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Modern World Lyrics

I'm not in love with the modern world
I'm not in love with the modern world
It was a torch driving the savages back to the trees

Modern world has more ways
And I don't mention it since it's changed
While the people go out and the people come home again

It's gotta last to build up your eyes
And a lifetime of red skies
And from my bed saying you're haunted, hissing in my bed
Modern world don't ask why
Cause modern world will build things high
Now they house canyons filled with life

Modern world i'm not pleased to meet you
You just bring me down
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26 Meanings

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Cover art for Modern World lyrics by Wolf Parade

Compare to modest mouse's novacaine stain:

And what's replacing them now Interchange causes a mall And crowded chain restaurants More housing developments go up Named after the things they replace So welcome to Minnow Brook And welcome to Shady Space And it all seems a little abrupt No I don't like this change of pace

both excellent "be wary of overdevelopment" songs.

good man, good man

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overdevelopment is the death of us, i'm a witness to it in the eternal-growing Austin, Texas

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This album was produce by Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse.

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Cover art for Modern World lyrics by Wolf Parade

Amazing sound and lyrics. It says exactly what it means.

I especially like the line "It was a torch driving the savages back to the trees," which suggests that modern civilization isn't necessarily 'better' for us - it just outcompeted and marginalized other "barbaric" societal forms like hunting and gathering. The modern world is presented as cold, efficient, and totalizing.

"Modern world don't ask why" is referring to the myth of progress, which holds that the purpose of society/civilization is production, population, and unlimited growth. But the line "Modern world i'm not pleased to meet you / You just bring me down" argues otherwise - it says that maybe civilization is about happiness, and not about the increasing arms race between people's material wants and means of sating them.

As a student getting an environmental science / anthropology degree, this is my theme song.

Cover art for Modern World lyrics by Wolf Parade

Okay.. I should elaborate on that. The current lyric makes it seem like Modern World just so happened to drive the savages back, but the real lyrics make it seem like it was intentionally used as a tool to drive the savages back.

Cover art for Modern World lyrics by Wolf Parade

an incredibly fabulous overlooked song.

Cover art for Modern World lyrics by Wolf Parade

this song is so good. thats funny cause I compared it to modest mouse too.

Cover art for Modern World lyrics by Wolf Parade

this song is so good. thats funny cause I compared it to modest mouse too.

Cover art for Modern World lyrics by Wolf Parade

It probably is also referencing the Modern Lovers' "Modern World" ("I'm in love with the modern world")

Cover art for Modern World lyrics by Wolf Parade

comparing it to the modest mouse song is interesting, because didn't isaac brock help out during the recording sessions for this album?

Cover art for Modern World lyrics by Wolf Parade

yea, brock produced it

Cover art for Modern World lyrics by Wolf Parade

I really love the guys voice. Completely amazing song...one of my favourites off the album.