Bizarre Love Triangle
"Bizarre Love Triangle" by New Order is a song on the Lancaster Upper Canon. Commonly known as "BLT," it is one of the more popular songs in the Canon, aided in no small part by one of Lancaster's most unique traditions. During BLT, many students take off their pants and dance around in their underwear -- boxers only, please -- brandishing their unworn legwear, often above the head. For this reason, BLT is sometimes known as the "Underwear Song" or the "Boxer Dance."
BLT, released in 1986, has been de facto Canon since at least 1988, and the tradition of dropping trou dates back nearly as long. Administrators tried (more than once) to ban removal of clothing, but student outcry and bargaining led to toleration of ecdysis.
Students choosing to go pantsless must wear boxers, and may not run or swing their pants over their heads. So long as they abide by those regulations, though, they are free to take it off, baby! Take it all partially off!
...We would like to apologize for the preceding outburst. Those responsible have been sacked. We now return to your regularly scheduled article...
The version of "Bizarre Love Triangle" used for the Canon is actually a remix of the original New Order song. The single version has a duration of 4 minutes 22 seconds, whereas the remix has a duration of 6 minutes 41 seconds, making it the fourth-longest Canon song after American Pie at 8 minutes 34 seconds, Stairway to Heaven at 8 minutes, and Rock Lobster at 6 minutes 51 seconds.
Clothed students and staff line up in two parallel rows and hold hands to form a human tunnel, through which the underdressed dancers pass as they circle the quad. This tunnel seems to get longer every year, and likely stretches well over a hundred feet. It is customary for the tunnel makers to slap the behinds (or other body parts) of people they know (or don't). However, a rule against this is slowly being enforced. Some people also drop their arms in front of people they know, but this has been known to cause injury to the neck/head/chest and is not encouraged by students or staff.
The non-running-or-swinging regulation was added sometime after 1999.
During the last dance of LAN.08.2, BLT was played directly before the song SexyBack. By that time in the session it had become frighteningly common for students to do what was being called "The Mock-arena" (secretly the Macarena) during SexyBack. Since it was played right after BLT that night, students decided to do the dance pantless. In 09.2, BLT directly preceded SexyBack multiple times, resulting in the widespread performance of the [pantless] Mock-arena. Similarly, during one of the dances at LAN.08.1, James Brown is Dead was requested by a nomore to be played directly after BLT. The site director allowed this under the impression that it would help with "crowd control," but of course, the end result was exactly as the nomore had planned: a pantless rave.
In 2009, some boys wore girl's shorts under their pants, much to the chagrin of DRL Matt.
In 2013, Lancaster's official site rules include: "Do not swing your pants around during BLT. You may hold them up over your head."
In 2015, the rule regarding the removal of pants during BLT was quietly removed. An announcement was made during the second dance asking that students refrain from slapping body parts, or else the song would not be played in the future.
Lyrics
Every time I think of you
I feel shot right through with a bolt of blue
It's no problem of mine but it's a problem I find
Living a life that I can't leave behind
There's no sense in telling me
The wisdom of a fool won't set you free
But that's the way that it goes
And it's what nobody knows
While every day my confusion grows
Chorus:
Every time I see you falling
I get down on my knees and pray
I'm waiting for that final moment
You'll say the words that I can't say
I feel fine and I feel good
I'm feeling like I never should
Whenever I get this way, I just don't know what to say
Why can't we be ourselves like we were yesterday
I'm not sure what this could mean
I don't think you're what you seem
I do admit to myself
That if I hurt someone else
Then I'll never see just what we're meant to be
Chorus
Ah ah ah ah ah, etc....
Chorus (synth voice)
Chorus (synth voice)
Chorus
The song is about a man's relationship with his current and past girlfriend. He misses another woman (inferred to be his ex-girlfriend) and is unhappy with his situation. He loves his current girlfriend, yet still has strong feelings for his ex-girlfriend. As he attempts to express his confusion about which woman he should love, he is afraid that any of his choices will hurt one of the women.
