It's just a reflection of a reflection of a reflection of a reflection of a reflection...
You can be sure of this: Arcade Fire albums never happen by accident. From the themes of each song all the way down to how those songs are dispersed and promoted, their music is a well-planned event. It might even be the case that each album they have ever released has been part of some master plan decided on from their inception (You can go to this article or this article to see what I might mean by that).
I am currently in the middle of a long season of reflecting (hehehe) on their work as a whole, as a single cohesive but diverse statement. In specific, I have listened to 2013's Reflektor quite a lot and as I did I started to notice all of the repeated lyrics contained in the album. Whether repeated verbatim, in an adapted form, or in inversed variations, there are so many lyrics connected to each other I was compelled to make a list of them all. To unpack what some of those lyrics mean I will be writing more articles in the coming weeks reflecting on Reflektor as a work and you can also read the articles I have already written on the band's works as a whole (see the end of the article for links). (I should also add, an equally exhaustive and necessary study could be done on the lyrics reflected within The Suburbs as a work and then reflected in their other albums, most especially Funeral)
Here is my main conclusion regarding the album's lyrics: The song "Reflektor" itself stands as a thesis statement for the whole album, with numerous themes, images, and phrases from this one song weaving their way into nearly ever other song on the album.
Here now is the list in two sections:
Section 1: Lyrics from within Reflektor
Section 2: Lyrics from Reflektor reflected in songs from other Arcade Fire Albums, most especially Neon Bible, it’s companion album
The reflected lyrics of Arcade Fire's Reflektor:
Section 1: Lyrics from within Reflektor:
On the “reflective age”, being in love, and being up on a stage:
From “Reflektor”: “We fell in love, alone on a stage/in the reflective age”
From “Awful Sound (Oh Eurydice)”: We know there’s a price to pay/for love in the reflective age/I met you up upon a stage/our love in a reflective age.
On heaven, the afterlife, and finding your love there:
From “Reflektor”: If this is heaven/I don't know what it’s for/If I can’t find you there/I don't care
From “Reflektor”: If this is heaven/I need something more/Just a place to be alone/'Cause you're my home
From “Reflektor”: translated from the French: “between the night, night and dawn/between the kingdoms, of the living and the dead.”
From “Here Comes the Night Time”: They say, heaven's a place/Yeah, heaven's a place and they know where it is/But you know where it is?/It's behind the gate, they won't let you in/And when they hear the beat, coming from the street, they lock the door/But if there's no music up in heaven, then what's it for?
From “Afterlife”: Afterlife, oh my God, what an awful word and Afterlife, I think I saw what happens next/It was just a glimpse of you/Like looking through a window
From “Here Comes the NIght Time”: If you're looking for Hell, just try looking inside
From “It’s Never Over (Oh Orpheus): the entirety of the song basically takes place in the afterlife, in the underworld of Hades another name for Hell.
On seeing his love “on the other side” or on getting over to the other side:
From “Reflektor”: Will I see you on the other side? It’s just a reflektor
From “It’s Never Over (Oh Orpheus): Seems so important now/But you will get over/And when you get over [to the other side—it’s implied]
From “Afterlife”: Afterlife, I think I saw what happens next/It was just a glimpse of you /Like looking through a window/Or a shallow sea/Could you see me?
Lyrics repeated verbatim at the end of both “We Exist” and “Normal Person”:
Maybe if you hang together/You can make the changes in our hearts/And if you hang together, you can change us/Just where should you start?
On being broken down or destroyed or misunderstood by “them” or “they”:
From “Reflektor”: I want to break free, but will they break me?/Down, down, down, don't mess around
From “We Exist”: But tell me why they treat me like this? and They're down on/their knees/Begging us please/Praying that we don't exist
From “Normal Person”, which contains numerous references to “they”: They want to know if you/If you're normal too/Well, are you?/Are you? and They take their tea at two/All the normal people, they do/They burn the jungle down/While they were sleeping, it grew and And they will break you down/Till everything is normal now, I know
From “Joan of Arc”: You're the one that they used to hate/But they like you now and They're the ones that spit on you/'Cause they got no heart and You had a vision they couldn't see so/They put you down and And they're the ones that put you down/'Cause they got no heart and Now they tell you that you're their muse/Yeah, they're so inspired/But where were they when they called your name/And they lit the fire? and My Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc)/Tell the boys their time is through
From “Awful Sound (Oh Eurydice)”: I know there's a way/We can make 'em pay/Think it over and say (I'm never going back again)
From “It’s Never Over (Oh Orpheus): Sometime (Sometime)/Boy, they're gonna eat you alive (eat you alive)
From “Porno”: But this is their world/Where can we go?
Two reflected uses of the word “hide”, one of characters who have something to hide, another of a character who has nothing to hide:
From “Reflektor”: Will I see you on the other side? (Just a reflektor)/We all got things to hide (Just a reflektor)
From “Flashbulb Eyes”: Hit me with your flashbulb eyes/Hit me with your flashbulb eyes/You know I've got nothing to hide/You know I got nothing
Two songs entitled “Here comes the Night Time”:
From “Here Comes the Night Time: Here comes the night time.../Look out, here comes the night time!
From “Here Comes the Night Time II”: Here comes the night time...
On being confused:
From “We Exist”: We know that we're young/And no shit we're confused
From "Normal Person": I'm so confused. I am a normal person?
From "Normal Person": I'm so confused. I am a normal person?
From “Joan of Arc”: When the voices came, you cut your hair/But you're still confused
On entering into a night or a darkness:
From “Reflektor”: translated from the French: “between the night, night and dawn/between the kingdoms, of the living and the dead.”
From “Here Comes the Night Time: Here comes the night time.../Look out, here comes the night time!
From “Here Comes the Night Time II”: Here comes the night time...
On being judged:
From “Here Comes the Night Time”: And if you're the judge, then what is our crime?/Here comes the night time
From “Joan of Arc”: You say that you are my judge/But I do not believe you
Uses of the word “know”:
From “You already Know”: You already know/Already know/You already know
From “Here Comes the Night Time II”: Here comes the night time, I know that you know
From “Porno”: I thought I knew you/You thought you knew me/But now that you do/It's not so easy now/That I know and Little boys with their porno/Oh, I know they hurt you so/They don't know that we know/Never know what we know
Uses of the word “slow”:
From “You Already Know”: So how can you move so slow?/How can you move so slow?/You miss it if you don't/You miss it if you
From “Here Comes the Night Time II”: Here comes the night time, coming on slow
Lyrics literally echoed (reflected or repeated) back and forth from Win to Regine:
From “Reflektor”: It’s just a reflektor (It's just a reflektor)—many, many times
The verbatim repeated sections from “We Exist” and “Normal Person”:
Maybe if you hang together/You can make the changes in our hearts/And if you hang together, you can change us/Just where should you start?
From “It’s Never Over (Oh Orpheus): “It's never over (it's never over)” and “Sometime (Sometime)/Sometime (Sometime)/Boy, they're gonna eat you alive (eat you alive)
From “Porno”: the line I’m over it is sung by both Win and Regine
Many lines from “Supersymmetry”, indeed much of the song could be considered a duet: Supersymmetry (supersymmetry)
On coming home from school:
From “Normal Person”: Waiting after school for you/They want to know if you/If you're normal too
From “Oh Eurydice” (Awful Sound): You came home from school/Knew you had to run
On having visions or seeing things other’s can’t see:
From “Joan of Arc”: You had a vision they couldn't see so/They put you down/But everything that you said would happen/It came around
From “Oh Eurydice (Awful Sound)”: But I know you can see/Things that we can't see
Lyrics from Reflektor reflected in songs from other Arcade Fire Albums, most especially Neon Bible, it’s companion album:
To start with, Neon Bible ends and Reflektor begins in basically the same ways. A quote from a previous post:
"My Body is a Cage", with it's imagery of "living in an age that calls darkness light", an age where the narrator finds himself (or at least he thinks he's) trapped in his own body, "standing on a stage of fear and self doubt", and separated from the one he loves, his mind alone holding the key that will unite him with her, is the precursor to "Reflektor", which would seemingly be a continuation of the same character's narrative which lines such as "Trapped in a prism, in a prism of light/alone in a darkness, a darkness of white/We fell in love, alone on a stage/In the reflective age" and with the whole song essentially consisting of the protagonist longing to unite with his lover but with his plans forever being thwarted. Over and over again he thinks he's "found a way to enter" and "found the connector", but each time he realizes "it was just a reflector."
On reflectors and breaking mirrors and being broken:
From “Reflektor”: Our love is plastic, we'll break it to bits/I want to break free, but will they break me?
From “Black Mirror” from Neon Bible: Le miroir casse/the mirror casts/mon reflet partout/black mirror... (from the French: The mirror breaks/the mirror casts my reflection everywhere/black mirror)
From “Modern Man” from The Suburbs: I erase the number of the modern man
Want to break the mirror of the modern man
From "Sprawl I" from The Suburbs, although not completely related, needs to be mentioned as a direct reference to a "reflector": the cops shown their lights on the reflectors of our bikes
From "Sprawl I" from The Suburbs, although not completely related, needs to be mentioned as a direct reference to a "reflector": the cops shown their lights on the reflectors of our bikes
On feeling/not feeling right and not being able to sleep at night:
From “You Already Know”: When your love is right/When your love is right/You can't sleep at night/You've been sleeping just fine” and “Please stop wondering why you feel so bad/You already know (Already know)
From “Modern Man” from The Suburbs: Why you don't feel right/Why you can't sleep at night now
From "We Used to Wait: from The Suburbs: I used to sleep at night before the flashing lights settled deep in my brain
From "We Used to Wait: from The Suburbs: I used to sleep at night before the flashing lights settled deep in my brain
On being in an between place:
From “Reflektor”: translated from the French: “between the night, night and dawn.”
From “No Cars Go” off of Neon Bible: “between the click of the light and the start of the dream.”
On waiting and getting older:
From “It’s Never Over (Oh Orpheus): “We'll wait until it's over/Wait until it's through” and “And when you get over/When you get older/You will remember
From “Modern Man” off of The Suburbs: And that's why we're still waiting/On a number from the modern man/Maybe when you're older you will understand/Why you don't feel right/Why you can't sleep at night now
From "We Used to Wait: from The Suburbs: It seems strange how we used to wait for letters to arrive...Ooooo we used to wait...
From "We Used to Wait: from The Suburbs: It seems strange how we used to wait for letters to arrive...Ooooo we used to wait...
On the reflected light of the moon:
From “It’s Never Over (Oh Orpheus): We stood beside/A frozen sea/I saw you out/In front of me/Reflected light/A hollow moon/Oh Orpheus/Eurydice/It’s over too soon
From “Black Mirror” from Neon Bible: no moon no pale reflection/black mirror...black mirror
From “The Well and the LIghthouse” from Neon Bible: So down I fell/Down into the water black/My prison cell/Only the moon was shining back!—the narrator was tricked by the reflection of the moon down in the well. He thought it was a piece of silver and jumped down to try and get it, thus trapping himself in the well, doomed to die for his folly.
Other songs alluding to the afterlife:
From “Neighborhood #4 (Kettles): It’s not heaven I’m pinning for
From “The Well and the LIghthouse” from Neon Bible: Heaven is only in my head!
References to resurrection or a resurrector:
From “Reflektor”: Thought you were praying to the resurrection/turns out it was just a reflector (just a reflector)
From “The Well and the LIghthouse” from Neon Bible: Resurrected/Living in a lighthouse/The lions and the lambs ain't sleeping yet
On echoes:
From “It’s Never Over (Oh Orpheus): Translated from the French: “On the other side of the water like an echo
From “Supersymmetry”: Heard a voice, like an echo/But it came from you
From “Halflight I” from The Suburbs: Our heads our just houses/Without enough windows/They say you hear human voices/But they’re only echoes/They’re only echoes/They’re only echoes/Only echoes
On “awful sounds”:
From “We Exist”: They’re walking around/head full of sound/acting like we don’t exist
From “Oh Eurydice” (Awful Sound): You and I were born/In a little town/Before the awful sound/Started coming down and Your silence covers me/Oh, Eurydice, it's an awful sound and When you fly away/Will you hit the ground?/It's an awful sound
From “Porno”: Before the break up/Comes the silence
From “Keep the Car Running” from Neon Bible: There's a weight that's pressing down/Late at night you can hear the sound/Even the noise you make when you sleep/Can't swim across a river so deep
From “Ocean of Noise” from Neon Bible: In an ocean of noise/I first heard your voice/Ringing like a bell/As if I had a choice/Oh well!
From “Black Wave/Bad Vibrations from Neon Bible: The sound is not asleep/it’s moving under my feet
From “Windowsill” from Neon Bible: I don’t want to hear the noises on TV
On windows:
From “Afterlife”: Afterlife, I think I saw what happens next/It was just a glimpse of you/Like looking through a window
From "In the Backseat" from Funeral: the whole song is about sitting in the backseat of a car looking out onto the world
From "In the Backseat" from Funeral: the whole song is about sitting in the backseat of a car looking out onto the world
From “Windowsill” from Neon Bible: Because the tide is high/and it’s rising still/and I don’t want to see it at my windowsill
From “Halflight I” from The Suburbs: Our heads are just houses/Without enough windows
From “Wasted Hours” from The Suburbs: All those wasted hours we used to know/Spent the summer staring out the window and We're still kids in buses longing to be free
References to the sea or ocean or a river:
From “Oh Eurydice” (Awful Sound): I was standing beside you/By a frozen sea
From “It’s Never Over (Oh Orpheus): And if you call for me/This frozen sea/It melts beneath me and We stood beside/A frozen sea/I saw you out/In front of me/Reflected light/A hollow moon/Oh Orpheus, Eurydice/Its over too soon
From “Afterlife”: Afterlife, I think I saw what happens next/It was just a glimpse of you/Like looking through a window/Or a shallow sea/Could you see me?
From “Black Mirror” from Neon Bible: I will walk down to the ocean/after waking from a nightmare/no moon no pale reflection/black mirror...black mirror
From “Keep the Car Running” from Neon Bible: There's a weight that's pressing down/Late at night you can hear the sound/Even the noise you make when you sleep/Can't swim across a river so deep
From “Black Wave/Bad Vibrations: We can reach the sea/They won't follow me, shadows, they fear the sun/We'll make it if we run! and (from the French) this will be a long journey on the waves of forgetting and Nothing lasts forever/That's the way it's gotta be/There's a great black wave in the middle of the sea for me
From “Ocean of Noise”: In an ocean of noise/I first heard your voice
From “Windowsill” from Neon Bible: Because the tide is high/and it’s rising still/and I don’t want to see it at my windowsill
From “Halflight I” from The Suburbs: And the houses hide so much/We're in the half light/None of us can tell/They hide the ocean in a shell
From "The Suburbs" from The Suburbs: Your part of town against mine/I saw you standing on the opposite shore
From "The Suburbs" from The Suburbs: Your part of town against mine/I saw you standing on the opposite shore
On locking doors and being free in the night time and doing in the darkness or “half light” or the “afterglow” what cannot be done in the full light of day:
From “Here Comes the Night Time”: It's behind the gate, they won't let you in/And when they hear the beat, coming from the street, they lock the door and When I hear the beat, my spirit's on me like a live-wire/A thousand horses running wild in a city on fire/But it starts in your feet, then it goes to your head/If you can't feel it, then the roots are dead/And if you're the judge, then what is our crime?/Here comes the night time
From “Afterlife”: And after all the hangers-on are done/Hanging on to the dead lights/Of the afterglow/I've gotta know/Can we work it out?/We scream and shout 'till we work it out
From "The Suburbs" from The Suburbs: Sometimes I can't believe it/I'm moving past the feeling and into the night.
From "The Suburbs" from The Suburbs: Sometimes I can't believe it/I'm moving past the feeling and into the night.
From “Halflight I” from The Suburbs: You told us that/We were too young/Now that night's closing in/And in the half lightWe run/Lock us up safe/And hide the key/But the night tears us loose/And in the half light/We're free and We run through the streets/That we know so well/And the houses hide so much/We're in the half light/None of us can tell/They hide the ocean in a shell
From "Ready to Start" from The Suburbs: Now you're knocking at my door/saying please come out against the night and My mind is open wide/Not sure you'll open the door/to step out into the dark/Now I'm ready
From "Deep Blue" from The Suburbs: Let the century pass me by/staring under a night sky/tomorrow means nothing and Hey you put the cellphone down for a while/In the night there is something wild/Can you hear it breathing?/Hey you put the laptop down for a while/In the night there is something wild/I feel it, it's leaving me.
From "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains" from The Suburbs: 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 and I need the darkness someone please cut the lights! and We rode our bikes to the nearest park,/Sat under the swings, we kissed in the dark,/We shield our eyes from the police lights,/We run away, but we don't know why,/And like a mirror these city lights shine,/They're screaming at us, 'we don't need your kind'
From "Ready to Start" from The Suburbs: Now you're knocking at my door/saying please come out against the night and My mind is open wide/Not sure you'll open the door/to step out into the dark/Now I'm ready
From "Deep Blue" from The Suburbs: Let the century pass me by/staring under a night sky/tomorrow means nothing and Hey you put the cellphone down for a while/In the night there is something wild/Can you hear it breathing?/Hey you put the laptop down for a while/In the night there is something wild/I feel it, it's leaving me.
From "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains" from The Suburbs: 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 and I need the darkness someone please cut the lights! and We rode our bikes to the nearest park,/Sat under the swings, we kissed in the dark,/We shield our eyes from the police lights,/We run away, but we don't know why,/And like a mirror these city lights shine,/They're screaming at us, 'we don't need your kind'
On knowing a lover in one’s mind as opposed to both the flesh and mind:
From “Supersymmetry”: I know you're living in my mind/It's not the same as being alive/I know you're living in my mind/It's not the same as being alive
From “My Body is a Cage”: My body is a cage that keeps me/From dancing with the one I love/But my mind holds the key and You're standing next to me/My mind holds the key
On running away or leaving a town/civilization:
From “Oh Eurydice” (Awful Sound): You came home from school/Knew you had to run and I know there's a way/We can leave today/Think it over and say (I'm never going back again)
—AND a great majority of songs off of Funeral, Neon Bible, and The Suburbs—really there are too many songs to mention surrounding the theme of leaving the corrupted world we live in.
From The Suburbs: This is one of the prevalent themes on The Suburbs, found in the songs: "The Suburbs", "Ready to Start", "Modern Man", "Empty Room", "Suburban War",
From The Suburbs: This is one of the prevalent themes on The Suburbs, found in the songs: "The Suburbs", "Ready to Start", "Modern Man", "Empty Room", "Suburban War",
On being wild and free:
From "Normal Person": They take their tea at two, all the normal people, they do/They burn the jungle down, while they were sleeping it grew
From "Half Light II (No Celebration)": Pray to God I won't live to see/The death of everything that's wild
From "Deep Blue" from The Suburbs: Hey you put the cellphone down for a while/In the night there is something wild/Can you hear it breathing?/Hey you put the laptop down for a while/In the night there is something wild/I feel it, it's leaving me.
On working out a relationship or a failed relationship:
From “Porno”: You can cry, I won't go/You can scream I won't go/Every man that you know/Would have run at the word go and I’m not over it.
From “Afterlife”: I've gotta know /Can we work it out?/We scream and shout 'till we work it out/Can we just work it out?
From “Crown of Love”: They say it fades if you let it,/Love was made to forget it./I carved your name across my eyelids,/You pray for rain I pray for blindness./If you still want me, please forgive me,/The crown of love has fallen from me./If you still want me, please forgive me,/Because the spark is not within me and The pains of love, and/they keep growin',/In my heart there's flowers growin'/On the grave of our old love,/Since you gave me a straight answer.
From “Crown of Love”: They say it fades if you let it,/Love was made to forget it./I carved your name across my eyelids,/You pray for rain I pray for blindness./If you still want me, please forgive me,/The crown of love has fallen from me./If you still want me, please forgive me,/Because the spark is not within me and The pains of love, and/they keep growin',/In my heart there's flowers growin'/On the grave of our old love,/Since you gave me a straight answer.
From “Ocean of Noise” from Neon Bible: I'm gonna work it out/'Cause time won't work it out/I'm gonna work it out/'Cause time won't work it our for you
On names and naming and forgetting names and speaking names:
“Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)”, “Neighborhood #2 (Laika)”, “Crown of Love”, “Black Mirror”, “Keep the Car Running”, “My Body is a Cage”, "Empty Room", "We Used to Wait"
Songs referencing being trapped up on a stage, as if being on stage is a kind of prison, a cage:
“Reflektor”, “Antichrist Television Blues”, and “My Body is a Cage”
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Other articles on Arcade Fire:
The Explanation and Inspiration Behind Arcade Fire's Reflektor
Wakeup!: Uncovering Arcade Fire's Grand Narrative
Continual Themes and Subjects in the Work of Arcade Fire
Arcade Fire Songs Mentioning Light, Darkness, Mirrors, and Reflections
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