Arcade Fire’s “Funeral”

Album Cover for "Funeral" by Arcade Fire

This week, I’ve been listening to Arcade Fire’s debut album “Funeral” from 2004. I loved this band from the first time I heard them. I believe Yahoo Music introduced them to me; it was probably the song “Rebellions (Lies).”

“Funeral” consists of individual songs, a suite of songs, that form a unified whole. There’s some repetition of musical ideas, especially the rhythms used to convey driving emotion. With a few brief rests in the twilight, a driving rhythm marches throughout these songs.

The music and lyrics elevate the troubled restless thoughts of our more meek moments; Arcade Fire gave voice to these emotions and filled them with a triumphant sense of purpose, even if that purpose was just to carry on. With universal lines like “Our bodies get bigger, but our hearts get torn up,” it’s no wonder this album resonated with so many. The message is affirming by recognizing the fragility of life and emotions.

Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)

Arcade Fire open the “Funeral” with the “Neighborhood” suite of four songs, with an additional track between Neighborhood #2 and #3. I don’t know if this is an interlude or part of the suite. I suspect the band grouped the songs more out of acknowledgement that they loosely shared the theme of neighborhoods more than an intentional concept. The song “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” begins the suite.

Arcade Fire emphasizes every beat throughout much of the album. We’ll hear a lot of four-on-the-floor rhythms. This starts immediately with the first track with pizzicato strings, which then become staccato bowed on the beat. Piano tinkles and then plays a six note motif that will be repeated after stanzas of the verses. At 35 seconds, the vocals and kick drums join simultaneously, with the kick on every beat 1-2-3-4. This is how that march happens. Instruments one by one join in, adding to that continuous rhythm, combined with the rising intensity of Win Butler’s vocals.

The lyrics present a scenario where there’s so much snow that it buries the neighborhood. The (presumably teenage) speaker makes plans to meet their beloved when their parents begin to cry. The song offers some visuals like a wondrous children’s book that’s magical yet vaguely sad. The grown-up plans they make are remotely childlike, frightening and playful. The lyrics make use of repetition, sometimes just a word or two, like a stutter, or pulling back to explain; Occasionally there’s rhyme of the last two lines of each stanza, but not always.

And if the snow buries my, my neighborhood
And if my parents are crying then I’ll dig a tunnel
From my window to yours
Yeah, a tunnel from my window to yours


You climb out the chimney and meet me in the middle, the middle of the town
And since there’s no one else around, we let our hair grow long
And forget all we used to know
Then our skin gets thicker from living out in the snow

Une année sans lumière

One of my favorite songs has always been “Une Annee Sans Lumiere,” even though I’ve had no idea what the French lyrics means. So today, I finally looked them up. So, the lyrics are about a young couple; the girl’s father either can’t see or understand their love. I like the sound of the vocals; In addition being half in French, they are also sung more softly and carefully than on other songs. While there’s still a driving rhythm, they break from the four on the floor pounding that happens elsewhere. It’s gently pretty and I’m bobbing my head to it.

The verses follow a I-IV-V-iv-I-IV-V-I-VIb-VI-V-I chord progression. The I-IV-V sections have a strong movement (“Hey, the streetlights all burnt out” ; the sections between the I-IV-Vs are played as an aside (”
Une annee sans lumieres”) with the male vocals joined by Regine Chassagne’s female vocals. I especially like the way the rhythm relaxes for the chorus, where we hear a I-VIb-IV-iv-I-V#-V-I chord progression. The use of borrowed chords, combined with the lack of drums gives the chorus a suspenseful yet weak feeling; It’s somewhat haunting.CBbF Hey, your old man should know FmC If you see a shadow G#GC there’s something there

Hey, your old man should know
If you see a shadow
There’s something there

Rebellion (Lies)

I like to consider “Rebellion (Lies)” as the last song, becuase I don’t like the actual last song. Immediately, the kick drum pounds in on the four-to-the-floor beat. A piano drives along hitting at a constant eighth note rhythm. This song ends the album on an uplifting anthemic march, strengthened by the repetition of a I-IV-I-vi chord progression and a few upward key changes. Again, as with other songs, instruments join one at a time at the beginning of bars. And as the song progresses, those instruments intensify their emphasis of the beat.

The lyrics deal with slightly-dark universal themes of the cultural deception and mythology, ending with an affirmation that things will be alright anyway. At a surface level, it’s a rebellion against the parental commandment to get sleep: “People say that you’ll die faster than without water, But we know it’s just a lie to scare your son and scare your daughter.” Further, it’s a proclamation that maybe we don’t need to hide our selves in the darkness of night, under the covers, under the control of society and our parents.

Now here’s the sun, it’s alright!
Now here’s the moon, it’s alright!
But every time you close your eyes, lies!