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Top 25 Arcade Fire songs

5/18/2022 01:11:00 PM No comments

Spurred on by the release of WE, a conversation with my son, and Consequence of Sound's "Every Arcade Fire Song Ranked from Worst to Best" post, I decided it was time to work on my own Arcade Fire list. I am thankful to my friend John handing me Funeral back in 2004, and have been a huge fan ever since. In fact, they are one of the few bands who I love and own a full discography without ever seeing them live--hopefully will remedy that one day.

My Arcade Fire listening is closely related to my family. I got married the year Funeral was released, and did not yet have kids when Neon Bible dropped, so we listened to both of those a lot as a couple on road trips.

When The Suburbs was released two of my children had been born, all three of my kids have grown up listening to that album, and it is a family favorite. One of my favorite vinyl listening experiences is when The Suburbs vinyl came in the mail, my wife and I sat down in my office after our babies were asleep and listened to the album in full with the lyrics in hand. We were both hooked immediately.

Reflektor and Everything Now are far less family friendly. I love Reflektor, but most of my listening has been solo. And Everything Now is by far my least favorite Arcade Fire album, and I have only really played three of the songs for my family. We all absolutely love "Put Your Money on Me".

I am thankful WE is another family friendly album, and we have already played it a few times in the car. "Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)" immediately became my wife's favorite Arcade Fire song, and jumped into my top-5. As a parent, these lyrics resonate deeply:

"Lookout kid, trust your heart
You don't have to play the part they wrote for you
Just be true
There are things that you could do
That no one else on earth could ever do
But I can't teach you, I can't teach it to you

Lookout kid, trust your mind
But you can't trust it every time
You know it plays tricks on you
And it don't give a damn if you are happy or you're sad
But if you've lost it, don't feel bad
'Cause it's alright to be sad

Lookout kid, trust your body
You can dance, and you can shake
Things will break, you make mistakes
You lose your friends, again and again
'Cause nothing is ever perfect
No one's perfect
Let me say it again, no one's perfect
Right

A lifetime of skinned knees
And heartbreak comes so easy
But a life without pain would be boring

And if you feel it, it's fine
I give you everything that's mine
I give you my heart and my precious time

Lookout kid, trust your soul
It ain't hard to rock n' roll
You know how to move your hips
And you know God is cool with it
But some people want the rock without the roll
But we all know, there's no God without soul
Right

A lifetime of skinned knees
And heartbreak comes so easily
But a life without you
Would be boring for someone like me

And if you feel it, it's fine
I give you everything that's mine
I give you my heart and my precious time
(Precious time)
(Give you everything)
I give you my heart and my precious time

Unconditional
It's unconditional
It's unconditional
No matter what you do
It's unconditional"

After a couple of days I narrowed Arcade Fire's 79-song catalog to 25, but putting them "in order" has proven impossible. With that in mind, I ranked my top 5, and then otherwise I grouped the songs in the order I rank the albums.

Top 25 Arcade Fire Songs:

1. "City With No Children" (3:12)

2. "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)" (5:26)

3. "Wake Up" (5:35)

4. "Put Your Money On Me" (5:53)

5. "Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)" (4:34)

The next 20 songs are ordered by my album ranking preference and not how I prefer each individual song:

NUMBER ONE:

The Suburbs
"The Suburbs" (5:15)
"Ready to Start" (4:16)
"Modern Man" (4:40)
"We Used to Wait" (5:01)

NUMBER TWO:

Funeral
"Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" (4:48)
"Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" (5:13)
"Crown Of Love" (4:42)
"Rebellion (Lies)" (5:11)

NUMBER THREE:

WE
"The Lightning I" + "The Lightning II" (3:02 + 2:34) (Note: While most of Arcade Fire's "numbered songs" stand alone, these two are inseparable and the same, continued work.)
"Unconditional II (Race and Religion)" (4:21)

NUMBER FOUR: