If you've been paying attention, you'll know that I love juxtaposition. First, the word itself is something special. Second, the contrast between joyful music and depressing / somber / provocative lyrics or imagery, or maybe satirical commentary on modern civilization, or just plain self-destructive tendencies. This song is just that - if you listen to the tune without paying attention to the lyrics, it is inconceivable that you won't be dancing, or at least tapping your toes; but if you pay close attention, the song is about the never ending consumerism, drudgery, and mediocrity that is suburbia... not quite as cheerful as the sonic array would lead you to believe. I choose to view the music as giving a hopeful edge to the lyrical bleakness, and lines like "dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains" do indicate the expanse of the blight, but "mountains beyond mountains" also rings of hope. The phrase is partially a tribute to a book by the same name, by a doctor who has spent significant time in Haiti working with disaster relief efforts. To quote the description: "At the heart of this book is the example of a life based on hope and on an understanding of the truth of the Haitian proverb 'Beyond mountains there are mountains' – as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too." I have yet to read it, but it's high on my list for the new year.
If you want to dig deeper into the lyrics and their meaning, this one's a good one to pull up on songmeanings.net - complete with a plethora of comments discussing things.
Now for some fun. Arcade Fire recently released an intense and awesome and epic (further superlatives escape me) website / interactive music video. If you have a webcam, I highly recommend using it - and if you don't have a webcam, you can still experience (some of) the fun by clicking around during the song:
(If you are lacking confidence in your dance skills and need inspiration, watch this and this first. And if you're totally lame, you can watch the "traditional" version of the music video on the site instead of the interactive version...)
And just for you audiophiles or lovers of Arcade Fire, here are some live performances to further sate your appetite:
(live studio acoustic session)
(New Orleans Jazz Festival 2011, with special guest Cyndi Lauper - yes, that Cyndi Lauper)
(different song, but had to include - the prelude to the above, in which Arcade Fire's encore began with a cover of Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"... featuring the original artist herself. If you're clever, you'll watch this one *before* the above...)
(plain ol' music video, for you lame folks)
"They heard me singing and they told me to stop
quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock
No comments:
Post a Comment