the publicly-funded, national Australian youth radio station, Triple J. Members of the public are invited to vote for their favourite Australian and alternative music of the ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

. It reached No. 19 on the Dutch Singles Chart. It reached No. 76 on the

Australian Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

. It was the Free Single of the Week on

iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

on 2 June 2008. It was featured in Matchstick Productions' Claim, as the music featured for Swedish freeskier

Jacob Wester Jacob Wester (born 17 November 1987 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish Freestyle skiing, freeskier. Skiing Jacob began Skiing at the age of five, but only appeared onto the freeskiing scene in 2005 when he finished second place at the Jon Olsson ...

Awards

On 28 February 2008, "Let's Dance to Joy Division" won an

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

Award for Best Dancefloor Filler.

Charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Let's Dance To Joy Division 2007 singles The Wombats songs 14th Floor Records singles 2007 songs Songs written by Matthew Murphy Songs written by Tord Øverland Knudsen Songs written by Dan Haggis