Arcade Fire – Modern Man

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  General Comment:i'm pretty sure this song is about society and how EVERY SINGLE member of society goes through the same routine in becoming the "modern man" we all wait on line to just sit behind a desk at a bullshit job knowing very well that our lives could have gone very differently if we had the choice to but we dont. We all go to school and expect to graduate at age 18 just to go to more schooling for at least 4 years and then we're all suppose to get a great job, get married, have kids and die...

  Flag armstronyon May 19, 2013   Link

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  My Interpretation:To me, I felt like this song was more just about how the modern man is always rushing and is wasting their life on things that they don't understand or don't matter. When he says "like a record that is skipping" and also "the clock keeps ticking," it made me feel like he was saying that we're so rushed and skipping over the good parts and flying by and the clock keeps ticking, giving us that sense of pressure that we have to hurry even more.
  And it doesn't feel right because there isn't really anything concrete to give your life a purpose, you're just following a clock and doing your day to day schedule by this concept of time and productivity.
  When I think of the line "in a line for a number, but you don't understand," it makes me think of waiting in line for a paycheck. I mean, you know you're in line for a paycheck to pay for your life, but you don't even really understand what the purpose of your dead end job is for, you don't even understand why you are doing this.
  
  This is really just my take on the song, at least that's how I am able to relate to it.

  Flag sappire999on February 10, 2013   Link

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  General Comment:This song sounds like what music in the 80s should have sounded like.

  Flag edgarsterlingon May 28, 2012   Link

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  Lyric Correction:I think a couple of these lines aren't correct.
  
  "If it's all right,
  How come you can't sleep at night?"
  
  And
  "They say we are the choosen few
  but we waste it", not "we're wasted".

  Flag waittilyouseemysmileon April 25, 2012   Link

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    i'm pretty sure it's "and if it feels so right then tell me why you can't sleep at night" or something similar

    Flag armstronyon May 19, 2013  
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  My Interpretation:I feel like it is about the singer knowing that he has screwed up his life in someway but he has accepted that he cannot change it. He seems to know that the only solution is to do better from then on. It definitely seems like the singer is in his middle ages.

  Flag thendon November 03, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:Win Butler sings over a bumbling rhythm that echoes the jumping lyrics: "Like a record keeps sticking I'm a modern man." The singer told Q magazine: "The idea behind it is that it's a happy song with a f---ed - up time signature. Which is kind of like the modern experience."

  Flag FloridaGuyon October 18, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:I think that John0921 nailed it. That was my first impression of the song - it is about the modern "male" and how his role has changed so much in modern times to the point of feeling almost useless; or at the least pushed aside. "I erase the number of the modern man" "Want to break the mirror of the modern man" means that he doesn't like what his gender role has become. The whole song seems to signify how he's lost his place in society; the role that he was taught, and once had.
  
  I'm 46 and all of this is often "Why I dont feel right" anymore and often "Why I cant sleep at night now". Modern men & boys are falling behind it seems.
  
  These lyrics really caught my ear when I first heard them, and yes, the song carries a sadness to it.

  Flag Derek46on August 16, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:I think it is about a transgender person.

  Flag theDoctor1on June 29, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:This is a totally different twist on on the meaning of this song. It is entirely personal and from someone who is probably quite a bit older than the others who have commented.
  
  I think the "Modern Man" is the modern "male". One who "In my dream I was almost there" to his goals and ambitions. But was pulled aside by another (wife/girlfriend/family/responsibilities) and as one of the "the chosen few" gave up his traditional role as a man to support them, embracing a more modern concept of social roles. So he "wait[s] in line" for "his turn", but "the clock keeps ticking". Eventually, he starts losing the "dream I was dreaming/And I feel I'm losing the feeling". He feels "wasted" and knows "something don't feel right". And regular people don't understand. He wants to "break" his image because it all, "Makes me feel like [nothing]/ Makes me feel like [nothing]."
  
  Just thoughts and feelings from a middle-aged man.
  
  

  Flagged john0921on May 03, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:This song is all about conformity. In the modern age, everyone must conform and become "the modern man." The writer wants to break out and become what he believes he should be, not what society says he should be.

  Flag theshweenzon March 15, 2011   Link

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