I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
I woke up with the power out
Not really something to shout about
Ice has covered up my parents hands
Don't have any dreams, don't have any plans
I went out into the night
I went out to find some light
Kids are swingin' from the power lines
Nobody's home, so nobody minds
I woke up on the darkest night
Neighbors all were shoutin' that they found the light
(We found the light)
Shadows jumpin' all over my walls
Some of them big, some of them small
I went out into the night
I went out to pick a fight with anyone
Light a candle for the kids
Jesus Christ don't keep it hid
Ice has covered up my parents hands
Don't have any dreams don't have any plans
Growin' up in some strange storm
Nobody's cold, nobody's warm
I went out into the night
I went out to find some light
Kids are dyin' out in the snow
Look at them go, look at them go
And the power's out in the heart of man
Take it from your heart, put in your hand
What's the plan?
Is it a dream? Is it a lie?
I think I'll let you decide
Just light a candle for the kids
Jesus Christ don't keep it hid
Cause nothin's hid, from us kids
You ain't foolin' nobody with the lights out
And the power's out in the heart of man
Take it from your heart put in your hand
And there's something wrong in the heart of man
Take it from your heart, put it in your hand
Where'd you go?
Not really something to shout about
Ice has covered up my parents hands
Don't have any dreams, don't have any plans
I went out into the night
I went out to find some light
Kids are swingin' from the power lines
Nobody's home, so nobody minds
I woke up on the darkest night
Neighbors all were shoutin' that they found the light
(We found the light)
Shadows jumpin' all over my walls
Some of them big, some of them small
I went out into the night
I went out to pick a fight with anyone
Light a candle for the kids
Jesus Christ don't keep it hid
Ice has covered up my parents hands
Don't have any dreams don't have any plans
Growin' up in some strange storm
Nobody's cold, nobody's warm
I went out into the night
I went out to find some light
Kids are dyin' out in the snow
Look at them go, look at them go
And the power's out in the heart of man
Take it from your heart, put in your hand
What's the plan?
Is it a dream? Is it a lie?
I think I'll let you decide
Just light a candle for the kids
Jesus Christ don't keep it hid
Cause nothin's hid, from us kids
You ain't foolin' nobody with the lights out
And the power's out in the heart of man
Take it from your heart put in your hand
And there's something wrong in the heart of man
Take it from your heart, put it in your hand
Where'd you go?
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More Featured Meanings
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Power is out in the heart of man! How do you fix that problem?
There is something wild about this song, like an emergency. It's something that you would feel after a funeral if the people didn't mourn as violently and enough as you feel they should have. I normally hear and think of this album as a post-funeral catharsis. As if you didn't mourn correctly in the week of mourning, so you must do it a year later. I saw in a interview that Winn Butler said once "My generation is desensitized." If you are desensitized, then your not able to respond as you should to very real things. Death is one of those things Americans aren't really sure how to respond to, or well, probably any person that ever lived. No person that ever lived knows how to respond to death.
To hear Winn Butler yell and sing wildly in this song means something. I wonder if he is trying to show us how to deal with the real. I'm curious to know what that very deep roaring sound in this soug is as well. It sounds almost like a chainsaw, but I don't think that Arcade Fire are trying to say something destructive, I think it's the kind of noise that you hear in your head when something horrible happens. Like trying to yell after you get punched in the stomach. Or some kind of subterrianian pain that begins in your stomach. Like the way that thunder rumbles the earth.
The power is out in the heart of man, the power is on in the cities and houses. Would turning off electricity help turn on the heart of man?