My Top 100, No. 82: "The Fallen" by Franz Ferdinand

I think this song was stuck in my head my entire sophomore year of college.

Like "Bulls on Parade" I don't mind that "The Fallen" has a suburban poseur anarchist slacker vibe because it's so kinetic. 

I don't have very much of consequence to say about "The Fallen," maybe because if this song doesn't get you riled up on its own I'm not sure what else there is to convince you to like it. I like the way the guitar parts intermingle, how during the recurring interlude one chases the other up and down the staff like a cat chasing a laser pointer, and most of the vocal lines are foreshadowed somehow by the guitars as well.

But most of all, "The Fallen" is great because it compels you to walk, as evidenced by the music video (which I didn't embed above because it cuts off like a minute of the song), which is literally the guys from Franz Ferdinand walking. And along the way you're treated to a litany of Biblical allusions (which I had to look up to understand, because Alex Kapranos's Scottish accent makes every Franz Ferdinand song sound like it's in Dutch), and the climactic fourth verse, which gets all quiet and then ramps down to completely dropping the melody to shout "YOU ARE THE WORD. THE WORD IS DESTROY," which, again, if you're not flipping out by that part on your own, nothing I say can convince you to do so.