The third song on The Suburbs picks up where its predecessor left off. If ‘Ready to Start’ depicted a young man stepping into adulthood, ‘Modern Man’ gives us the depressing result of that move.
Win Butler sums up the existential malaise of modern man with one powerful phrase: “In line for a number but you don’t understand.” I picture waiting at some cosmic version of the Publix deli for your turn to come. Is the number a paycheck? A ticket to the afterlife? A symbol of everything we want in life but never achieve?
Meet Me In Montauk 