Arcade Fire's Will Butler Song a Day: Clean Monday

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• published: 26 Feb 2015
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Will: "I’m rooting for Greece. I mean, broadly, who the hell isn’t rooting for Greece? Even if you’re super right wing, or super German, or super capitalist you probably don’t want Greece tumbling out of the Euro and defaulting on its debts. But beyond that, I like that they’re a young government. I like Yanis Varoufakis, the new finance minister. To a certain extent, I’ve bought into the media portrayal of him (from the Guardian and NPR and all over) as a straight shooting rapscallion who might – just might – be crazy enough to, um, responsibly manage the Greek financial situation? I was reading the Guardian’s live coverage of the forthcoming Greek proposals of how they’re going to pay off their debts, when a little blurb popped up explaining that the Greek markets were closed today because it was “Clean Monday” – the Greek Orthodox equivalent of Ash Wednesday. It was an amazing/hilarious (well, maybe mildly amusing) coincidence to me that the Greek ministers were scrambling and figuring out how to avoid strict austerity on the day that Lent starts. And all this scrambling is just to figure out the next few months. It’s gonna be a long winter, and a long spring, and maybe a really long summer for Greece. But my fingers are crossed." LYRICS You know it's 9 AM and I've been waiting for you wondering what you might say I've got the guards out just in case there's trouble but you know I know you wouldn't dare Why don't you sit down, and take a breath mint? You think you're headed for the cross But take your robe off take out the thorns it's just about some money lost And if the children they keep crying and if they stumble out into the streets and if the old men grab their sabres and mumble something about how they would never retreat you tell them it just the winter turning into spring but when the summer comes you keep em waiting now just waiting for the bell to ring And if the streets begin to crumble and the poor begin to wash away and the children lose some culture well, it has happened before and it'll be ok, oh… * * * * * * * * * * * * You know we're not scared of what is coming of what is coming from the streets You know we're not scared of what could happen if you leave us standing on our feet but if I gave you a number I'd be lying and if I give you a dollar I'll be damned And if I sell my firstborn son to the pharoah do you think that we could stay stay here in the promised land? I'm just waiting for the bell to ring I'm just standing here in my corner, waiting for the bell to ring I'm just lying here on the floor, just waiting for the bell to ring I'm just sitting here, tied up in the corner, waiting for the bell to ring