Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)

It's common knowledge that Arcade Fire named the album on which this song appears Funeral because they had lost several close relations during the recording. But I think those losses sparked a more general contemplation of the contribution of the older generations and how they both affected and were affected by the passage of time in the twentieth century. The Arcade Fire often uses their music to make sociopolitical statements, and nowhere is this more evident than in the "Neighborhood" series, in which each song seems to reference a different time period in modern history.

In this light, "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" is set during the countercultural revolution of the 1960s. Here we have two disaffected youths sneaking off to meet each other while their parents are noticeably distraught, as many adults were then due to the Vietnam War, the Kennedy assassination, and the growing "sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll" movement among their children. In a world that they perceive as cold and alienating to them (i.e. covered in snow), the teens stage a protest of sorts and "let [their] hair grow long," as hippies did.

However, there was indeed a backlash to the hippie movement, and many of those same impassioned Boomers demonstrating for the demise of capitalism became the yuppies of the Me generation, growing up and developing the thick skins referred to in the song. At some point, every young generation realizes that, despite their faults, their parents had valuable experiences to share and lessons to teach. Sadly, that realization often comes too late, as it does to the singer, whose generation has drifted so far from its roots that he can hardly remember his forefathers or the traditions he was raised with ("But we forgot all the names/...we used to know"; "Then we think of our parents/Well, whatever happened to them?"). Awakening to the fact that he's strayed so far from his youthful ideals, the singer, now older and more jaded, wishes that he could "hear.../The song I've been trying to sing," one which would "purify" him, restoring his tarnished ideals to their former brilliance. But, tragically, he also recognizes that the fire of his passion has burnt out, and only the "ashes of the colors" he once saw in the world still smolder in his heart.

Please see my comments on the other "Neighborhood" songs for more details on how this song cycle makes a sociopolitical statement.