When they say they're cutting off the phone, I tell 'em you're not home
No place to hide, you were fighting as a soldier on their side
You're still a soldier in your mind though nothing's on the line
You say it's money that we need as if we're only mouths to feed
I know no matter what you say, there are some debts you'll never pay
Working for the church while your family dies
You take what they give you and you keep it inside
Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home
Hear the soldier groan, "We'll go at it alone"
I can taste the fear, lift me up and take me out of here
Don't wanna fight, don't wanna die, just wanna hear you cry
Who's going to throw the very first stone? Oh, who's going to reset the bone?
Walking with your head in a sling, want to hear the soldier sing
Working for the church while my family dies
Your little baby sister's gonna lose her mind
Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home
Hear the soldier groan, "We'll go at it alone"
I can taste your fear, it's gonna lift you up and take you out of here
And the bone shall never heal, I care not if you kneel
We can't find you now but they're gonna get their money back somehow
And when you finally disappear, we'll say you were never here
Been working for the church while your life falls apart
Been singing hallelujah with the fear in your heart
Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home
Hear the soldier groan, "We'll go at it alone"
Hear the soldier groan, "We'll go at it alone"
Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member Sarah Neufeld and multi-instrumentalists Paul Beaubrun, Dan Boeckner and Eric Heigle. Each of the band's studio albums features contributions from composer and violinist Owen Pallett.
Founded in 2001 by friends and classmates Butler and Josh Deu, the band came to prominence in 2004 with the release of their critically acclaimed debut album Funeral. Their second studio album, Neon Bible, won them the 2008 Meteor Music Award for Best International Album and the 2008 Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year. Their third studio album, The Suburbs, was released in 2010 to critical acclaim and commercial success. It received many accolades, including the 2011 Grammy for Album of the Year, the 2011 Juno Award for Album of the Year and the 2011 Brit Award for Best International Album. In 2013, Arcade Fire released their fourth album, Reflektor, and scored the feature film Her, for which band members Will Butler and Owen Pallett were nominated in the Best Original Score category at the 86th Academy Awards. In 2017, the band released their fifth studio album Everything Now, which was succeeded by their sixth studio album We in 2022.
All the band's studio albums have received nominations for Best Alternative Music Album at the Grammys. Funeral is widely considered by music critics to be one of the greatest albums of the 2000s. The band's work has also been named three times as a shortlist nominee for the Polaris Music Prize: in 2007 for Neon Bible, in 2011 for The Suburbs and in 2014 for Reflektor.
The band has been described as indie rock, art rock, dance-rock, and baroque pop. They play guitar, drums, bass guitar, piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, xylophone, glockenspiel, keyboard, synthesizer, French horn, accordion, harp, mandolin and hurdy-gurdy, and take most of these instruments on tour; the multi-instrumentalist band members switch duties throughout shows.
