| Arcade Fire – Half Light II (No Celebration) Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| Very well said. | |
| Arcade Fire – Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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As beautiful as this song sounds I feel like it's a story of captivity. When the protagonist of the song is singing she is expressing her individuality, independence, and freedom. Then the corporate world tells her to put those foolish things aside and join it "quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock". In doing so she feels lost and meaningless "my life I feel it has no purpose" , but still it is hard to say no because the corporate life is deceiving and may look enticing from the surface "the city lights shine. They're calling at me, 'come and find your kind!'" The city almost seems like it's tricking her into following the masses into the meaningless state of the corporate world that offers a secure life. The chorus is her realization of what is not only happening to her, but the entire world. She feels captive and wants the lights that drew her in to be put out "I need the darkness. Someone please cut the lights!" With the second verse she remembers what it was without the corporate world in her life and realizes those simple things are what she really wants. When the city lights (corporate world) approach her for the second time it sees that she is becoming a threat to it's productivity and tells her "We don't need your kind!" Then the chorus comes in again describing her desire to escape the sprawl, which I feel like is not just referring to the suburbs anymore, but also the corporate culture that spreads throughout the world. I know "mountains beyond mountains" is a Haitian proverb for facing challenge after challenge and when Regine sings about dead shopping malls i think she is referring too the ruin of the corporate world. Put the two together and it seems like she can't find her way around the towering corporate culture and all that comes with it. It ends with her last words of desperation "I need the darkness. Someone, please cut the lights!" She want's the lights(the corporate world) that started it all to be turned off. Well this is just my perspective of the song and the only one who will truly know exactly what it means is Regine, but it's always fun to analyze Arcade Fire's lyrics. Wonderful band. |
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