There are at least six bands called Cocoon:

1. Cocoon is a two-piece… Read Full Bio ↴There are at least six bands called Cocoon:

1. Cocoon is a two-piece French band formed in 2006 by Mark Daumail (born 1984, composition, lead vocals, acoustic guitar, ukelele, banjo, beatbox, etc.) and Morgane Imbeaud (born 1987, vocal harmonies, keyboards, arrangements).

"I wanted it to be a male-female duet. A duo like the White Stripes are in rock — we wanted to be the equivalent in folk music," Daumail says. Their songs are entirely sung in English. "French artists singing in English isn't something new. It goes back to groups like Les Thugs and Syd Matters," he remarks.

Daumail says he's always been interested in folk music: "Basically, Cocoon's musical inspiration goes all the way from groups like The Pentangle and Fairport Convention right through to the 'new folk' movement that surfaced around the beginning of 2000 with artists like CocoRosie, Devendra Banhart and Sufjan Stevens."

In 2006, the pop / folk duet released its first EP, entitled I Hate Birds, and won the 2006 edition of the Big Jama regional contest. The following year, Cocoon was signed onto the French indie label Sober & Gentle. The band released a second EP, From Panda Mountains, followed by their first album, entitled My Friends All Died in a Plane Crash. The group won the CQFD music contest organized by the French magazine Les Inrockuptibles and performed in the new talent section of the rock music festivals Le Printemps de Bourges and Les Eurockéennes de Belfort.

Official site: http://www.myspace.com/listentococoon or http://www.frompandamountains.com/

2. Cocoon is a solo project by one of the founding members of the French group Clair Obscur which was one of the first groups in the 80's in France to work across music, visual arts, dance and theatre. Clair Obscur was one of the very few bands of the French cold wave/industrial scene which became known abroad with its records released by the British labels Cathexis, All the Madmen and NER (compilation From Torture to Conscience with Current 93, In the Nursery, Death in June, etc).

Christophe Demarthe has been working for many years at the frontier of sound and visual arts. He has created sound architectures for theatre, dance, cinema, visual arts, radio... mainly working with the drama producer Bruno Lajara (501 Blues, Ne Pas, Fuites, Après Coups, Léon le Nul...) and with Jean Couturier for radio dramas on France Culture. He has written music for the cinema and for television (France 2, Canal Plus).

In 2004 he created Cocoon, releasing his debut album on the French label Optical Sound. Much more than a mere sound object based on an album concept, Cocoon can be read as a global artistic project close to the performance. It is an audio set accompanied by videos and asking for an active participation of the public, banishing the passive listening of laptoppers. The stage disposition creates a real contrast with the characteristic immobility of electronic music concerts, and definitively places itself at the crossing point of image, sound and live show, for a moving interdisciplinarity.

Since its creation in 2004, Cocoon has participated in the festivals Nowa Fabryka (Bytom, Poland), Emergences/Villette Numérique (Paris), Nuit Blanche (Paris), Emo-Son (Bourges), Salon Light (Paris)... He has been reviewed in Libération, on Arte-TV.com, in the magazines Mouvement, Télérama, The Wire, on France Culture... His second album, More Violent Days Are to Come (OS.012) (Optical Sound), has been nominated for the Qwartz Electronic Music Awards 2006/2007.

3. A Czech band from Kolín.

4. An Alternative/Emocore - Band from Czech republic.

5. An electronic/ambient duo from the USA.

6. A Romanian rapper from Piatra Neamt

Take Off
Cocoon Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

TAKE OFF

Well I wish that I could land
Well it is what they demand
Well I’ll need a gun or a hand
Well I wish that I could land

The take off is sometimes hard
I dream of a bodyguard

My friends are dead in a plane crash
Well there is a God but He wants cash
I had a bear, gone to Hawai
And Kevin Costner has retired

The take off is sometimes hard
I dream of a bodyguard

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Cocoon's song Take Off seem to be describing the difficulty of starting something - in this case, possibly a journey or a new chapter of life. The first lines revolve around the idea of landing, or arriving, and the singer expresses a desire for that to happen. However, they also feel the need for some sort of protection or assistance, which might require a gun or a hand. Here, the idea of landing becomes symbolic - it's not just about physically arriving at a destination, but also about feeling safe and supported.

The chorus repeats the phrase "the take off is sometimes hard", which reinforces the idea of starting something new being challenging. The line "I dream of a bodyguard" suggests that the singer longs for protection and comfort, acknowledging that they might need help to get through this difficult period.

The verses contain a few seemingly unrelated lines, but they all reference loss or change in some way. The mention of friends dying in a plane crash is a stark reminder of the fragility of life and how quickly things can change. The line "there is a God but He wants cash" suggests a sense of frustration or disillusionment with organized religion. The line about the bear gone to Hawai could be interpreted as an allusion to a sense of loss, as bears are not native to Hawaii and would not be able to thrive there. Likewise, the reference to Kevin Costner retiring might be seen as a symbol of the end of an era, as Costner was a major figure in Hollywood in the '80s and '90s.

Overall, the lyrics to Take Off speak to the universal experience of struggling to start something new, whether it's a physical journey or a new chapter of life. The references to loss and change add a deeper layer of meaning, suggesting that even the act of starting anew can be tinged with sadness and uncertainty.

Line by Line Meaning

Well I wish that I could land
I desire to have a place to rest and be safe

Well it is what they demand
The expectations of others are the cause of my anxiety

Well I’ll need a gun or a hand
I require protection or assistance to navigate this difficult situation

Well I wish that I could land
I yearn to be secure and stable

The take off is sometimes hard
Starting something new can be challenging

I dream of a bodyguard
I fantasize about being protected and secure

My friends are dead in a plane crash
I have experienced loss and tragedy

Well there is a God but He wants cash
I am skeptical of religious beliefs that seem to be driven by monetary gain

I had a bear, gone to Hawai
I have lost something important and valuable to me

And Kevin Costner has retired
Even celebrities eventually retire and move on from their careers

The take off is sometimes hard
Starting something new can be challenging