Day 15 - Arcade Fire
Credit: Eric Kayne
Here on Day 15 of Song Solstice month, Summer 2024, we're exploring one of my most favorite tracks from Arcade Fire. Musically and lyrically it's pretty damn great, so I hope you read more to find out more about it. ;-)
Arcade Fire is another band/artist I discovered through that old Tori Amos forum I was part of many years ago now (see Day 9 and 10), having received tracks to use on the forum 'radio station' I was attempting to build. The first songs I received were from their self-titled EP, songs of which I totally dug. (For those curious, they were “Headlights Look Like Diamonds” and “No Cars Go”, EP version (my fave version).) I didn't get around to diving into them in terms of the albums until after The Suburbs came out, oddly, and I honestly wish I took the jump sooner. I did see back then that they had won Album of the Year at the Grammys for The Suburbs, and I was both stunned and so happy that they won! For an indie band that wasn't all over the radio to win album of the year is very rare, and, honestly, it shouldn't be. (That's a rant for another time. Lol) In any case, though, The Suburbs really deserved the award, with it's creative and interesting running story narrative flowing through varying representations in song. My most favorite track that sits inside this narrative—and is the centerpiece, in my opinion—is today's feature: “Suburban War”.
The... concept (I guess you can call it that; Win had said it's more of a love letter to the suburbs he and his brother grew up in) of The Suburbs centers on looking back at the person you were and who you became as you grew up while in the suburbs of an unnamed town. It also seems to hint at martial law and actual war being laced into the dissection of life in the suburbs, but then... the bombs and war mentioned could just be an analogy for the issues, behaviours, and emotions felt inside it all. Either way, the way the album blends genres and even creatively repeats lines throughout as the string that connects it all is quite remarkable. “Suburban War” feels like the perfect centerpiece because, in my eyes, encapsulates the change and shifts of personal relationships inside our lives within the confines of life.
The Suburbs had some varying covers, including this one, which is the edition I own.
“Suburban War”, in my reception of it, laments on an old and special friendship that faded because the other had changed so much they drifted away and left the narrator's life. The way it's written, I envision the narrator is riding with a memory of a friend, speaking to them although they will never hear him, expressing memories and feelings connected to them that he continues to live with. I feel like they were friends that had much in common, and the narrator admired him, emulating things from him and bonding through these things, music being the biggest. Thus, music is a centerpiece of connection and division in the track, seeming to relate that he had this in common with this and other friends, and they and the others 'grew out' of those bands and their ideals to become something else. (“Now the music divides us into tribes.”) The narrator strongly relates how they all feel like strangers now and the hurt behind it through the expressive vocal delivery. (“All my old friends, they don't know me now.” “All my old friends staring through me now.”) It's difficult not to feel this, too.
Musically, the acoustic guitar along with the drum style and overlying musical effects give the perfect soundtrack to the lyrics, deftly creating the feel of driving along with the narrator to the point where I can even see the streets he drives around as he laments. The music flows in perfect line of the thoughts and feelings, bringing crescendos at the right moments and especially at the end, moving into the power of the emotions that become strongest, the narrator finally imploring, “All my old friends... Wait!”. I feel it in my chest every damn time. It's simply superb.
WE Tour - NYC, November 2022 - Credit: Susie Mckeon for Melodic Mag.
There are personal feelings that arise for me as well as I listen, the lines “Now the cities we live in could be distant stars, and I search for you in every passing car.” and “I've been living in the shadows of your song.” They're honestly some of my favorite lyrics on the entire album, which says a lot because there are soooooooooo many wonderful ones to choose from. I hope that, as you listen to “Suburban War”, you allow yourself to get lost in the memories and music so you can put yourself into his mind and visions. And I really hope you enjoy the ride as much as I do.
Lyrics
Let's go for a drive
And see the town tonight
There's nothing to do
But I don't mind when I'm with you
This town's so strange
They built it to change
And while we sleep
We know the streets get rearranged
With my old friends
It was so different then
Before your war
Against the suburbs began
Before it began
Now the music divides us into tribes
You grew your hair
So I grew mine
You said the past won't rest
Until we jump the fence and leave it behind
With my old friends
I can remember when
You cut your hair
I never saw you again
Now the cities we live in
Could be distant stars
And I search for you
In every passing car
The night's so long...
Yeah, the night's so long
I've been living in the shadows of your song
Been living in the shadows of your song
In the suburbs I
I learned to drive
And you told me we'd would never survive
So grab your mother's keys we leave tonight
But you started a war
That we can't win
They keep erasing all the streets we grew up in
Now the music divides us into tribes
You choose your side
I'll choose my side
All my old friends
They don't know me now
All my old friends
Are staring through me now
All my old friends
They don't know me now
All my old friends
They don't know me now
All my old friends... wait
~*~
Disclaimer: All photo, music, lyrics, video, and artwork copyrights belong to their respective owners.
Photos, videos, and lyrics used for reference and informational purposes.
I'm not being paid by them to write this. I'm not a journalist or anything. I just love music.
(Posted on 20th August 2024, Backdated to 15th June, 2024)
