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Arcade Fire

Certain Songs: The Arcade Fire – “No Cars Go”

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Album: Neon Bible.

Year: 2007.

Quite possibly the biggest music this band has ever made and a rip-roaring highlight of their second album, More Songs About Children and Dreams – whoops, I’m sorry, I meant Neon Bible – “No Cars Go” had me singing “Us kids know!” the year I turned 45.

But here’s the thing, where is this place? Is it even a better place? Win Butler isn’t telling. Or at least, he isn’t telling me – far from a kid and getting ever further – what the kids know. Still, if the kids know where this place is, it will probably show up on the internet, like MySpace or Facebook or that new Twitter thingy.

“Between the click of the light and the start of the dream.”

What a second, is it sleep?

God damn it, has even Win Butler now been corrupted by the Sleeping-Industrial Complex?  It was probably that 10.0 that Pitchfork gave Funeral.

Oh well, it doesn’t even matter, cos I’ll follow that drumbeat anywhere, even to sleep, not that I could ever sleep while the Arcade Fire was playing this song.

“No Cars Go” Performed Live at the BBC, 2007

My Certain Songs Playlist on Spotify

Every “Certain Song” Ever

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

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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

24 Musical Moments to Die For

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You can talk about genres, artists, albums, or even songs, but sometimes what keeps us coming back to music is the discovery of the transcendent musical moment. For me, “the moment” is the part of the song that fully and utterly engages me; the reason that I keep coming back to it.

I’m not necessarily talking about hooks here, because the purpose of a hook is the draw you into a song. I’m really talking more about traps: the part of a song that that keeps you there.

The is the second in a series. The first one had 25, this one has 24.

Every single moment I’ve listed below kills me single every time I hear it.

Oh, and this isn’t in any kind of order, despite the numbering.

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