In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Now that San Francisco's gone
I guess I'll just pack it in
Wanna wash away my sins
In the presence of my friends
You and I, we head back east
To find a town where we can live
Even in the half light
We can see that something's gotta give
When we watched the markets crash
The promises we made were torn
And my parents sent for me
From out west, where I was born
Some people say
We've already lost
But they're afraid to pay the cost
For what we've lost
Pay the cost for what we've lost
Now that you have left me here
I will never raise my voice
All the diamonds you have here
In this home which has no life
Oh, this city's changed so much
Since I was a little child
Pray to God I won't live to see
The death of everything that's wild, woo
Though we knew this day would come
Still, it took us by surprise
In this town where I was born
I now see through a dead man's eyes
One day they will see it's long gone
One day they will see it's long gone
One day they will see it's long gone
One day they will see it's long gone
I guess I'll just pack it in
Wanna wash away my sins
In the presence of my friends
You and I, we head back east
To find a town where we can live
Even in the half light
We can see that something's gotta give
When we watched the markets crash
The promises we made were torn
And my parents sent for me
From out west, where I was born
Some people say
We've already lost
But they're afraid to pay the cost
For what we've lost
Pay the cost for what we've lost
Now that you have left me here
I will never raise my voice
All the diamonds you have here
In this home which has no life
Oh, this city's changed so much
Since I was a little child
Pray to God I won't live to see
The death of everything that's wild, woo
Though we knew this day would come
Still, it took us by surprise
In this town where I was born
I now see through a dead man's eyes
One day they will see it's long gone
One day they will see it's long gone
One day they will see it's long gone
One day they will see it's long gone
Lyrics submitted by firstgreenroom
Half Light II (No Celebration) Lyrics as written by Regine Chassagne Jeremy Gara
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
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This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
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I think that Half Light I establishes the “half light” as starting to move away from the sheltered sunny existence that your parents created. At some point, you start to see the realties of life, which can be exciting and positive, at least in the half light.
In Half Light II the narrator is describing how the night finally descends. He leaves home to pursue his idealistic half light dreams, but they eventually fall apart. He goes back home to try and recapture the innocence of his childhood in the “full” light. Of course, when he gets there he finds that it’s all changed. I don’t think the city itself had really change, but his childish perception of it had. The night is now closing in and he prays to not live to see the real truth. He’s surprised at how fast this disillusionment has come.
I tend not to take lyrics literally, but this album is rife with references to The Woodlands, Texas, where Win and his brother lived when they were younger. The Woodlands is not a city, technically. It was developed as a master-planned community by The Woodlands Corporation. So right there, you can start to get a picture about what this place is like. It's planned, it's structured, there's lots of money to be had and spent, and it's a soul-sucking place.<br /> <br /> "Oh, this city's changed so much<br /> Since I was a little child<br /> Pray to God I won't live to see<br /> The death of everything that's wild"<br /> <br /> I lived in The Woodlands during my last two years of high school from 1998-2000. It's a sterile environment. Roads are laid before houses are built--common across the country, but this was not just a few houses, I mean entire "villages", as the large neighborhoods in The Woodlands are called, with thousands of homes. The first high school (there are now two) is stark white inside (walls, lockers, floors) with narrow slits for windows. Very prisonesque. There has been massive development surrounding the mall. There's a faux Riverwalk (think San Antonio) that is again sterile and manufactured--little, if anything, is organic about it at all. It's all mountains beyond mountains.<br /> <br /> What they call Market Street is supposed to be a throwback to a 50's-style town square. Visually, they nailed it, but many of the shops are national chain stores. The overall environment there is one of consumerism, of excess, of all life planned out without spontaneity. It's mostly for people who want a safe, sound place where they can live without being affected by the reality of the larger world around them. You're insulated from crime, terrorism, poverty, hardship, and just the average life that most people live. <br /> <br /> Much of the woods my friends and I used to troll around in are now people's backyards, devoid of all but the largest trees. There is no "outdoors" like you'd find in older cities, no cutting through woods or fields to get places. No adventure except on concrete residential streets and sidewalks. It's a terrible place to raise kids if you grew up having access to nature or grew up in an older town that had some rough around the edges.<br /> <br /> Having lived there a few years, and with frequent visits to my parents who currently live there, the place is in a continual state of flux. Every time I go back there, something has changed. ExxonMobil just finalized plans to move its worldwide headquarters just south of The Woodlands. They're set to build something like a 340-acre complex, and there are plans to build around 12,000 more houses for all the employees who'll transition to the new location. More sprawl. Manufactured purity on a truly massive scale. Once my parents are gone I'll never have a reason to go back there.
holy shit this song is amazing.
I love this track. In fact, the whole new CD is pretty excellent. The premise of the Arcade Fire has always been coming of age, and this song just is about already coming, and returning to what you were so many years later. Its sad, a little sweet, and absolutely true.
The line "Pray that God won't live to see..." should actually be "Pray to God I won't live to see..." According to the lyrics printed on the insert in the vinyl LP anyway.
The line "one day they will see it's long gone" haunts me. That, with the line about watching the markets crash. I wish I could comment on what it means, but it strikes me more as how it feels - like we are a nation or a generation of people cut off from our moorings and set adrift, and even though we knew it all going to happen, we weren't ready for it when it did.
Very well said.
Hey everyone, It wasn't obvious, but I think I've figured it out... This song is about the commercialization of the US/Western World/the world and how it's made people void of humanity. San Francisco is a few hours away from the town where Win Butler (singer) was born, it was a hotspot of progressive cultural change in the '60s and '70s. But now, it's associated with Silicon Valley as the center of high-tech, dot-coms, etc. As in Sprawl II and perhaps other songs of the album, light is a metaphor for what is attractive (shiny) yet illusory (hollow, intangible)
The over-speculation of dot-com stocks by greedy investors led to a stock market crash that left others suffering. And of course, the housing market collapse of 2008 has led to the current economic recession that still hasn't ended, and many people unrelated to the causes to lose lots -- their retirement savings, their mortgages, etc. Kids have seen their parents lose their jobs. Even now, there's no real reparations, and it's taken in everyone's minds that it's a done deal. If your house is repossessed, you're blamed for trying to afford outside of your minds, that you've set up yourself up for disaster already. But those who'd like most to accept things for what they are those who caused the problem, and they're afraid to really own up to what they've caused. Those who are left impoverished are struggling with their own problems to band together and effect change in the system, while those who profited and escaped lift a rich, unrewarding
Already seeing what's happened in San Francisco, Win is saying that he's worried that all that's still good and natural in the world will be killed off by the effects of short-sighted human greed, superficiality, etc., which is happening faster than they expected. At some point, people will look back and wonder how things went wrong, but it will be far too late.
Of course, this is just the gist of what I interpret. You may have other ideas. Personally, I'd also say that techology is a part of the self-destructive forces of commercialization sung about.
Cool lyrics!
Wow, great analysis. I completely agree with everything you said, and I love this song's message. Just one thing: Win Butler was born in The Woodlands, Texas. Not exactly a few hours from San Francisco. However, this totally doesn't undermine your theory, because The Woodlands is a suburb of Houston, which is also a major metropolitan center. Just thought you'd like to know. Other than that, great job!
Oops. Born in Cali, moved to Texas. Mea culpa. Stay awesome, my friend.
This could be there with or without you. AMAZING SONG!
The above comment is attempting to compare this to "Within You Without You"<br /> <br /> commentmeanings.net, you're welcome everybody.
Nooo no, I'm pretty sure he's referring to U2's "With or Without You"
I'm also sure he meant that, even if (in my opinion) with or without you is really something superior :P <br /> It is a great and meaningful, but it doesn't have the depths and heights what makes with or with out you incredible. And don't forget edge's guitar, which just tears your heart apart... but still badass song
ups i missed song from great and meaningful
it also doesn't have a huge chorus like "with or without you" does
Also it isn't by a shitty generic band with no soul (ie U2)
Wow, you're so cool for hating on U2, xveganrox, like every other stupid hipster I know...
References to God, prayer, sins, market crashes, paying costs (reparation?), birth and death, childhood, light and darkness, relocation, etc.
Great band that rights songs with great meanings.
writes*
This song is undoubtedly one of the album's highlights; it is certainly what we have come to expect from Arcade Fire.
"Now that San Francisco's gone I guess I'll just pack it in Wanna wash away my sins In the presence of my friends"
My first thought was, "Oh No's, he's talking about a horrible earthquake!" But then I realized it could be a few different things. SF has been taken over by the "hipsters" everyone here mentions, making it no longer a cool place to live. Someone was laid off during the recession, or the recession made it that much harder to survive in this city. Or someone finally realized the California Dream is better left a dream.