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We're Not Who You Think We Are

Certain Songs: The Arcade Fire – “Rebellion (Lies)”

November 3, 2014 by Jim Connelly

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Album: Funeral.

Year: 2004.

Funeral didn’t really change my life the way it did the lives of so many others, but this song is one of the greatest works of art of the 21st century.

I had no idea that I needed a synthesis of the Velvet Underground and Talking Heads as filtered through post-millennium Bruce Springsteen, but the moment that the snare drum and violin take over from the John Cale-ish piano, I’m all in, and the rest is just forward motion as they layer on (and off) the backing vocals, guitars and even handclaps!   

(Reminder of the Handclap Rule: Handlclaps automatically make a good song great and a great song immortal.)

And the words! As a life-long insomniac who resents the 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night he does get – and currently is having his sleep patterns fucked up by the time change – the opening salvo of “Sleeping is giving in / No matter what the time is” resonates in the deepest part of my soul.

Of course, I understand the reasons we need sleep, but gods damn it, I’d rather be awake and experiencing life than asleep and missing it.

There have been so many great songs celebrating sleeping, it was clearly about time we got a transcendent one calling bullshit on the whole Sleeping-Industrial Complex.

Official Video for “Rebellion (Lies)”

“Rebellion (Lies)” Performed Live in Paris, 2007

My Certain Songs Playlist on Spotify

Every “Certain Song” Ever

Filed Under: Certain Songs, Hot Topics Tagged With: Arcade Fire, funeral, rebellion (lies)

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Previously on Medialoper

  • Certain Songs #2547: Sugar – “Man on the Moon”
  • Certain Songs #2546: Sugar – “If I Can’t Change Your Mind”
  • Certain Songs #2545: Sugar – “Helpless”
  • Certain Songs #2544: Sugar – “Changes”
  • Certain Songs #2543: Sugar – “A Good Idea”

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