Introducing Song of the Day!

That's right followers, or ... ummm people that read here, I'm introducing a new feature of The Mystery Can called song of the day! I'll mostly be doing these at night, because there's this thing called work, and gives me money to buy bee.... thinking liquid.

Anyways, this little section gives me space to basically post a song and write my analysis of it and such.

Starting the series off, we have Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs".

I grew up in the suburbs and the video was pretty much spot on... except for you know, the whole war/military thing; although we did live close to a military base, so close that you could hear the canons firing off in the distance; it would be so loud, sometimes your windows would rattle a bit.

When I first learned to drive, I drove everyone everywhere. I didn't care where and I didn't care when. Sometimes I would take people home I had massive crushes on and other times I would take people I generally disliked. But people rode and they would talk. We all got along and we all bonded in this shitty red car.

I couldn't tell you why we did crazy things as kids. I probably couldn't explain it well myself, if I went back in time to interview myself. I hung around a group of people that I hardly ever see nowadays and in some ways I really miss hanging out with them but am to afraid too acknowledge that we've all grown up and gone our separate ways. Which is why this lyric hits me so hard:

"Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling again"

The music accompanying the lyrics are just as powerful. This rolling, almost thundering piano (if you have enough bass in your headphones or stereo to hear it) is almost overpowering to the point that it feels like an Inception trailer. It needed this light hearted, stringing along (pun intended) orchestral section that helped the tempo move along instead of being dragged down by the piano. The acoustic guitar adds this odd old-time age to the song, like some folk song in the 70's or something, but the vocal stylings of Win Butler are really the icing on this amazing cake. Butler really doesn't need to sing at all in this song, but he adds this whole other dimension to the song that doesn't just count lyrically; there's this longing in his voice during the chorus that makes you yearn with him.

It all culminates at the end when everything kind of evolves over time and it strikes me so hard. The beginning and the end of the song are basically playing the same notes, but you can hear the pianist (I think it's Butler, at least according to live performances) really hammering on those keys and the string section laying their bows hard. The song gets to this end point where it's so heavy and layered, but not too much; then, lightly dusts off with this lone violin, to whisper goodbye.

This is a song that really knows how to build a climax, but then, that's just why Arcade Fire is so good.

Other notable lyrics:

"I learned to drive

And you told me we'd never survive"

"But by the time the first bombs fell
We were already bored"

"And all of the houses they build in the seventies finally fall
Meant nothin' at all"

"So can you understand?
Why I want a daughter while I'm still young
I wanna hold her hand
And show her some beauty
Before this damage is done"

To be honest this whole song sums up how I miss my earlier youth but how much I've grown. It's kind of like a nostalgia smack in the face. Most of all I'm reminded of my old red car that was passed down to me from my brother and sisters. It died when I was in college as if to signify that era of my life was over.