What Does It All Mean?: Phoenix – “Countdown”

It took me a little while to jump on the Phoenix bandwagon, but it’s hard not to like this band, great melodies, fun punchy electro rhythms, English lyrics for all the Yankees to sing, but with slightly French phrasing, so it still cooler than any “regular” American could sing. In fact their sound can be so enticing, that you might not pay attention to the lyrics. Case in point, is “Countdown.” The first 4 or 5 times I listened to this song, I was pretty convinced that it was all about sweet remembrance of youth, perhaps youthful discretions or other reckless behavior that just seems right when you’re young and oh so wrong once you turn 30. The opening line, “Countdown unless you’re juvenile,” seemed to reference maybe a New Year’s party, and mixing with the prior thoughts I had, the song reminded me of New Year’s parties with old friends and reminiscing at those parties about our slightly wilder times a few years before.  The whole “It doesn’t matter what you did and if you did like you’ve been told” line seems to mix with that as well.

Clearly there’s a measure of this sentiment in this song, but many of the lines are so inscrutable that it seems like something else entirely may be going on here.

Don’t say no, you’re breakfast eaten alone
Sister let go, you’re borderline withdrawn
Down and lit from the bottom
There’s a misfit

Huh? Am I eating breakfast alone, or am I the breakfast being eaten alone? Thinking about that would certainly make me a bit more than borderline withdrawn. “Down and lit from the bottom” could be a reference to getting trashed but am I a misfit or is that something that the singer sees while they are “down and lit from the bottom”? This could all be about punctuation or shady grammar issues, but it sure seems perplexing to say the least.

And then what to make of the way it closes, sonically it’s all a rush, but lyrically, I find myself making prescriptions for the Zoloft after these lines:

True, true and everlasting
didn’t last that long
We’re the lonesome
We’re the lonesome
Yeah
True and everlasting
didn’t last that long

Once you put these lines into the greater context of the song, this doesn’t seem like a remembrance of youthful nostalgia, this sounds like severe adult depression over never being young again, time wasted, promises not kept or dreams dashed, which makes this a seriously depressing song.

Or perhaps not, maybe it’s just the way it translates from French to English? Let me know what do you think?

Phoenix –  “Countdown” – from Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (2009)

Countdown unless you’re juvenile, let’s go
God bless you’re missed somewhere
We’re sick for the big sun
It doesn’t matter what you did
and if you did like you’ve been told

True… and everlasting, that’s what you want
True…
True… and everlasting, that’s what you want
Don’t say no, you’re breakfast eaten alone
Sister let go, you’re borderline withdrawn
Down and lit from the bottom
There’s a misfit

Better than looks
Better than looks
Better than looks
Better than looks
We’re sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick
We’re sick for the big sun
Alone though and drip drip drip drip drip drip drip
I realize that too

Your lonesome will
Is this knowledge?
As forgiven as you know somewhere
your face will remain on
It doesn’t matter what you did
and if you didn’t ride, let’s go
Could…. an everlasting, that’s what you want
Cool, cool… and everlasting that’s what you want
Don’t say no, you’re breakfast eaten alone
Do you remember when twenty-one years was old?
Down and lit
It doesn’t matter that you killed us

Better than looks
Better than looks
Better than looks
Better than looks
We’re sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick
We’re sick for the big sun
Alone and drip drip drip drip drip drip drip
I realize that too

True, true and everlasting
didn’t last that long
We’re the lonesome
We’re the lonesome
Yeah
True and everlasting
didn’t last that long

True, true and everlasting
didn’t last that long
We’re lonesome
we’re the lonesome
Yeah
True and everlasting
didn’t last that long
We’re the lonesome
We’re the lonesome