1) Phoenix A Romanian folk rock / rock band, who has experimented across the years with many musical genres, having a rich musical history that can easily be compared to that of the Beatles. Starting with the rock’n’roll of the Beat Generation, they continued enriching their sound with blues influences, jazz, psychedelic, krautrock, culminating with the orientation towards Romanian folk music, which they blended harmoniously with the sound that was popular in the ’70s
Phoenix is one of the most prominent Romanian Rock and Roll bands of the latest decades, and also the first one to take musical inspiration from ancient Romanian folk themes.
Formed in the 1960s, it began by doing covers of Beatles songs. However, they soon had to change their style since the Romanian communist regime disliked any form of western culture. The communist regime suggested that all rock oriented bands should look for inspiration within the Romanian culture. These restrictions made the band’s leader Nicolae Covaci search within the Romanian folklore, which gave them a unique sound.
The beginning
Phoenix was launched in the cosmopolitan city of Timişoara in 1962 by a pair of schoolboys: Nicu Covaci and Béla Kamocsa, under the name of Sfinţii (The Saints). In their first years, together with Florin “Moni” Bordeianu (born 1948), they performed in school contests and at local clubs, covering Western music hits from The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Who, etc., and they quickly became very popular amongst the youth. In 1965 the Communist authorities demanded that the band stop performing under the name The Saints, because of the religious innuendo that the name carried. Forced to comply, the band took the name Phoenix. Nicu Covaci also changed the composition of the band, around 1963, by adding Claudiu Rotaru, Ioan “Pilu” Ştefanovici (born 1946) and Günther “Spitzly” Reininger (born 1950) to the lineup.
In 1965 they had their first big concert in Bucharest. Their performance brought a collaboration with Cornel Chiriac to record some of their songs. The first songs they recorded were “Ştiu cǎ mǎ iubesti şi tu” (“I Know You Love Me Too”), “Dunăre, Dunăre” (“Danube, Danube”) and “Bun e vinul ghiurghiuliu” (“Good is the Red Wine”). The same year also marked the beginning of their collaboration with Victor Cârcu, who went on to write many of their most famous songs, such as “Vremuri” (“Old Times”), “Şi totuşi ca voi sunt” (“And Yet I Am Like You”), “Nebunul cu ochii închişi” (“Crazy Man with closed eyes”), “Floarea stîncilor” (“Mountain Flower”) and “Canarul” (“Canary”).
In December 1967 Phoenix had their first major series of concerts in many western cities, capped off by two huge concerts in Timişoara. After winning a few prizes in national students’ contests, held at Iaşi the following year, in 1968 they recorded their first EP, Vremuri (Old Times), containing two original songs, Vremuri and Canarul (The Canary), and two covers (Lady Madonna - The Beatles and Friday on my Mind - Easybeats). A second EP would follow one year later, named Floarea stîncilor (The Flower of the Rocks), with all four songs being original compositions. Both albums sport a sound reminiscent of the beat style popular in that era.
They then started working on a rock theater play “Omul 36/80” (The Man 36/80) which won several prizes for originality.
In 1969 Ioan “Pilu” Ştefanovici was replaced by Dorel “Baba” Vintilă Zaharia (born 1943). For the next year the band became more and more popular, frequently visiting Bucharest and being invited in talk shows about music.
In 1970, Moni Bordeianu emigrated to the US, and, for a brief period of time the band suspended its activity, also due to total censorship that followed a protesting speech held by Bordeianu in his last concert. 1970 meant the blues period of the band. The formula used was Nicu Covaci - guitar, Günther “Spitzly” Reininger - piano and voice, Zoltan Covacs - bass guitar and Liviu Butoi - oboe and flute. Phoenix was born again the next year, with Covaci, Josef Kappl, Mircea Baniciu, Costin Petrescu (replaced in 1974 by Ovidiu Lipan, nicknamed “Ţăndărică”) and Valeriu Sepi.
But the Communist officials were not very comfortable with the Western-style music that they were singing, and kept creating them problems. So Phoenix abandoned beat turned to Romanian folklore, pagan rituals, mystic animals and old traditions. In this same year, Phoenix started a collaboration with the Institute of Ethnography and Folklore and the Folklore section of Timişoara University on an ambitious project, a rock poem that combined traditional wooden instruments with modern sounds. During this project the band also started collaborating with Valeriu Sepi (born 1947), who eventually joined the band. The first outcome would be the 1972 LP Cei ce ne-au dat nume (Those Who Gave Us Our Names) - the first LP to be recorded in Romania by a Romanian band. Two years later, Mugur de fluier (Flute Bud) followed. Both albums underwent severe censorship.
In 1973 Phoenix represented Romania at the “Golden harp” festival in Bratislava (Slovakia) and then in the “Disc festival” in Sopot (Poland). Also, they wanted to record a new rock-opera, named “Meşterul Manole”, but the communist officials censored it all, by “losing” the unique book with costume sketches and lyrics given to them for official approval. The result was only a EP with an extract from the opera, Meşterul Manole, uvertură (Meşterul Manole, uverture) and two older songs, Mamă, Mamă (Mother, Mother) and Te întreb pe tine, soare… (I’m asking you, sun…).
On Monday, 19 November 1973, Phoenix held a memorable concert in Bucharest, presenting their new hits “Andri Popa”, “Pavel Chinezu” and “Strunga”, which composed the new disc “Mugur de fluier”. The new songs were still influenced by folklore yet had a new style. This style was the result of the collaboration with new songwriters Andrei Ujică and Şerban Foarţă. Based on those new songs Nicu Covaci created a new show “Introducere la un concert despre muzica veche la români” (“Introduction to a concert about old Romanian music”) in which he introduced violins, flutes, archaic percussion and other traditional instruments. The show was never finished due to a new collaboration with “Cenaclul Flacăra.” This period is considered the peak for Phoenix. Their sound was considered original and powerful and full stadiums were common for their concerts.
Every winter the members of the band would retreat to Mount Semenic and plan their upcoming songs. That winter the show “Zoosophia”, a title that would later change to “Cantafabule”, was created. The show began by “calling” all mythic animals and continued by dedicating a song to each of them, finishing with the Phoenix, the band’s symbol. The year 1975 brought a newcomer to the band, Ovidiu Lipan “Ţăndărică” (born 1953). The “Cantafabule” show was first presented in Timişoara in February 1975. The disc was recorded in a very short time and was published the same year with a misspelling in the title: “Cantofabule.” What followed were two years of almost continuous concerts but also the creation of the soundtrack for the movie “Nemuritorii”.
By this time, the popularity of Phoenix had grown huge; people loved their songs not only for what they were, but also because they contained thinly-veiled allusions to the Communist regime. The band members, especially Nicu Covaci, found themselves increasingly harassed by the Securitate. Covaci married a Dutch woman and left the country in 1976. He returned in 1977, bringing in relief aid for those struck by the powerful earthquake on March 4. After two grandiose concerts in Constanţa and Tulcea, Covaci surprisingly left the country again, this time with all the band members (except Baniciu) hidden inside their Marshall speakers - a huge undertaking, since in Communist Romania it was extremely difficult to obtain approval to travel abroad, and illegal border crossing was punished with imprisonment.
After arriving in Germany, Phoenix disbanded. Kappl and a few others (Erlend Krauser, Ovidiu Lipan) formed a new band, Madhouse and released a not very successful album named From The East. In 1981, Covaci co-opted Neumann and Lipan and English bassist Tom Buggie, who had an amazing technical playing ability, under the name Transsylvania Phoenix (since a band named Phoenix already existed) and released an LP named Transsylvania, containing two old Phoenix songs translated into English to target the Western audience and five new ones. Covaci together with Kappl also released two EPs and one maxi single as Transsylvania-Phoenix.
In 1990 Phoenix made a triumphant comeback to Romania, with a highly emotional concert in their hometown Timişoara, the city that sparked the popular revolt in December 1989 that eventually led to the downfall of the Communist regime. In the following years, Phoenix toured a lot and released a few compilations of their older recordings. Internal frictions, especially between Covaci and Baniciu, were making headlines in the media.
A new album appeared in 2000, the first original album after their 1990 comeback; with the exception of Covaci, the lineup comprised none of the members from the ’70s.
In 2002, the 40th Anniversary of the band brought together almost all former members in a supershow.
At the end of 2005 the band (in its classic gold lineup) released a new album, named Baba Novak.
As of 2010, the band still performs at live events.
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2) Phoenix The French band comprises Thomas Mars (vocals), Deck D'Arcy (bass), Christian Mazzalai (guitar) and Laurent Brancowitz (guitar), who started playing music as kids in a suburb of Versailles during the same cultural period that produced late-'90s bands such as Air,Mellow and Daft Punk. The band's lineup has no permanent drummer or keyboardist.
Phoenix formed in 1999 and started off as the backing band for a remix of Air’s “Kelly Watch the Stars” single. Soon after, Phoenix released their debut album United in 2000. The name "Phoenix" was officially chosen in 1996 when Laurent Brancowitz permanently joined Pheonix after his other band Darlin' disbanded. The other two members of Darlin' (Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo) went on to form Daft Punk.
Phoenix are based in Paris, France and their music has been featured in such films as Shallow Hal and Lost In Translation. In 2006 the band themselves appeared Marie Antoinette, which like Lost In Translation, was directed by Sofia Coppola, Thomas Mars' partner.
The band's fourth album, "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" was released in 2009. It contains "1901", which peaked at #1 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart in January 2010. The album won for Best Alternative Album at the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards.
Their fifth album, "Bankrupt!" was released in 2013.]
Bankrupt! debuted at #4 on the American Billboard 200 albums chart and a Phoenix world tour was completed over a large part of 2013.
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Aside from these two artists: The following groups also used the name Phoenix, most of which were short lived:
3) Phoenix: A short-lived British hard rock band that consisted of Jim Rodford, Robert Henrit, John Verity of Argent.
4) Phoenix: A UK-based band who play SF/Fantasy inspired rock / filk - both originals and parodies of better known songs.
5) Phoenix: A Classic goa / psychedelic trance project with some tracks released in compilations of 90s.
6) Phoenix: A seven-piece Oklahoma City garage-soul band that released one 45 in 1969 and received great regional success for a couple of years.
Allen Correll (Trumpet)
Larry Rogers (keyboards)
John Proctor (Drums)
Ron Jones (saxophone)
Roger Harrison (Bass)
Randy Stark (Vocals)
Pat Smiley (Guitar)
7) Phoenix: A British glitter band consisting of Alan Yates (vocals) Gerry Shepard (guitar/backing vocals) Pete Phipps (drums/keyboards) and Mike Leander (drums/bass/keyboards). They had one single in April 1975 (Pictures of You / Thrill Me With Your Love) produced by singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Adrian Baker.
8): Phoenix: Described by fans as "The best cover band you will ever see", this Las Vegas based rock band are sure to get your guests head banging and air guitar-ing whatever the occasion. Line-up consists of Jimmy Crespo (ex-Aerosmith), Tony Davich (ex-Sheena Easton), Jamie Borden, Tommy Paris (ex-Britny Fox, Jillson) and Dan Mccaslin.
Rally
Phoenix Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Follow the shouting, I am longing for you
Hook up with me, meet at the rally I waited so long,
I couldn't find a cause
Tired or wasted I think you're decent I waited so long,
there'll be no decency no
(Don't you give me those)
Dirty talk talk talk quiet
Just as long as you're gone
It won't happen at all
Remember the time we talked about everlastings?
Don't you know we'll both fall to pieces too?
April twenty second at the Avalon, you teased me
Hook up with me, meet at the rally
Shifty eyes pay attention
Dirty talk talk talk quiet
Just as long as you're gone
It won't happen at all
Don't go away we're so near
Look around, you see
There is nothing to say but the things
I know I got nothing to say but the things I know
Standing in line, I think you're pretty
Lying on your bed, I think you're pretty too
Young girl curl your hair at night
Hook up with me, meet at the rally
(Don't you give me those)
Shifty eyes pay attention
Dirty talk talk talk quiet
Just as long as you're gone
It won't happen at all
Shifty eyes pay attention
Dirty talk talk talk louder
Just as long as you're gone
I won't leave you alone
The lyrics of Phoenix's song Rally suggest a story of a longing for a connection with someone. The singer asks the person to "hook up" with them and meet at the rally, possibly a political or social gathering where they hope to find a cause to belong to. However, the person seems hesitant and shifty, and the singer asks them to pay attention and not engage in dirty talk. The lyrics then turn to memories of a conversation about "everlastings," possibly a reference to eternal love or life, and the singer acknowledges that they will eventually fall apart like everyone else. The lyrics then return to the rally, where the singer sees the person again and desires their connection.
The lyrics suggest a theme of searching for meaning and connection in a world where everything eventually falls apart. The rally may symbolize the various causes or ideologies that people attach themselves to in their search for purpose, but the singer seems to find these choices lacking in some way. The attention paid to the other person's shifty behavior and the warning against dirty talk suggest a sense of caution or skepticism about trusting others in this context. Despite this, the desire for connection and the memory of a hopeful conversation about eternal things show that the singer has not given up on finding meaning, even if it is ultimately fleeting.
Line by Line Meaning
Hook up with me, meet at the rally
Join me in this protest or gathering where we stand up for what we believe in.
Follow the shouting, I am longing for you
I'm searching for you amidst the chaos and noise of the rally because I want to be close to you.
I waited so long, I couldn't find a cause
I've been searching for a purpose or reason to fight for, but I've been unsuccessful so far.
Tired or wasted I think you're decent
Even though I may be tired or under the influence of something, I still think you're a good and respectable person.
there'll be no decency no
In this chaotic and intense environment of the rally, there may be no sense of morality or respectability.
(Don't you give me those) Shifty eyes pay attention
Don't try to deceive me with your suspicious or untrustworthy gaze. Pay attention to what I'm saying.
Dirty talk talk talk quiet
Stop saying inappropriate or vulgar things, and be quiet for a moment.
Just as long as you're gone It won't happen at all
If you're not present here with me, none of this (the rally, the conversation, etc.) will matter or happen.
Remember the time we talked about everlastings?
Do you recall the moment we discussed something that would last forever or endure over time?
Don't you know we'll both fall to pieces too?
Just like anything else, we are not immune to breaking down or crumbling.
April twenty second at the Avalon, you teased me
At a specific date and place, you playfully flirted with me or provoked me.
Don't go away we're so near
Stay with me, we are so close to each other.
Look around, you see There is nothing to say but the things I know I got nothing to say but the things I know
Take a moment to observe your surroundings and you'll see that there's nothing left to say except the things that I already know and can confidently speak about.
Standing in line, I think you're pretty Lying on your bed, I think you're pretty too
Whether we're in a crowded place waiting in line, or alone in bed, I find you to be attractive and beautiful.
Young girl curl your hair at night Hook up with me, meet at the rally
Addressing a young woman to prepare herself for the upcoming event and join me in the rally.
Dirty talk talk talk louder
Speak louder and with more intensity, but still avoiding speaking inappropriately.
Just as long as you're gone I won't leave you alone
If you're not present or gone, I'll continue to pursue you and not give up on being with you.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: CHRISTIAN MAZZALAI, FREDERIC MOULIN, LAURENT MAZZALAI, THOMAS CROQUET
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@zaidabanksnyc
Phoenix brings happiness to my life 💖 Thanks 🙋
@danielcropp8553
The chords in the rhythm guitar are so beautiful!
@EffingtonCouldBe
This tune is so POSITIVE, captures the anticipation you feel for that new love you hope to see.
@thehillfoxes3063
Exactly this! You explained my feelings. Tx :)
@EffingtonCouldBe
The Hill Foxes
Thanks☺
@UrielBRB
Yes, indeed!
@alejandraigarrutia2212
Best song I've ever heard
@benly32
this song is a classic to me
@alejandraigarrutia2212
I know Iknow I can't stop listening to it. I can't believe it's not all over the TV and radio
@lealu83
This song was excellent on Veronica Mars. How did we ever manage before Shazam?