In the suburbs I
I learned to drive
And you told me we'd never survive
Grab your mother's keys we're leaving
You always seemed so sure
That one day we'd be fighting in a suburban war
Your part of town against mine
I saw you standing on the opposite shore
But by the time the first bombs fell
We were already bored
We were already, already bored
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm moving past the feeling
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm moving past the feeling again
The kids wanna be so hard
But in my dreams, we're still screaming and running through the yard
And all of the walls that they built in the seventies finally fall
And all of the houses they built in the seventies finally fall
Meant nothing at all
Meant nothing at all
It meant nothing
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm moving past the feeling
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm moving past the feeling and into the night
So can you understand?
Why I want a daughter while I'm still young
I wanna hold her hand
Show her some beauty before this damage is done
But if it's too much to ask, if it's too much to ask
Then send me a son
Under the overpass
In the parking lot, we're still waiting
It's already passed
So move your feet from hot pavement and into the grass
'Cause it's already passed
It's already, already passed
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm moving past the feeling
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm moving past the feeling again
I'm moving past the feeling
I'm moving past the feeling
In my dreams, we're still screaming
We're still screaming
We're still screaming
I learned to drive
And you told me we'd never survive
Grab your mother's keys we're leaving
You always seemed so sure
That one day we'd be fighting in a suburban war
Your part of town against mine
I saw you standing on the opposite shore
But by the time the first bombs fell
We were already bored
We were already, already bored
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm moving past the feeling
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm moving past the feeling again
The kids wanna be so hard
But in my dreams, we're still screaming and running through the yard
And all of the walls that they built in the seventies finally fall
And all of the houses they built in the seventies finally fall
Meant nothing at all
Meant nothing at all
It meant nothing
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm moving past the feeling
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm moving past the feeling and into the night
So can you understand?
Why I want a daughter while I'm still young
I wanna hold her hand
Show her some beauty before this damage is done
But if it's too much to ask, if it's too much to ask
Then send me a son
Under the overpass
In the parking lot, we're still waiting
It's already passed
So move your feet from hot pavement and into the grass
'Cause it's already passed
It's already, already passed
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm moving past the feeling
Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm moving past the feeling again
I'm moving past the feeling
I'm moving past the feeling
In my dreams, we're still screaming
We're still screaming
We're still screaming
Lyrics submitted by firstgreenroom
The Suburbs Lyrics as written by Regine Chassagne Jeremy Gara
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This song brought me close to tears, it really is the perfect outro. After hearing The Suburbs album for the first time, I went around the streets on my bike trying to relive my memories a little bit, but much like Half Light says, it just felt so hollow. Like the fun had just been drained.
Best band on earth? I think so.
Arcade Fire changes your life.
In my opinion The Suburbs as a whole is Arcade Fire's most relatable and tangible statement on the human condition. The album covers usual AF themes of being trapped in your own mind and the attempted rejection of the societal pressures/expectations that are on you due to the environment you had growing up.
But this album is specifically talking about your childhood and and how when you're a child you're most free to express yourself and the feelings you feel are most pure. You don't get kids who pretend to like some pretentious abstract art, you don't see kids who pretend to feel or pretend to care. You are your most pure and true when you are a child. To me 'The Suburbs' is about how as you get older you start loosing a sense of who you are. You start having to fill in more and more social expectations. You have to accept the horror of the world we live in. Capitalism drains you of any last piece of real feeling you can get.
So then for me the Sprawl ii is the emotional climax of the album and one of the few optimistic tracks here. The Sprawl is the environment I described in the previous paragraph. Society and the world itself trapping you and suppressing your true self expression. Sprawl ii is about refusing to conform regardless of what people think and fighting against societal pressures to conform.
So then finally when 'The Suburbs (Continued)' it's Win revealing right at the end that truly, he thinks he can never really escape the sprawll. The hollow nature of adulthood and emptiness of capitalism. He reveals that even if he got the chance to live through his childhood allover again, and do something with all that wasted time, he'd only waste it again, and again, again...
To me this is about the human condition and how we're always trapped in our minds and trapped in time. We only realize true beauty once it's already passed. We only see what's worth hanging onto after it's already gone. The only thing we can sure about is the emptiness we feel in the moment, and the longing to escape.
That's just my interpretation anyway!