Lyrics for In the Backseat as interpreted by drinkmilk

In the Backseat Lyrics
I like the peace
In the backseat
I don't have to drive
I don't have to speak
I can watch the countryside
And I can fall asleep

My family tree's
Losing all its leaves
Crashing towards the driver's seat
The lightning bolt made enough heat
To melt the street beneath your feet

Alice died
In the night
I've been learning to drive
My whole life
I've been learning

I like the peace
In the backseat
I don't have to drive
I don't have to speak
I can watch the countryside

Alice died
In the night
I've been learning to drive
My whole life
I've been learning
Oh, Norah!

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kaylee21
02-16-2010

Rated 0 
this is so sad i can not even begin to think about what it would feel like to lose so many family members if i were her i would never get in a car again

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uwbadgers1192
01-06-2010

Rated 0 
For some reason, this song reminds me of "Catcher in the Rye", and the line where Holden explains to his little sister that he wishes he could stand at the edge of a cliff and catch everyone coming through the field of rye before they reach the edge.

The whole theme of being forced to grow up and suddenly be responsible for yourself bears resemblance to the book, too.

I love the metaphor of the backseat, "crashing towards the driver's seat", and "I've been learning to drive my whole life".

Just an absolutely amazing song to end the album.

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TeapartiesThroughTornados
12-11-2009

Rated 0 
It's about the loss of innocence or childhood or never having a chance to lose it in the first place. The backseat is a symbol for the freedom of childhood. The lightning bolt (disease? War? Life in general?) hit her family tree and caused it to start shedding it's leaves (family members). As more leaves fell she was thrown into the driver seat and adulthood. From what I make of it, the "melting street" represents what would happen if she refused to take the driver seat and was left walking. Not in childhood or adulthood, but left in limbo and falling through the cracks- or melted street, if you will :) Because of this she's been "learning to drive [her] whole life" and never really had a chance to fully experiance or appreciate her childhood or innocence. Alice and Norah I assume are "leaves" that have fallen.
This song is beautiful. And those high notes? Holy musicgasm. Arcade Fire blows my mind and I love how their whole album has a theme. Perfection.

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Bojangles8866
11-28-2009

Rated 0 
Alice is actually regime's(singer) mother. this is about being able to have guidance and stability "in the backseat" with her mother guiding her along life in the driver's seat. the lightning represents the event of her mother dying bringing her back to reality. now she has to be her own guidance in the driver's seat. i still don't know who norah is. one of the most emotionally filled songs i have ever heard. beautiful.

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Lovelace
11-22-2009

Rated +1 
I think the song is either about losing an older sibling or parent and being forced to take responsibility and "grow up." The concept of driving kind of reminds me of taking control of your own life. Perhaps she never had to take responsibility and drive before, and she enjoyed being in the "backseat" so much but was ready to take responsibility when this "Alice" died, hence the lines "crashing towards the driver's seat" and "I've been learning to drive all my life."

I think it could also be, in a more literal sense, about a newfound anxiety of driving due to a traumatic accident in which someone very close was lost. The "I've been learning to drive my whole life" would represent her disbelief while the part about the lightning bolt hitting the street might be what caused the accident.


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dlistblogger
09-06-2009

Rated 0 
these are my favorite lyrics ever. Its a song I wish I had of written.

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mark68
06-12-2009

Rated 0 
The way I interpreted this song is that she loves the peace of the back seat because she's been learning to driver her whole life. I draw on my own life experience of never having a real childhood. I "learned to drive my whole life" by helping raise my twin sisters while my dad was gone. Being in the backseat is a feeling of having no responsiblities and just being able to let everything go. It's almost like and adult wanting to just let go of everything and just be a child again, except this time really being a child.

Maybe I'm just blinded by my personal life experience, but the first time I heard it I thought of it as an adult who has been burdened with responsibilites since childhood wishing to just move to the backseat and have some peace for once.

I am a 41 y/o man and this song just destroys me.

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sounds_familiar06
06-04-2009

Rated 0 
this song is aaaaaaamaaaaazing..it's ridiculously good. her voice almost has an awkward quality, but it works so well because arcade fire is such a quirky band, they are one of my favorites.

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Wireframe
05-19-2009

Rated 0 
This song is just... Brilliant.
I remember going to my grandma's funeral, my mother in the passenger's seat. My aunt was driving, and I actually liked the peace in the backseat, because i didnt have to drive or speak and could easily drift off watching the landscape soar by.
This song to me is that moment.
Displaced and surreal.

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sussussussus
04-23-2009

Rated 0 
This is the first Arcade Fire song I heard. How lucky am I!? This song is so amazing that I remember the first time I heard it! That was four years ago!

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1 Reply
InYourJar
04-01-2009

Rated -1 
Random comment like 3 years later.

Norah is Regine's sister's name. And I'm pretty sure Alice was her mom's name. I'm not sure.

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lukels
09-20-2008

Rated 0 
it is telling us about a lot of things, literally and metaphorically speaking. i got a real feeling when i'm listening to the song, i just love it!

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prolixmay
09-07-2008

Rated 0 
to ieatseeds:

I agree with your comment, thats what songs should do to you and then you know what music truly is.

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kneesee
08-21-2008

Rated 0 
i never knew she was saying alice all this time. i was thinking about a girl in her coffin in the back of a hearse, and this is her singing (in spirit i guess of course) nonetheless... beautiful song!

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lutremi
08-09-2008

Rated 0 
Regine is my favorite singer because of this song. Her voice is so beautiful and so powerful at the same time.

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mycloud
06-22-2008

Rated 0 
I was once told that I may not like this song from Regine's voice. She was so wrong, I just love her voice and "Backseat" is one of my fave songs from Funeral

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xfeelinsinister
03-25-2008

Rated 0 
her family dying, people dying, the peace in the backseat to think about life and everything.
my favorite line is "my family trees losing all it's leaves."
amazing and powerful song!

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AppleInHandFan
02-22-2008

Rated 0 
I currently have this song on repeat!
It's so tragic. I think it's about a family member's death, but isn't it also about conformity? and growing?

"My whole life
I've been learning"

Towards the end I just want to dance in circles, whatever that means.

Wonderful song!

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davemate
01-10-2008

Rated 0 
obviously its to do with death,

i love the line

"My family tree's
Losing all its leaves"

its such a good song

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soilssong
11-04-2007

Rated 0 
I've always thought this song was about loosing your innocence, becoming an adult and wishing you were a kid again.

When you're a child, you sit in the backseat, you don't have to care about anything, you have no responsibilty, you just enjoy and watch life. When you grow up (learning to drive) you loose your innocence, your parents die, you take their place, the Alice in you has died.

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peaceofcake
10-26-2007

Rated 0 
i think "alice" have a double meaning in this song. it might refer to an actual person, perhaps a family member, like other posters have suggested. it might also be a reference to alice of alice and wonderland. alice might represent creativity and curiousity and a sense/need for adventure. isn't true that after a tragedy, such as a death, all of these things seem to drain out of us and we become apathetic, merely wanting to sit in the backseat? hence, the phrase "alice died" might mean that creativity/curiousity died.

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afimrtl
08-25-2007

Rated 0 
this is probably the most beautiful song i have ever heard.

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tedrocks
08-08-2007

Rated 0 
I think the song is about dying. I'm pretty sure that in the backseat means in the back of the hearse. It fits with the rest of the song. Its about coming to terms with death and being comfortable with it.

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indiebud
07-25-2007

Rated 0 
i think this is about perhaps losing members of your family (my sisters called alice, :S) anyway i also think where she sings 'i've been learning to drive my whole life' juxtaposes to when she sings 'i like the peace in the back seat' Perhaps she is scared that if she drives she will die or kill, just perhaps like family members and this may be a big metaphor for life and fear of death
but i've probably just over analysed everything

love arcade fire, this song made me cry first time i heard it, it's hauntingly beautiful :)

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Btard
06-11-2007

Rated 0 
This song has a great impact on me. Sort of makes me miss the ones i used to know, mainly the ones who have passed away now. Arcade fire had an influence by family members passing away; their music relates to this influence strongly. It manages to reach to the rest of us strongly too, if i do believe.

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