Une Année Sans Lumiere
This song is not a part of the Neighborhood series, since it doesn’t involve any members of the neighborhood. It’s something more personal. First of all “Une Année Sans Lumiere” needs some clarifications. It’s written half in French, so it could be a talk between Win and Regine. Let’s break it down to English:
Une Année Sans Lumiere: a year without lights.
Je monte un cheval: I’m riding a horse.
Qui porte des oeilleres : who’s wearing blinkers.
La nuit, mes yeux t’eclairent: at night (tonight), my eyes light your way.
Ne dis pas a ton pere: don’t tell your dad. Qu’il porte des oeillieres: that he’s wearing blinkers/blinders, He’s stubborn.
The song comprises two different sections. First, in which the song has its normal pace and sounds like a tranquil advice letter and the second part which is a fast-tempo horse ride, maybe the dark consequence when things are not working out.
Three different characters play roles here: the boy, the girl and the girl’s father (old man). The latter seems to be a big trouble meddling in the couple’s life, being stubborn and not seeing the reality the way he should. This “not wanting to face the reality issue” reminds some listeners of Plato’s Myth of the Cave allegory which can be beautifully relevant. Let me paste the extract of the story right here from Wikipedia:
Plato imagines a group of people who have lived chained in a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them, and begin to ascribe forms to these shadows. According to Plato, the shadows are as close as the prisoners get to seeing reality. He then explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are not constitutive of reality at all, as he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the mere shadows seen by the prisoners.
Now the truth is apparently what the boy believes in. He thinks the dad should know, if someone sees a shadow, there’s definitely an object (the reality) behind it. He sees himself as the guiding light towards the path of life. His eyes shoot sparks upon the way. He believes he’s riding a horse which is wearing blinders (or blinkers in English) and he believes the horse is the girl’s dad. Blinders are used on horses’ eyes to block their view from anything that is not in the road in order to keep the animal focused on his speed and direction.
They’re riding on the darkest streets. The lights are all out; this is the year without light. And it’s probably referring to the year of Funeral in which many of the band member’s relatives passed away and therefore it’s the name of the album. The road is dark and the future is more uncertain than ever. So it’s probably the best idea that they keep the ignorant dad buried in his denial, to keep him thoroughly unaware.
The dad character has played the villain all throughout and the protagonist again could be easily the one acting in other Neighborhood songs.
The second section of the song is the outcome of this denial. The tempo increases and the tension starts to grow as the guitars starts to sound harsher and careless. All of a sudden the shooting sparks stop shining. Win Butler’s voice starts to shiver again and switches to a higher pitch. It’s just the old Butler we know. What was the worst thing that could happen? It’s the stubborn dad being unblinkered! He’s going to run wild and annoy the rider (and her daughter too because they’re in this together). Now the rider screams out asking for help from his lover with: “Lead me to it! Come on baby lead me to it. Who turned out the light? Come on lead me to it!”. What truly has caused the lights to go out? The awareness of the horse or the desperate boy’s fault striving to control it? They missed the link somewhere, now all they have ahead is a life all out of balance with no guiding light.
Little this wonderful band does is by chance. This song is an intermission between the Neighborhood’s first and second half. That we may never know. Perhaps we may get a clue as we go on to the next song.
