We Used to Wait- Arcade Fire

We Used to Wait is a song by Arcade Fire, a band from the UK. in 2010 Rolling Stones named it the fifth best song. The lyrics to this song talks about the past, but it does not stay there, it also speaks to the future. Times are always changing, everyday there is something new, We Used to Wait talks to this concept, they sing "now our lives are changing fast." When researching the history of the song, I came to a really interesting and insightful website called Shmoop. Reading this website gave me some information about where the song is coming from. It talks about the rise of the atom bomb in the 1950's and how that sparked fear in people, and it touches on the guided age, modernism and post modernism times- all moments when the world was evolving and advancing past us before our eye. This is what this song is showing to us, "now our lives are changing fast." 

I used to write
I used to write letters
I used to sign my name
I used to sleep at night
Before the flashing lights settled deep in my brain- talking about how society used to sleep and now we constantly have flashing lights (phones, computers, etc) in our heads. 
But by the time we met
By the time we met
The times had already changed

So I never wrote a letter

I never took my true heart

I never wrote it down
So when the lights cut out
I was lost standing in the wilderness downtown

Now our lives are changing fast
Now our lives are changing fast
Hope that something pure can last
Hope that something pure can last

It seems strange
How we used to wait for letters to arrive
But what's stranger still
Is how something so small can keep you alive
We used to wait
We used to waste hours just walkin' around
We used to wait
All those wasted lives in the wilderness downtown

Ooooo we used to wait
Ooooo we used to wait
Ooooo we used to wait
Sometimes it never came (we used to wait)
Sometimes it never came (we used to wait)
Still moving through the pain

I'm gonna write a letter to my true love
I'm gonna sign my name
Like a patient on a table
I wanna walk again
Gonna move through the pain

Now our lives are changing fast
Now our lives are changing fast
Hope that something pure can last
Hope that something pure can last

Ooooo we used to wait
Ooooo we used to wait
Ooooo we used to wait
Sometimes it never came (we used to wait)
Sometimes it never came (we used to wait)
Still moving through the pain
We used to wait
We used to wait
We used to wait

We used to wait for it
We used to wait for it
Now we're screaming
Sing the chorus again
We used to wait for it
We used to wait for it
Now we're screaming
Sing the chorus again
I used to wait for it
I used to wait for it
Hear my voice screaming
Sing the chorus again

Wait for it
Wait for it
Wait for it

The album that this song is on is called The Suburbs. The album is a modern album that speaks to the new "speed" of everything in the world around us. "I used to wait for it, hear my voice screaming sing the chorus again" he is talking about how he will talk about the issue and criticize it, but also ask for more. A great point that was mentioned online is that this is the song for the Wilderness Downtown which is where you can put in your address and an interactive website will take you to where you grew up (using google maps). It was funny to me that this was the song chosen, when it is about how the world is advancing and this very website is proof of that!