Fall break was god-sent. I counted down the days until it happened, because college has not been an experience I’ve enjoyed for far: I missed my house, I missed my city, I missed my friends, my dogs, everything. Yet when I got home, I felt empty too. Wary. Mostly, because I knew it was only for a week and then back to college.
My fall break has been prominently relaxing and feeling bad and nothing too adventurous. I hung out with my two best friends, both who live in our city still, going to the University of South Carolina, but other than them, no one else had fall break and in regards to the people I used to know from high school, Columbia is like a ghost town. Everyone’s moved on.
During my time of sulking on the couch, binge watching The Walking Dead on Netflix (and at first, I thought of writing this entry on the opening theme of this show, it fit with the melancholy theme, but no), an album leaked. Arcade Fire’s new album Reflektor. It was exciting. Arcade Fire’s songs are some of my biggest inspirations for my writing. Their songs “Ready to Start” and “Wake Up” made me experience things more boldly than any other songs before.
I liked these new songs, I enjoyed the Greek mythology themes of the figures Orpheus and Eurydice, but most of all I latched onto their new song “Joan of Arc.” The title instantly grabbed my attention first. I was raised in Catholic school from age 4 to sixth grade. My childhood idol was Joan of Arc, Jeanne d’Arc, Jehanne d’Ark, etc. The fourteen-year-old peasant girl who said she heard angels telling her to led France against Britain during the Hundred Years’ War. She dressed in traditional male clothing, cut her hair, and led several victories for France until she was burned at the stake at nineteen for crossdressing. So, Joan of Arc has always been an important figure to me up with my other favorites, Pallas Athena, Marie Antoinette, and Hua Mulan.
I hoped that this song would be the best on the album and it is. It starts off frantic, a completely different beat than the rest of the song. It accelerates quickly and then the main beat comes in, decelerating. The main vocals are male who is speaking as a follower of Joan of Arc. He talks about how many people in France hated Joan and even sent her to her death, but now in France, Britain, and around the world she is regarded as a martyr, a saint, and a heroine. As he criticizes the others, he says he’ll follow her truly even when the others are over her, though in actuality he only wants to know her personally. Whenever the male vocalist sings “Joan of Arc” a woman follows with “Jeanne d’Arc.” Then comes in a second singer, the woman this time. She sings the part of Joan of Arc herself. Her lyrics are in complete French:
“Tu dis que tu est mon juge
Mais je ne te crois pas
Alors tu dis que je suis une sainte
Mais ce n'est pas moi
J'entends des voix
Mais ce n'est pas moi
Je ne suis pas Jeanne d'Arc.”
This translates into:
“You say that you are my judge
But I do not believe you
So you're saying I'm a saint
But it is not me
I hear voices
But it is not me
I'm not Joan of Arc.”
This changes the meaning of the song a bit and the tone to an extent. It seems that the woman is not actually Joan of Arc, but a woman this man idolizes and is in love with. This changes the tone to perhaps a certain uneasy, stalkerish vibe. The song is upbeat, but the lyrics are dark, making an obvious contrast.
Despite the dark texture of the song, it helped bring a bit of excitement and cheer to my week. The song:
http://erinraspberry.tumblr.com/post/64980844539/joan-of-arc-arcade-fire-reflektor-2013
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