A Story of Suburban Life By Arcade Fire

Released in late summer of 2010, this third album by Arcade Fire has proved to be their most commercially successful and arguably most complete work. It is a concept album dealing with the childhoods of band members Win Butler, William Butler, and Regine Chassagne, all of whom were raised in suburban Houston and Montreal respectively. In the regular stylings of Arcade Fire, the album has a dark and apocalyptic tone to it. The album was written in a way where the band members seemed to look back on their childhoods on comment on their own experiences. If one examines the lyrics, they can easily relate to the topics dealt with in the songs. For me, many of the songs strike a chord in me as I feel I can easily relate to many of the issues and experiences that are lyrically discussed. I will now divulge my own interpretations of the most important songs on the album, discussing their significance to me personally and to the album as a whole.


The opening song titled "The Suburbs" is the most lyrically apocalyptic on the album, discussing are war between two neighboring communities. An important verse reads,"You always seemed so sure that one day we'd be fighting in a suburban war, your part of town against mine, I saw you standing on the opposite shore."I think that as a child and teenager it is easy to fall into an exclusive clique of friends, where others may be seen as outsiders or enemies. As I listen to this part of the song I think about not an actual physical fight, but the constant struggle to become accepted. As the song progresses, one may realize that the band may have a darker meaning in mind than the one I suggested. The lyrics darken, reading "So can you understand? Why I want a daughter while I'm still young? I wanna hold her hand and show her some beauty before this damage is done." These words speak of doom for a community possibly torn by "war" and other acts of hate and fear. While these lyrics are most important to the greater meaning of the song in my opinion, it is a different set of lyrics which hold a greater meaning to me. The words "Sometimes I can't believe it, I'm moving past the feeling and into the night" remind of how when I'm feeling depressed or down, I always have to the urge to drive around in my car without direction or purpose. I'm not sure if it actually helps me to feel better, but it is always what I have the impulse to do in that kind of situation. Well, enough about my own pathetic life, watch the video below to help you form your own meaning for this song.

Moving along on the track listing, the most radio successful song appears, "Ready To Start." This song deals with drifting from your origins, which coincides with a fear of selling out from the band. The lyric "Businessmen drink my blood, like the kids in art school said they would" reminds me how in college (I am a current college student myself), professors and other adults generally warn students about a real world one must face after completing their schooling. This lyric could refer to one realizing that the real world is a dark and ruthless place, but remembering that they were warned about this is in school. This lyric could also refer to the fear of selling out. Up until this current album, Arcade Fire was considered an indie band with little impact on the pop music scene. This album then proceeded to go #1 on the Billboard Charts overtaking Eminem's Relapse. Many fans take pride in listening to an artists that few other people are familiar with, and they may choose to abandon the band when they become too popular. This may be Arcade Fire's way of coming to terms with their own popularity.

We Used To Wait was the second single released from this album and appears as the thirteenth track. Win Butler explained that the song was about a series of letters that were written back and forth between he and a high school crush. "In high school I had a letter-writing romance with a girl," he said. "I was trying to remember that time… waiting an entire summer, pretty much half a year, the anxiousness of waiting for letters to arrive." As I child as into my teenage years and continuing now, I have always felt as though I was waiting for something to happen. I was not and may never be a proactive person, and usually seem to find myself waiting for things to fall into place rather than being a catalyst for the situation. I think it is easy to apply this to failed friendships and relationships as I used to wait, and still do. 

"But by the time we met, the times had already changed

So I never wrote a letter, I never took my true heart , I never wrote it down
So when the lights cut out I was left standing in the wilderness downtown"

The video for this song is really something special. It is an interactive video that utilizes Google Maps to bring you to your home during the video. Halfway through, you will be allowed to write a postcard of advice to the person who used to live in that house, you. I highly recommend viewing this one of a kind video.

One of the final songs on the album happens to be my favorite. The song is called Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains), written by Regine Chassagne on her up-bringing in suburban Montreal. A "sprawl" refers to the suburbanized and rural areas one would see as one moves away from a the urban area of a city. The song encompasses the feeling of being suffocated and trapped in the suburbs, as a feeling to break away grows. "Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small, that we can never get away from the sprawl." As a child growing up in the suburbs, one may feel as though there is nothing past the limits of one's neighborhood. Your parents work their, you live and go to school there. Around one's high school or college years, one realizes their neighborhood is only a mole on the body that is the Earth. 

"Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains,

And there's no end in sight, I need the darkness someone please cut the lights"

Readers, if you've made it this far, why stop now? I feel that as a whole, this album truly does encompass the many feelings and experiences one goes through as they grow in the suburbs. As I listen, it reminds me of many things I have felt throughout my life. I would imagine that someone a bit older than me would still agree. There are a few other important songs on the album that one should listen to as well, namely, Modern Man, Month of May, and City With No Children. 

After the completion of this blog, I begin to wish I spent as much time on school work as I did on this.


UPDATE: Arcade Fire's The Suburbs won a Grammy for album of the year. Who would have known.