"Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" is a song by Canadian rock band Arcade Fire, and the first track on their debut album Funeral. It is the first of the four-part "Neighborhood" series found on Funeral. It was the band's first single, released several months before the album as a 7" vinyl record on June 20, 2004, to a pressing of 1500 copies. The B-side to the album is a recording of the song "My Buddy" by swing musician Alvino Rey. Rey is the maternal grandfather of Arcade Fire members Win and William Butler.[2]
Arcade Fire re-issued the single on November 29, 2019 as part of Record Store Day's Black Friday event.[3] The song was covered by the musician Ane Brun for her deluxe version of her album It All Starts With One in 2012.[4]
Background and composition
According to Win Butler of the band, the guitar part was accidently recorded with a microphone meant for vocals on the other side of the recording room instead of the intended guitar microphone. This take was kept on the final version.[5] Critics described the song as "a sumptuously theatrical opener" with strings, an organ and a piano.[6] The lyrics describe "grieving against a town buried in snow", with a young man who escapes his neighborhood to meet his girlfriend in the town square to plan their future as grown-ups.[7][6]
In August 2009, the song was named #10 on Pitchfork's "Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s".[8] In a 2012 Beats Per Minute article on The Essential Arcade Fire, it was named the band's most essential track by writer Lucien Flores.[9] Flores writes, "'Tunnels' has all the elements of a great Arcade Fire song: a head-bobbing rhythm section, lyrics that harken back to an imperfect past, a seamless blend of instruments, and a cathartic coda."
Track listing
7" single
"Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" - 4:48
"My Buddy" (Alvino Rey Orchestra, live radio broadcast, 1940) - 2:32
