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Total ratings: 2943
Length: 5:15
Plays (last 30 days): 3
Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock
These days my life I feel it has no purpose
But late at night the feelings swim to the surface
'Cause on the surface the city lights shine
They're calling at me, come and find your kind
Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small
That we can never get away from the sprawl
Living in the sprawl, dead shopping malls rise
Like mountains beyond mountains
And there's no end in sight
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights
We rode our bikes to the nearest park
Sat under the swings and kissed in the dark
You shield my eyes from the police lights
We run away, but we don't know why
The black river, your city lights shine
They're screaming at us, "We don't need your kind"
Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small
That we can never get away from the sprawl
Living in the sprawl, dead shopping malls rise
Like mountains beyond mountains
And there's no end in sight
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights
They heard me singing and they told me to stop
Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock
Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small
Can we ever get away from the sprawl?
Living in the sprawl, dead shopping malls rise
Like mountains beyond mountains
And there's no end in sight
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights
and folks listen to this ABBA clone? Geez.......
Some people don't have a clue so they just write something like this. Next time just turn of the radio.
Alpha Blondy - wish you were here
How appropiate this song! I gave is a 9 when it first appeared here on RP and I confess, I must now bump it to a 10. What has become of America and it's plethora of 'burbs?
Captain Nemo returns to find a world of strip malls?
Living in the PNW, I can firmly say our mountains are taller than yours....though our dying shopping malls may be the same.....(I actually live near one of the 'suburb shopping malls (Alderwood) that is getting extra business from the closed down 'city' mall (Northgate) - Long Live RP and all the Urban, Suburban and Rural areas on the world!!
I also love in the PNW. But about 100 miles west in the small town of Sequim. A few buildings at two stories, and tall mountains rising to the south. Three small shopping centers. Ocean to the north.
Yet, or because of, we are growing too. Spoke the Eagles, "When you call it paradise, kiss it goodbye."
LLRP!
Methinks you do not understand the theme here. Just because we have a wealth of consumer goods doesn't mean we live meaningful lives. In fact it means the opposite.
And we have created aspirations in others for the same pursuit of crap. Crap that fills our world with garbage and other pollution. Crap that is destroying the natural world and us with it.
This!

First World problems.
Methinks you do not understand the theme here. Just because we have a wealth of consumer goods doesn't mean we live meaningful lives. In fact it means the opposite.
And we have created aspirations in others for the same pursuit of crap. Crap that fills our world with garbage and other pollution. Crap that is destroying the natural world and us with it.
Living in the PNW, I can firmly say our mountains are taller than yours....though our dying shopping malls may be the same.....(I actually live near one of the 'suburb shopping malls (Alderwood) that is getting extra business from the closed down 'city' mall (Northgate) - Long Live RP and all the Urban, Suburban and Rural areas on the world!!
Thank you brianlay for being so tolerant to people that have a musical taste for garbage made by non-talented artists.
LOL....despite the fact that admitting to liking this means "I like garbage" I had to go 7 to 8 based on the theme of the song....and well executed at that....and also despite the ABBA sounds like....Long Live RP!!
Good thing your worthless opinion means SFA. Clearly you have no idea of what you speak. Now off you go and put on that Kanye masterpiece that so moves your musical sensibilities. Twat.
Thank you brianlay for being so tolerant to people that have a musical taste for garbage made by non-talented artists.
That's a bit like a 12 yr. old calling Mozart or Strauss no-talent garbage. If you don't like it, fine, just say it's not your thing. But no talent garbage is just a tad over the top.
This is my only favorite Arcade Fire song.

If anything, the sound is reminiscent of ABBA.
Nairobi has this problem too, as does Sao Paulo, Cairo and New York.
Or as our President calls them - shitholes.
How appropiate this song! I gave is a 9 when it first appeared here on RP and I confess, I must now bump it to a 10. What has become of America and it's plethora of 'burbs?
Nails on a chalkboard!

That's obvious, isn't it? Middle-class suburbs only exist in the "First World". Would you prefer they wrote a song/album about pretending to be Bangladeshi peasants?
Nairobi has this problem too, as does Sao Paulo, Cairo and New York.
So, this song/album is about the angst and oppression of growing up in a middle-class suburb?
First World problems.
That's obvious, isn't it? Middle-class suburbs only exist in the "First World". Would you prefer they wrote a song/album about pretending to be Bangladeshi peasants?

So, this song/album is about the angst and oppression of growing up in a middle-class suburb?
First World problems.
One of the most over-rated bands out there. When does their 15 minutes expire?
Now that is in the running for the most incomprehensible and gnomic post of the month

The more I hear this song, the more I hear "we can never get away from the sprog".
One of the most over-rated bands out there. When does their 15 minutes expire?
suesblues wrote:
They heard me singing and they told me to stop
Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock
These days my life I feel it has no purpose
But late at night the feelings swim to the surface
'Cause on the surface the city lights shine
They're calling at me, come and find your kind
Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small
That we can never get away from the sprawl
Living in the sprawl, dead shopping malls rise
Like mountains beyond mountains
And there's no end in sight
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights
We rode our bikes to the nearest park
Sat under the swings and kissed in the dark
You shield my eyes from the police lights
We run away, but we don't know why
The black river, your city lights shine
They're screaming at us, "We don't need your kind"
Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small
That we can never get away from the sprawl
Living in the sprawl, dead shopping malls rise
Like mountains beyond mountains
And there's no end in sight
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights
They heard me singing and they told me to stop
Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock
Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small
Can we ever get away from the sprawl?
Living in the sprawl, dead shopping malls rise
Like mountains beyond mountains
And there's no end in sight
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights
They heard me singing and they told me to stop
Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock
These days my life I feel it has no purpose
But late at night the feelings swim to the surface
'Cause on the surface the city lights shine
They're calling at me, come and find your kind
Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small
That we can never get away from the sprawl
Living in the sprawl, dead shopping malls rise
Like mountains beyond mountains
And there's no end in sight
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights
We rode our bikes to the nearest park
Sat under the swings and kissed in the dark
You shield my eyes from the police lights
We run away, but we don't know why
The black river, your city lights shine
They're screaming at us, "We don't need your kind"
Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small
That we can never get away from the sprawl
Living in the sprawl, dead shopping malls rise
Like mountains beyond mountains
And there's no end in sight
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights
They heard me singing and they told me to stop
Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock
Sometimes I wonder if the world's so small
Can we ever get away from the sprawl?
Living in the sprawl, dead shopping malls rise
Like mountains beyond mountains
And there's no end in sight
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights
I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights

and folks listen to this ABBA clone? Geez.......
You guys could at least get her name right...it's Debbie Harry, not Harold ! And this really doesn't sound like her at all, IMHO.
Oh, lighten up, Just a sly attempt at humour, evidently wasted.

Yep, says Deborah Harold to me too.
You guys could at least get her name right...it's Debbie Harry, not Harold ! And this really doesn't sound like her at all, IMHO.
Zzzzzzzzzzz.
Yep, says Deborah Harold to me too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCH1IlOfDTM
Yep, says Deborah Harold to me too.
Ha ha, I was just thinking the same thing!
White noise.
Blech.
Ditto.
Another great band. I'm sure The Fire would approve.

I don't get it.
Influences are inevitable- and if it sounds like something 20 years ago, but isn't as cool as what you're mind is relating it to.... oh well.
My guess is most of these types of comments come from people who don't play music and don't understand that there's only so much you can do in the field of "popular music" and most likely couldn't write a song half as cool as this.

From HIgh Fidelity:
Louis: I don't have that record... I'll buy it for forty.
Rob: Sold.
Louis: Now why would you sell it to me and not to him?
Barry: Because you're not a geek, Louis.
Louis: You guys are snobs.
Dick: No, we're not.
Louis: Yeah, seriously, you're totally elitist. You feel like the unappreciated scholars, so you shit onto people who know lesser than you.
Rob, Barry, Dick: No!
Louis: Which is everybody...
Rob, Barry, Dick: Yeah...
Louis: That's so sad.
I don't get it.
Influences are inevitable- and if it sounds like something 20 years ago, but isn't as cool as what you're mind is relating it to.... oh well.
My guess is most of these types of comments come from people who don't play music and don't understand that there's only so much you can do in the field of "popular music" and most likely couldn't write a song half as cool as this.

What type of bubble gum are you familiar with? This (Arcade Fire) flavor must have some cayenne in it.
quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock
these days my life I feel it has no purpose
but late at night my feelings swim to the surface....
I need the darkness someone please cut the lights'
a song for anyone creative who's tried to conform...
great song, great lyrics, great hair (lead singer

..coolness!..thx for posting this..
I think a lot of the issues you and I have are based more on world outlook than practical differences.
Intelligently planned communities, built with an eye for sustainability, low environmental impact, and common sense are not a bad thing at all. I don't have anything wrong with subdivisions for housing (at least not on moral grounds, it's just not to my taste), but the kind of sprawl that bothers me is the commercial sprawl that leaves urban decline in it's wake.
Let me give you a prime example of it from where I live. About 7 or 8 miles out of town, a brand new, shiney, outdoor shopping center was opened. It was skewed to a slightly upscale buying audience in order to draw money out of the city and the surrounding areas. It has proven to be a successful venture for most of the stores located there and it's pretty much the shopping destination for anyone able to drive out there. It was located in what used to be farm land owned by a couple of families. They got their check, the developers got their check, and the businesses there get their checks. Everyone is happy.
Except for the people that lived near and within walking distance of a closer mall. Granted the mall was dated, but if the city had given the mall ownership even a fraction of the support given to the new shopping center, they would have been able to refresh it and keep it up to date. Instead, the stores inside withered as the buying population went to the new stores. People lost their livelihoods and life savings trying to save stores, but as the anchor stores left, so too did the majority of the shoppers. All that were left was the poor, those who could not afford the merchandise at the shopping center, or didn't have reliable transportation to get there. As stores left the area, they took jobs with them. As the jobs left the area, people could not longer afford to shop for anything, and the remaining shops closed down.
Now, instead of a mall, there is one giant, weed choked slab of concrete. The people in the immediate area are suffering more because what few employers they did have left. Now, crime is higher in those areas, the roads are deteriorating to be nearly unusable so that those that can find work, have to destroy their cars to get there.
Before you say "them's the breaks", consider both the economic and social benefits of just refreshing and renovating what was already there. The land would still be productive farmlands, thus contributing to the local economy. There would be more jobs in the area (granted, not great jobs, but everyone has to start out somewhere and it always beats no job). The area wouldn't be as dangerous for the residents. The roads would not have crumbled so those that work would be able to make their cars last longer.
Personally, I'd rather not have to drive further than necessary to spend more for something that I could have gotten closer for cheaper.
As for any moral superiority of a high rise over a split level ranch, you are right (edit... I hate split level houses. When I worked as a cable installer I had to go into several and they are a nightmare to wire and I think they waste a lot of space). Personally, I'd rather have a nice house on a wooded countryish lot than an apartment in a high rise somewhere. I don't begrudge anyone the right to live where ever they want. The issue I do have is the incessant need that people have for bigger and better things at the cost of common sense, logic, and sustainability. If you want a house away from the city, fine. But does your house really need to have 5 bedrooms and a bathroom every 17 feet?
The issue isn't a policy one, or even a social one. My issues are all cultural. I disagree with the throw away culture just as much as I disagree with the culture of ethnocentrism where people will stare in the face of reality and still declare that the American way of doing ANYTHING is better, simply because it's the American way.
Edit: RDO, next time I'm in DC, I want to take you out for a beer or 12. I've had more fun debating you on this forum than I have arguing with anyone. Most of the people with differing views are about as inarticulate as a turnip and always end up with an argument that tells me they feel that way because Glenn Beck told them to.
Believe me, the last thing you want is European style bureaucracy. It's just hell. Yes, Europe built the most beautiful and lasting cities the world has ever known, but that was 500-2000 years ago. When they were being built, rest assured they were denounced by cultural elites as "sprawl" or something similar. We cannot build these types of cities, as much as we'd love to, unless you want a Kim Jong Il to seize power and force it down our throats. I live in a high-rise near the heart of the city, I always have, I personally cannot physically live in the suburbs because I get severely depressed (I tried a stint). I just cannot do it. I need either Walden style isolation, or complete immersion in the urban jungle. There is no in between for me. Why is it so hard for people, like you, to accept that others are happy? Most people love the suburbs. To each his own. And don't give me that BS about the poor neighborhoods. We've had enough of this talk. I am all for social programs to help poor folks, but don't you dare blame it on the things America does well. I am so sick of that. It's not true. Love your posts as always. Keep it up. You make excellent points.
2.8% of RP listeners think so......which says more about you and your lack of taste than anything else.
I like this tune, but your comment is just rude.
quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock
these days my life I feel it has no purpose
but late at night my feelings swim to the surface....
I need the darkness someone please cut the lights'
a song for anyone creative who's tried to conform...
great song, great lyrics, great hair (lead singer





2.8% of RP listeners think so......which says more about you and your lack of taste than anything else.
This is growing on me. 5 —>6.
Soon turned out, was a pain in the ass.
song doesn't hurt (me) though...so I'd never vote it a 1, or so. I'd rather go with not rating it at all...



