“Rebellion (Lies)” by The Arcade Fire

"Rebellion (Lies)" comes from Funeral, the 2004 debut album by Canada's Arcade Fire, and it's the song where the band's giant, ragged heart beats loudest. On the record it grows straight out of "Haiti", whose closing bass pulse runs right into its opening, and from there it's a steady, stomping march that keeps rising.

Win Butler sings lead and wrote the words and music with Régine Chassagne, who plays piano, and the rest of the crew pile on: Richard Reed Parry and Butler on electric guitars, Timothy Kingsbury on bass, Howard Bilerman on drums, Will Butler on percussion, and violins from Sarah Neufeld and Owen Pallett, with cello, harp and French horn filling in the corners. The band produced it themselves, and every voice in the room seems to join the gang chorus.

It became the fourth single from Funeral, backed with "Brazil", and gave the band their best placing on the UK singles chart. It also became their go-to set closer, whether on a festival stage or at their own gigs, and no song in their catalog has been played live more often.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.