The sixth track off Arcade Fire’s Grammy winning The Suburbs draws on the album’s introspective themes of youth and adulthood, whilst drawing on biblical imagery. The lead songwriter Win Butler and his brother Will were brought up as Mormons, and this influence is clearly seen in this song. “City with No Children” is used as a metaphor for a city with its life sucked out of it. Butler muses on images of childhood, and details their destruction, through war, a failing engine, or simply forgetting who we once were.

lyrics

Open in browser ↗

View on Last.fm →More by Arcade Fire →The Suburbs →