Any musician can be great for a myriad of reasons. Maybe their aesthetic alone can win the hearts of teenage girls, or maybe they're instrumental geniuses, but I think what makes an artist truly great is how they enamor their audiences through their lyrics. And Arcade Fire does exactly that. Through their lyrics, Arcade Fire paints countless stories unique to their sound. They perform each song so perfectly that they're capable of paralleling instrumentals to the depth of the words they're singing. Here are my top 15 Arcade Fire lyrics:
15. "Ocean Of Noise," from "Neon Bible"
"No way of knowing
What any man will do
An ocean of violence
Between me and you"
14. "Afterlife," from "Reflektor"
"Can we work it out?
If we scream and shout, ’till we work it out
Can we just work it out?
Scream and shout ’till we work it out?"
13. "Supersymmetry," from "Reflektor"
"I lived for a year, in the bed by the window
Reading books, better than memories
Wanna feel the seasons passing
Wanna feel the spring"
12. "Wasted Hours (A Life That We Can Live)," from "The Suburbs"
"Wishing you were anywhere but here
You watch the life you're living disappear
And now I see
We're still kids in buses
Longing to be free"
11. "Black Mirror," from "Neon Bible"
"Black mirror, black mirror, black mirror
I know a time is coming
All words will lose their meaning
Please show me something that isn't mine
But mine is the only kind that I relate to"
10. "We Exist," from "Reflektor"
"Maybe if you hang together
You can make the changes in our hearts
And if you hang together, you can change us
Just where should we start?"
9. "Ready To Start," from "The Suburbs"
"Now I'm ready to start
My mind is open wide
And now I'm ready to start
You're not sure
You open the door
And step out into the dark"
8. "Modern Man," from "The Suburbs"
"So I wait in line, I'm a modern man
And the people behind me, they can't understand
Makes me feel like
Something don't feel right"
7. "Rebellion (Lies)," from "Funeral"
"Sleeping is giving in
No matter what the time is
Sleeping is giving in
So lift those heavy eyelids"
6. "Crown Of Love," from "Funeral"
"They say it fades if you let it
Love was made to forget it
I carved your name across my eyelids
You pray for rain I pray for blindness"
5. "The Suburbs," from "The Suburbs"
"So can you understand?
Why I want a daughter while I'm still young
I wanna hold her hand
And show her some beauty"
4. "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)," from "The Suburbs"
"'Cause on the surface the city lights shine
They're calling at me, come and find your kind
Sometimes I wonder if the World's so small
That we can never get away from the sprawl"
3. "Suburban War," from "The Suburbs"
"And 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"
2."Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)," from "Funeral"
"Purify the colors, purify my mind
And spread the ashes of the colors over this heart of mine"
1. "Wake Up," from "Funeral"
"If the children don’t grow up
our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up
We’re just a million little gods causin' rain storms
turnin’ every good thing to rust."
