Arcade Fire - Lenin

[33guyfawkes]

Lenin and Stalin are my role models!

[whoolovesyou]

Y'all made my day

[87danyboi]

COMMUNISM,CAPITALISM,SOCILISIA­M,ALL A BIT GREY,THEN THERES WESTERN POLITICS TO BE TAKEN IN TO CONSIDERATION!HOWS RIGHT WHOS WRONG, ITS A BIG DEBATE.LETS JUST CHILL AND LISTEN TO THE MUSIC!!!!!!!

[87danyboi]

YOU GUYS ARE GETTING A BIT DEEP JUST A GOOD SONG THANKS

[uncleJoeX7]

great track can't stop listening to it...

[Unfavourably]

My absolute Arcade Fire favorite. Pure awesomeness.

[ForzaAquila]

@21scuderia ok apart from the fact that you're still mistaking the person, lenin didn't slaughter MILLIONS that was STALIN, russian communism is not REAL communism- it's a capitalist dictatorship. Communism is in fact an extreme form of socialism which is actually the most pure form of state that bases it's principles on liberalism not for the bourgeoisie but for the lower classes. russian communism is communism gone bad and turned into it's complete OPPOSITE. and yes you're a fuck and a kid.

[21scuderia]

@ForzaAquila incorrect lenin was a murderer

[ForzaAquila]

@21scuderia yes true but you didn't read my comment carefully. he didn't kill MILLIONS. the mass murderer was stalin not lenin.

[Section82]

@ForzaAquila i suggest you study your Russian history once again, because Lenin did in fact kill numerous scores of people during the Russian revolution and countless more due to grain shortages and the resulting famine. Not only that but his actions also indirectly caused more thousands to die in World War I due to the internal turmoil and the resulting collapse of the Russian front. The Bolsheviks were real first class assholes.

[ForzaAquila]

@Section82 i think you missed the part where i wrote MILLIONS in caps three fucking times.

[KoiChannel]

Great!

Look up "while the city sleeps-back when we knew", same kind of colourful soundscapes and big emotional crescendos! :)

[kat1ehot]

i am a pro lenin socialist black panther neo nazi tea party member

[Grant691]

@kat1ehot So much contradiction.

[kat1ehot]

@Grant691 that's how I roll.

[lhrttz]

Daddy, Daddy, please send me a heart that isn't made of cement, because the money's all been spent

[Dennemark]

Lenin shouldn't have died in that dreadful year.

Compared to Stalin, Lenin was a far better ruler. Heh, he actually was a ruler to begin with. His people-skills were great, his ambitions were great, everything was great really.

It's just a shame that Stalin made a fledgeling Communist-state into almost a pure-Capitalist dictatorship.

[Kupohunter]

I read the lyrics, and they seem pro Lenin. -_-

[shoopdawhoop232]

my new fav song by them

:D

[ElvisTrivelin]

WHEN LENIN WAS LITTLE / he didn't kill his opposers.

[NoahChubb]

@PlayingLame: He also had a famous saying "a revolution without firings squads is pointless" (read Court of the Red Tsar), introduced Communist policies which led to the great famine in Ukraine. Whereas Trotsky was the rightful owner of Lenin's seat, it was taken by Stalin. None of them were ideal leaders. They were all very radical, and expressed execution as the best way of dealing with a problem.

[kalelrob]

Reminds me of a cross between Bowie's Hero's with a mixture off 10cc's Rubber Bullets...

[TurkeyJones91]

In America, we think just because someone is communist automatically makes them evil. 

[miamifootbal]

@TurkeyJones91

So true

[Moneor]

@TurkeyJones91 Even worse, just when they hear "socialist" or "left-wing" they think "evil".

[TurkeyJones91]

@Moneor yeah. sad. it seems like that chatter is getting louder and louder these days.

[l33tpwnzord]

@TurkeyJones91

Or maybe they hate communism. Are we allowed to hate communism?

[Permafry42]

@l33tpwnzord that's like saying "i hate socialism" or "i hate monarchy"; it depend on how it is set up. look at china; they're communists and yet they aren't going through a depression unlike america thanks to their communism. then looks at canada or france or britain's socialist health care and compare it to companies actively trying to deny people the money they need to survive in order to increase profit. so feel free to hate what you don't understand.

[Cyraxtwentyone]

@TurkeyJones91 Well, to be honest, Lenin had his better side, but he was a son of a bitch too. And im from the Czech republic. It just seems, that because Arcade fire made a song that has the same name as him, people tend to change opinions about him.

[TurkeyJones91]

@Cyraxtwentyone I didn't say I loved Lenin or anything. Just saying in America, communism is evil and is the 'work of Satan'. Communism is just a system like Capitalism. Saying that it's evil is stupid, imo. Of course, there are bad things in many communist systems but there are also bad things in Capitalist systems. Which I am afraid the American Education system fails to acknowledge. but yeah probably most of the people listening to this song LOVE Lenin now just for this song.

[kitsune090]

@TurkeyJones91 but they are as capitalist are...

[TheFuckosaurus]

@TurkeyJones91 correction, talk about equality and your automatically a communist and thus evil

[MiddleFingerFraction]

@TurkeyJones91 the word "think" is the problem ;-)

[MiddleFingerFraction]

@TurkeyJones91 and AMERICA ...that is not the USA. America is Nicaragua, Bolivia, Venezuela. *gg*

[TheAmazingSquirtle]

@MiddleFingerFraction Well you know, most of the time when people say America they mean The United States Of America. When they speak of the places you named, they usually say North America, or South America, or The Americas.

[MiddleFingerFraction]

@TheAmazingSquirtle This is true, but many people ignore, that America is much more than the USA. That was what I mean.

[TheAmazingSquirtle]

@MiddleFingerFraction Yeah, I understand.

[WeezyBox]

lenin > stalin

[mandypandy5690]

yess!!!!!!!!!!!!

[HecstasyQ]

daddy daddy, please send me a heart that isn't made of cement!

[moearn]

fuck that's good stuff

[ResidentDF]

Coachella 2011!

[LIBBIEKITTY]

Oh my god, i get so excited everytime i find a new song by Arcade fire.

They have so many. :')

[shoopdawhoop232]

@LIBBIEKITTY ikr i feel the same way ;)

[PacoTheMuffinman]

Lenin for prez!...Ah shit

[SBV123]

I guess I need to listen to "Heroes" since apparently both this song and Half Light II sound like it, even though those songs sound completely different...

[EmpGrevious]

@TarquinOctal Where do they have a good word? They talk about how the change he brought was looked down upon by the "saints" and the "sailors in heaven," how he has a "heart made of cement," and how the singer "knows it can't be right" but doesn't say anything (referring to the censorship and lack of democracy). What good things do they say?

[micalishis]

Was this song even on any of their cd's or did they make a song exclusively for a compilation cd?

[xSenshii]

@micalishis It was exclusively on this CD.

[undertheswings]

@micalishis It was originally supposed to be on Funeral but didn't fit with the atmosphere of the album, so they put it exclusively on this compilation.

[shoopdawhoop232]

@micalishis compilation but i still love most of the bands on the cd :)

[mikeyamp22]

@dougith Lenin "did not do anything evil while in power"? True he wasn't nearly as bad as Stalin, but if you believe he did nothing evil you've read only propaganda. You can say the millions of innocents that died were part of a grand scheme, looking to the future of communism, but if you say Lenin did nothing evil you are an uniformed, unwitting tool.

[TheCruddyBug]

I feel like Arcade fire rely too much on constant downbeats of the bass to create tension. I know that's not the technical term, just that each quarter note has a strum of the bass. & The drums do the same thing. It works, but damn do they overuse it... I love Funeral, though.

[cmpelling]

.why does everyone care about the communism so much...its's an awesome song musically and vocally so just stop focusing on the lyrics...it's not as if theyre experts on communism.

[TenderHistoryInRust]

As a Communist and a big fan of Epic massive sounding indie rock I am confused as to what this song is getting at

[Zebztheshit2]

just because an artist makes a tune about an individual or event, does not mean they are glamorizing it

[strawberryfields4eva]

Uh why a song a bout Lenin? I mean he wasn't exactly a good guy. I understand writing a song about Lennon... but Lenin? What does this song mean exactly?

[fear614]

@strawberryfields4eva Lennon and Lenin are two completely different people. Not sure why you'd even mention Lennon, is it simply because it rhymes?

Anyway, unless this is the 1960's and you think communism is the end of the world, Lenin didn't really do much that could be considered "bad". He was a good leader and made some big gains for Russia.

[MyPasswordIsUserName]

@strawberryfields4eva why was Lenin not a good guy?

[MusicofIndra]

The musicianship of this band is really insane! Those 2 basic chords and basic drum beats. Amazing throw back imitation. Great work!

[blueingreentrain]

heroes

[samrfcee12]

the 7 people who disliked this have serious issues.

[theocean1973]

are arcade fire communist? i hope they're not glamorizing lenin, he killed a lot of people.

[PlayingLame]

@theocean1973

The first thing he did when he gained power was declare women equal to men, introduce an eight hour working day, pull his country out of WWI  and boost his nations economy, getting confused with Stalin I think.

[MyPasswordIsUserName]

@PlayingLame exactly, Lenin was a great man, Karl Marx and Lenin were great people despite what the evil right wingers say

[dougith]

@MyPasswordIsUserName Marx was actually deeply racist. Lenin greatly supported the Jews on the other hand.

[n0iseland]

@dougith actually, marx supported jewish emancipation despite some bad anti-semitic stereotypes (widespread in all of europe back then). moreover, marx's kind-of-anti-semitism was primarily a private matter (a very ambivalent one, actually) and completely negligible for his theoretical contributions.

he was the first to really understand capitalist society and, as a result, the origins of (modern) anti-semitism.

recommended reading: "marx and the economic-jew stereotype" by hal draper.

[000DarkNite000]

@PlayingLame

to be fair he did kill a lot of people, but then it was a civil war. In fact this song is about Lenin questioning whether he has achieved a true communist utopia, considering the suffering around him, hence the reference to the Kronstadt rebellion in the second line and 'the money's all been spent'. Although from Neon Bible, it doesn't seem that Arcade Fire is a big fan of capitalism.

[lunchwithjesus]

@PlayingLame incorrect and you know it

[dougith]

@PlayingLame You are correct. Stalin was the tyrant. Lenin did not do anything evil while in power, yet he was only in power for seven years. He unfortunately set up a system that allowed for evil to come to power. That is what the song goes at that he started with a great idealistic goal yet it back fired and allowed for the opposite and people realized that this idea did not work and they could no longer support it.

[Zhukov17]

? Haha, "Lenin did not do anything evil while in power?" Not so sure about that one. Lenin died in '24 right?

[jakeyboyc93]

@Zhukov17 23 :)

[jonathan1994ish1]

@PlayingLame Your absolutely right, i couldn't agree more

[guinification]

@PlayingLame And he prohibited the papers from saying opinions contrary to his, make his party the only one and putting people contrary to the Revolution in prison, or killing them

Of course he did great things, like you said, but he also killed a lot of people.

[SupraJacques]

@PlayingLame So... you forget what you want...

[HappyHumanism]

@PlayingLame Although I do agree with many of his ideologies, he suppressed all opposition against. He created a secret police with the intention of doing this. He also abused the power of the Red Army, as was apparent with the Kronstadt Uprising. He was ruthless, however he rescued the Russian people (and Germans, Austrio-Hungarians, and Italians, I suppose) from the greater threat of the Tsar.

[bobby58585]

@PlayingLame

Don't forget legalised homosexuality etc. fucking bad ass.

[AtheismCentral]

@PlayingLame

Stalin was awesome too! Don't doubt him!

[blase1824]

@PlayingLame thats right but i think there were a lot of people who do that all not just one man

[FlamingLavaOwl]

@PlayingLame well most of the time throughout history civilization falls into tyrannical states, communism was at first a great idea but was then twisted and taken advantage of (its fairly easy for a consolidated government to be taken over by private interests) the US went through a long period of peace and prosperity before having the private central banking institutions get control of its currency and build huge corporate powers around itself and basically shape up what gives you modern US.

[BrianCulticeMusic]

@PlayingLame lol, ummmm to gain power, he led the destrution of a democratic government, vested complete power of the government into a select few, killed Russian sailors striking at Kronstadt, and boost his nation's economy??? Maybe on the piles of Ukrainian dead who died with the changes in agricultural practice

[CallOfDutyForPC]

@PlayingLame and communism

[21scuderia]

@PlayingLame he also drove russia into poverty and took land rights away

[PeaceMeans]

@theocean1973 also Reagan killed a lot of people (against Libia, or the Contras). So?

[nekocekoBiH]

@theocean1973 u mad bro?

[nirconn]

just great

[beatboxpigeon]

bring on leeds 2010

[Drking994]

ITS ARCADE FIRE love it sooooooo much life is gooooood xxxx

[BehindTheSea29]

I can't believe this didn't make it on Neon Bible.

[ghostSTL]

sorry to tell you guys below but neon bible was much better than funeral w/ the exception of lights out song.

[SoftVelvet]

@ghostSTL Just an opinion. It really depends on which one you heard first.

[OLink9]

@SoftVelvet i've heard funeral before neon bible, anyway for the first weeks i loved neon bible more than funeral. i think neon bible is way more accessible than funeral...now i prefer funeral.

[horrorkid1977]

Great fucking song. Thnx for the upload!

[iliketacos27]

this song really growed on me.

[usuariofuturista]

Why lenin?

[RoundTheBlockTour]

If this song is any indication of what their next album will sound like, Funeral will finally be trumped... dear god this song is mind blowing.

[HecstasyQ]

this song makes me so happy

[cacobibliodaks]

mm, well delboy1978uk, I don't know man, but to me Neon Bible was the perfect follow up, because it was not as beautiful, but it was as true, his words were perfect for what I felt, just as Funeral had been, they're mine, =)

[delboy1978uk]

pretty cool!

but damnit the arcade fire shot themselves in the foot!

because nothing will rival funeral! ever!

which makes me happy but makes me sad :-s

[Killscreen256]

No way Man, be happy! That's like saying the Smashing Pumpkins were done after Siamese Dream!! The best is yet to come.

[gbear316]

Funeral is better than neon bible!

[delboy1978uk]

it is! i love neon bible too, but i really think funeral is a hard act to follow

[livin4laughs]

@delboy1978uk  other than Hot Fuss by the Killers no other album even comes close to Funeral for having every song be great, usually theres 2 songs that carry an album to fame but all of Funeral is amazing

[starwart2000]

I didn't even know you guys came out with a new song!!!!!

[BehindTheSea29]

I could listen to this FOREVER!

[arcadefire4life]

We finally got Lenin...

Milk And Honey, please now. PLEASE!

[colindevine99]

We could be heroes ....

[wlwak]

Bebop Deluxe.....''Panic in the World'' Long before Bowie did his thing. Check it out.

[mvgoldy2]

Instrumentals remind me of Boogie with Stu by Led Zep

[tyrlop]

uhm, the lyrics are kinda poor, the instrumental and the musical is all right.

[mannnnn1235]

bowies my favourite an he helped produce them fag!!!!!!!!!!!

[diceyreilly]

haha you told him sir, you told him

[amardeep33]

sounds like a song BTO would make

[viciouscorndog666]

Reminds me of their EP, ya know?

[dieforcity]

er..... gonna give it a few more listens.

[Arct1cM0nkey]

Love this song, I need more new arcade fire songs.

[ArthurEricBlair]

i love it, the composition especially.

Arcade Fire lights my fire.

[ToniChan88]

love this song :) everytime i hear it on triple j i cant help but sing along happily ^_^

[ElectroFreak777]

New Song ? :O!!

[MakingLivesSweet]

first bit is about the kronsdat revolt

[girlsfriends2]

david Bowie, Heroes ...

[NALEtheridge92]

bowie loves Acarde fire

[LullabiesandAllies]

I think that's cool because I'm a Bowie fan too!

[ElFrentePopular]

Why Lenin???

[LadyEmilyElizabeth]

Because he's awesome.

[ElFrentePopular]

Lenin surely is. I was just questioning the lyrics. Best of luck with your film-making. Cheers comrade

[nunchuck2088]

thanks

[inmycountry007]

this is great! sounds like it's from the funeral era. is this from the album that's in aid of partners in health?

[jackisreal1078]

This sounds a lot like David Bowie's 'Heroes'

[lazykid1000]

I was thinking the same thing.

I, I wish I could swim

Like the dolphins, like the dolphins can swim :)

[EmpGrevious]

@lazykid1000 You know what sounds like Heroes? Slow Poison by the Bravery. The similarity (at least to me) is appaling.

[plurdog]

I was thinking Bowie too. And also the production on 'Back in the USSR'.

[skeeterlegz]

This reminds me of 'Heroes' like 'Keep the Car Running' reminded me of 'On the Dark Side' heheh

[micalishis]

@jackisreal1078 Well he did do a performance with David Bowie so they must know that he does kind of sound like David Bowie

[reno891]

blah!!! any new album planed i wonder

[amethystratchet23]

Arcade Fire never fails to impress me.

[tom101086]

up the fire!

[humanshieldchorus]

good tune, kinda different for them