Sprawl I (Flatland)

Album: The Suburbs (2010)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • On this minor key piano lamenting change and modernization, frontman Win Butler revisits the town where he grow up. "I took a drive into the sprawl to find the house where we used to stay in," he recalls. However, Butler fails to locate various childhood haunts that are imprinted on his memory.
  • Arcade Fire's brothers Win and William Butler spent their formative years in The Woodlands, a suburb of Houston, Texas. In preparing to write The Suburbs, Win and his wife and band colleague Chassagne travelled to The Woodlands in the summer of 2008. "It was kind of a bummer," Chassagne told Q magazine April 2012. "It was interesting to see that the people make the places, and when the people are gone, the places are still there but they're not yours."

    Driving around The Woodlands at night, the couple were pulled over by the local police for, "suspicious activity." The incident is detailed on this track. "It was a really strange experience, even before the cop incident," Butler told Q. "My parents moved away seven years ago. I no longer knew anyone there. I was like being a tourist, a strange mix of knowing exactly where I was and also feeling completely alien… A lot of the songs on The Suburbs are very much myself now looking back at that time, but also trying to put the pieces together, to reconnect with those feelings and those emotions before they're gone completely."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Richard Butler of The Psychedelic Furs

Richard Butler of The Psychedelic FursSongwriter Interviews

Psychedelic Furs lead singer Richard Butler talks about their first album since 1991 and explains what's really going on in "Pretty In Pink."

Penny Ford of Snap!

Penny Ford of Snap!Songwriter Interviews

The original voice of Snap! this story is filled with angry drag queens, video impersonators and Chaka Khan.

Barney Hoskyns Explores The Forgotten History Of Woodstock, New York

Barney Hoskyns Explores The Forgotten History Of Woodstock, New YorkSong Writing

Our chat with Barney Hoskyns, who covers the wild years of Woodstock - the town, not the festival - in his book Small Town Talk.

Susanna Hoffs - "Eternal Flame"

Susanna Hoffs - "Eternal Flame"They're Playing My Song

The Prince-penned "Manic Monday" was the first song The Bangles heard coming from a car radio, but "Eternal Flame" is closest to Susanna's heart, perhaps because she sang it in "various states of undress."

U2 Lyrics

U2 LyricsMusic Quiz

How well do you know the lyrics of U2?

Ian Gillan of Deep Purple

Ian Gillan of Deep PurpleSongwriter Interviews

Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan explains the "few red lights" in "Smoke On The Water" and talks about songs from their 2020 album Whoosh!