“My Body Is a Cage” by Arcade Fire

It has been convincingly argued that what the narrator of “My Body Is a Cage” is speaking to is being plagued by social anxiety – a conclusion which, based on the second and third verses especially, sounds accurate. 

You can view the lyrics, alternate interprations and sheet music for Arcade Fire's My Body Is a Cage at Lyrics.org.

The song commences along the lines of the singer putting forth that he’s suffering from “fear and self-doubt”. But as the piece progresses, it also becomes increasingly clear that said maladies are directly in relation to the vocalist’s interactions with other people or more specifically society itself. In other words, the times he feels like that is when he has to face others.

And it should be noted that this piece is very metaphorical, indirect and in a sense ambiguous. But what Win seems to be implying, most simply postulated, is that he’s one of those types whose self-esteem has been negatively affected due to feeling as if he is not mainstream-acceptable. Furthermore, as implied by the title, he feels like a prisoner in his own body. But that’s a fancy way of verifying that he’s able to perceive that he’s introverted, i.e. being afraid to freely express himself while people are around.

So it’s almost like a lot is being said in this song, but at the same time, it is really quite simple and not anything we haven’t heard before. The singer longs for ‘spiritual freedom’, not in the truest sense of the term but rather to be in a position where he no longer feels afraid to be in any type of public spotlight whatsoever. But at the same time, the main implied reason that he is this way, due to the nature of the “age” in which we’re “living”, would further insinuate that achieving said goal is a nigh impossible task.

"My Body Is a Cage" Lyrics

When was “My Body Is a Cage” released?

“My Body Is a Cage” is a song that can be found on Arcade Fire’s album “Neon Bible”, which came out on 5 March 2007 through Merge Records. 

This track was not released as a single. However, based on its usage in pop culture, it was one of the better-received songs from the LP. 

For instance, there are a couple of episodes of Degrassi which appear to be named after this tune. Furthermore, after being featured on Euphoria (in 2019), the song experienced a bump in popularity. 

And also to note, Peter Gabriel dropped a cover of this tune in 2010.

Credits

This song was written by Arcade Fire’s Régine Chassagne and Jeremy Gara, and its producer is the well-traveled and very-successful Markus Dravs.

My Body Is a Cage

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