William Butler
William Butler
Multi-instrumentalist for the band Arcade Fire who plays bass, synth, guitar, and percussion. He has also worked on movie soundtracks, like the one for Her.
ProfessionGuitarist
Date of Birth6 October 1982
friends-or-friendship issue remake
The friends that have it I do wrongWhen ever I remake a song,Should know what issue is at stake:It is myself that I remake.
awhile nod passed polite words
I have passed with a nod of the headOr polite meaningless words,Or have lingered awhile and saidPolite meaningless words. . . .
among fly mind moves silence stream
Like a long-legged fly upon the stream His mind moves among silence
adversity temptation soul
Every conquering temptation represents a new fund of moral energy. Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.
marble melancholy sacred seek shadow wander
See how the sacred old flamingoes come,Painting with shadow all the marble steps:Aged and wise, they seek their wonted perchesWithin the temple, devious walking, madeTo wander by their melancholy minds.
compelled feels imagine lost melancholy passing souls streets walk
This melancholy London- I sometimes imagine that the souls of the lost are compelled to walk through its streets perpetually. One feels them passing like a whiff of air.
conscience might vanity
Things said or done long years ago,Or things I did not do or sayBut thought that I might say or do,Weigh me down, and not a dayBut something is recalled,My conscience or my vanity appalled.
conscience might vanity weigh
Things said or done long years ago, Or things I did not do or say But thought that I might say or do, Weigh me down, and not a day But something is recalled, My conscience or my vanity appalled.
awaits dread dying hope hoping man nor
Nor dread nor hope attendA dying animal;A man awaits his endDreading and hoping all.
dome fury human man mere
A starlit or a moonlit dome disdainsAll that man is;All mere complexities,The fury and the mire of human veins.
rest sailed swift
Swift has sailed into his rest;Savage indignation thereCannot lacerate his breast.
blest cast flows great laugh sweetness
When such as I cast out remorseSo great a sweetness flows into the breastWe must laugh and we must sing,We are blest by everything,Everything we look upon is blest.
middle pride reckless shake sides themselves wicked
Where, where but here have Pride and Truth,That long to give themselves for wage,To shake their wicked sides at youthRestraining reckless middle age?
shall
What shall I do for pretty girlsNow my old bawd is dead?