The Suburbs

Arcade Fire Songs can be triggered by a simple act. According to The Suburbs Songfacts, frontman Win Butler was sent a photograph of an old school friend of his, who was standing with his daughter sitting on his shoulders "at the mall around the corner from where we lived". He added: “The combination of seeing this familiar place and seeing my friend with his child brought back a lot of feeling from that time. I found myself trying to remember the town that we grew up in and trying to retrace as much as I could remember.” At the same time, other Arcade Fire band members of a similarly suburban origin across Canada had revisited their childhood environs and, in some cases, found there was not much left: buildings were boarded up, if they still existed at all; new roads and rivers had magically appeared, altering the landscape that now only existed in faded photographs. When they reconvened, this was the first song they wrote. Said Win: "We started working on the song, and once that started to sound like music it felt like we were making an album."

[Verse 1] In the suburbs, I I learned to drive And you told me we'd never survive Grab your mother's keys, we're leaving You always seemed so sure That one day we'd be fighting in a suburban war Your part of town against mine I saw you standing on the opposite shore But by the time the first bombs fell We were already bored We were already, already bored [Chorus] Sometimes I can't believe it I'm moving past the feeling Sometimes I can't believe it I'm moving past the feeling again [Verse 2] The kids want to be so hard But in my dreams, we're still screaming And running through the yard And all of the walls that they built in the seventies finally fall And all of the houses they built in the seventies finally fall Meant nothing at all Meant nothing at all, it meant nothing [Chorus] Sometimes I can't believe it I'm moving past the feeling Sometimes I can't believe it I'm moving past the feeling and into the night [Verse 3] So can you understand That I want a daughter while I'm still young? I want to hold her hand And show her some beauty before this damage is done But if it's too much to ask, if it's too much to ask Then send me a son Under the overpass In the parking lot, we're still waiting, it's already passed So move your feet from hot pavement and into the grass 'Cause it's already passed It's already, already passed [Chorus] Sometimes I can't believe it I'm moving past the feeling Sometimes I can't believe it I'm moving past the feeling again I'm moving past the feeling I'm moving past the feeling [Outro] In my dreams, we're still screaming We're still screaming We're still screaming