Running Music: Arcade Fire/Foo Fighters 'Keep the Car Running'

I know picking a song called ‘Keep the Car Running’ suggests I’m planning on taking a sneaky turn down a side street and blagging a lift on the big day. I have, ahem, only chosen this song because it has the word ‘run’ in its title, and because it’s ace of course, honest.

Music has the power to influence even the most extreme mood changes. How often do we hear of people turning to certain songs when in an hour of emotional need?

Although we can lose ourselves in books, TV, film, theatre or art, forgetting the outside world or by way of escapism from issues that are dominating our thoughts, music has the ability to worm its way into our lives where other, less portable artforms can’t.

How many times have you heard someone say “this song reminds me of”, before launching into the anecdote which they always remember when they hear said piece of music.

Songs connect with people, provoking special memories, inspiring through lyrics, lifting the mood or,
as already blogged, helping to motivate.

I say all this as the next song on my list is one of those, memory tracks which, on one occasion, did wonderful things for the mood as well.

Between 2001 and 2009 I attended over twenty music festivals, from massive events like
Leeds and
Reading, to smaller, more relaxed alternative such as
Guilfest.

Inevitably some are better than others, who’s playing, how the event is organised, the weather and people you're with all having a major impact on how good your weekend is. What turned out to be my last ever visit to the
V Festival was easily my least enjoyable.

I was already losing interest in V, their choice of artists was drifting more and more towards mainstream pop. 2007 still had enough going for it, with Foo Fighters, Manic Street Preachers, Primal Scream, Basement Jaxx and Emma Pollock holding their own amongst Pink, Kanye West, Lemar, The Kooks and Mika.

It turned out to be easily the coldest festival I’d been to; I don’t think we experienced anything warmer than 15 degrees all weekend. It rained, a lot, meaning our tent flooded, so I was bored, wet, cold, grumpy and ready to get the hell out!

Then the Foo Fighters played their cover of Arcade Fire’s ‘Keep the Car Running’ during their headline set. A brilliant song covered in style and suddenly things weren’t so bad after all.

So, I present to you, live performances of both versions, the original by
Arcade Fire which is an absolute belter, and
the Foo Fighters cover.

I never did go back to V, but that experience was just a blip as I have since had fantastic weekends at both Leeds and Guilfest.

(Photo is of a classic American car taken in Cuba. It just happened to be the best car picture I have, I'm not showing off, honest!)