The Sound of Sirens
Parody of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence"
Official Simon & Garfunkel audio
The Sound of Grandpa parody from The Simpsons
Background
Warning: this song contains strong language.
It's very noisy near my apartment complex – sirens, honks, beeping trucks, squealing tires, revving engines, people screaming, etc. There was also that one time the fire alarm went off after 1am for about 20 minutes, requiring a visit from the fire department. Hundreds of people and animals were traumatized that night.
One day, I went through my list of parodiable songs and came across The Sound of Silence. "The Sound of Sirens" popped into my head, and I knew it would make a great song.
I started the song in September 2022, about a month before BC's municipal elections. At the time, the mayor had been in office for over 30 years and controlled city business with help from his collection of toadies supportive councillors. Together, the mayor and his council accelerated the destruction of Langford's green spaces in order to build more market housing. "We're in a housing crisis," he'd say.
Curiously, rents and housing costs never declined, despite the massively increased supply. Langford had traded natural areas for sprawling suburbs lacking infrastructure – a lovely exchange – but at least all those developers made a nice profit!
Then the election happened, and in a stunning upset, Stew Young and his supporters were out.
It didn't feel right to work on the song after that happened. Things were looking up, and I wasn't in the right mindset to complete the song. So it sat in my WIP folder for months, about 60% finished, along with about ten other songs in various states.
However...the malaise is returning. A city is hard to turn around, and the new council is facing a backlash from the local regressives who still support the ousted regime. Various Young supporters grandstand at council meetings, likely to build support for runs in the next election. Word through the grapevine is that Young and some of his old councillors are quietly planning to run again as well. And to top it all off, a provincial byelection was held, and it was won by a local school board trustee with strong ties to the former mayor. It didn't seem to bother the BC NDP that their candidate was a conservative who talks in circles, but we all know that the BC NDP hasn't stood for anything in decades, so I digress.
It felt right to...dust...off the unfinished song and complete it. Plus, I was egged on by this creative and compelling art remix of a different "The Sound of..." via @PepperoniBelle on Twitter:
Enjoy!
Lyrics
Hello weary city friends I've come to talk about a trend Your neighbourhood is filled with beeping Oftentimes when you are sleeping And you awaken in the middle of the night To your delight Thanks to the sound of sirens Developers all blasting stone City streets construction zones Clouds of dust surround a dump truck It seems the mayor doesn't give a fuck He'd rather cling to the dream of an Island train Or Ukraine Than improve your environs And in this city all the serfs Live amongst the astroturf Here the rent is always rising I guess it shouldn't be surprising People only seem to matter when they own A fucking home Suburbs abound with violence Within the city's boundaries We see hilltops lacking trees Neighbourhoods without a sidewalk Housing next to huge piles of rock But our words, like teardrops in the rain Just sounds our complaints expire in All the while the noises blare Yet our leaders never care The alarms are fucking screaming Could you please stop all your scheming Cause the science says the world of tomorrow is looking pretty bad It's really quite sad And echoes the sound of sirens
