Funeral is a product of death. The family of a few Arcade Fire members died either immediately before, or during the production of Funeral: Win and Will Butler's grandfather (electric guitar pioneer, Alvino Rey); Regine Chassagne's grandmother; and Richard Reed Parry's aunt. Their deaths permeate almost every song on Funeral, but the album manages to stay bright. The instruments never veer too dark. The melodies never sound defeated. Before analyzing Funeral, I wondered if the lyrics maintained that same optimism. Could an album born from death be a statement of hope and courage? I found five themes in Funeral: Death, Age, Family, Home, and Love. Below, you'll find the album tracklist, my summaries of the themes, and the research I gathered to form my analysis. Tracklist: Death: 9/10 songs (Neighborhood #1, Neighborhood #2, Neighborhood #3, Neighborhood #4, Crown of Love, Wake Up, Haiti, Rebellion, In the Backseat) Death plays a crucial role in Funeral's world. Kids die in the snow. A Haitian dictator murders his people, and buries them in unmarked graves. Vampires run amok. It's impossible not to connect this theme to the deaths affecting Arcade Fire's personnel. Age: 9/10 songs (Neighborhood #1, Neighborhood #2, Une Annee Sans Lumiere, Neighborhood #3, Neighborhood #4, Crown of Love, Wake Up, Haiti, Rebellion) Funeral is a coming-of-age album. Death causes the characters to grow up immediately. They lose their innocence when faced with the cold realities of life. In "Neighborhood #3," kids are swinging from the power lines. The adults are gone, so the children are free to do whatever they please. This freedom is punished later in the song, when children begin freezing to death. This teaches the other characters that everyone is mortal, and life isn't guaranteed. Win Butler, Arcade Fire's primary lyricist, may have learned a similar lesson with the passing of his grandfather. Family: 8/10 songs (Neighborhood #1, Neighborhood #2, Une Annee Sans Lumiere, Neighborhood #3, Crown of Love, Haiti, Rebellion, In the Backseat) Much of the sadness in Funeral involves family members. Cousins are still-born, parents are heard crying in their bedroom, and a brother is compared to Laika. On "In the Backseat," Regine Chassagne sings, "My family tree / is losing all its leaves." The recent passing of her grandmother, and the murders of her family in Haiti, probably inspired those lyrics. Despite those tragedies, family is a beacon of hope in other songs. In "Haiti," Chassagne sings, "My family set me free." In Funeral, family causes you deep pain, but is also your saving grace. Home: 5/10 songs (Neighborhood #1, Neighborhood #2, Neighborhood #3, Neighborhood #4, Crown of Love) The bulk of Funeral takes place in a fictional neighborhood. Little is known about the neighborhood, but it seems to be the result of some apocalyptic winter. Parents inexplicably disappear, and children run the town. Everything is fine, until death forces them to grow up. Eventually, they become just like the adults they initially resented. I think this symbolizes one of the tragedies Funeral displays: age has a way of tainting expectations, which leads to giving up completely. The characters' neighborhood serves as the backdrop for that defeat. Love: 5/10 songs (Neighborhood #1, Neighborhood #3, Crown of Love, Wake Up, Rebellion) Love ties Funeral together. Despite the tragedy, heartbreak, and loss prevalent on the majority of the album, the lyrics often resolve by overcoming those things. Every defeat is met with acceptance. On "Wake Up," Win Butler sings, "With my lightning bolts glowing / I can see where I am going." That line perfectly summarizes what Funeral is. The characters, and band members, suffered personal losses. They took those losses and turned them into strengths. The character used lightning bolts. Arcade Fire used their art. Love transforms the tragedies into something beyond mortality. Most Thematic Song(s): "Neighborhood #1," "Neighborhood #3," and "Crown of Love" contain all five themes. Least Thematic Song(s): "Une Annee Sans Lumiere" and "In the Backseat" contain only two of the five themes. Final Thoughts: I was very familiar with Funeral before researching it, but its sheer darkness still managed to surprise me. The music is so triumphant that it's easy to forget the pain bubbling from the center of the album. It's an album born from pain, so its pain makes sense. That's what makes it beautiful. Arcade Fire take death and make it a celebration of life. They don't want to stew in agony. They'd rather get on their feet, raise their voices, and live while they still can. The deaths of their family members cost them a piece of their innocence, but it also showed them the value of life. Raw Data: Death: 9/10 songs (Neighborhood #1, Neighborhood #2, Neighborhood #3, Neighborhood #4, Crown of Love, Wake Up, Haiti, Rebellion, In the Backseat)
Age: 9/10 songs (Neighborhood #1, Neighborhood #2, Une Annee Sans Lumiere, Neighborhood #3, Neighborhood #4, Crown of Love, Wake Up, Haiti, Rebellion)
Family: 8/10 songs (Neighborhood #1, Neighborhood #2, Une Annee Sans Lumiere, Neighborhood #3, Crown of Love, Haiti, Rebellion, In the Backseat)
Home: 5/10 songs (Neighborhood #1, Neighborhood #2, Neighborhood #3, Neighborhood #4, Crown of Love)
Love: 5/10 songs (Neighborhood #1, Neighborhood #3, Crown of Love, Wake Up, Rebellion)
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