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.
Rome
Phoenix Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Is it is teasing you he's underage?
Could he be waving from a tropical sunset
Static silhouette somehow
Single in his bed someday
Quiet 'til he fall, fall, falls
Rome, Rome, Rome, Rome
Oh no, what did I say?
What can I say?
Rome, Rome, many tears have fallen here
I'll be driving you look the other way
I am easy to ignore
Shutters open all the way
When the scandal that I see I'll go insane
Distant silhouettes somehow
We shared a cigarette somewhere
I looked to the fall, fall, falls
Rome, Rome, Rome, Rome
Focus looking forward the coliseum
Oh no, what did I say?
What can I say?
Rome, Rome, many tears have fallen here
I'll be driving you look the other way
Rome, Rome, Rome, Rome
Rome, Rome, Rome, Rome
Rome, Rome, Rome, Rome
Rome, Rome, Rome, Rome
Rome, Rome, Rome, Rome
Rome, Rome, Rome, Rome
Rome, Rome, Rome, Rome
Always and forever more
I called to say I'm on the way
Two thousand years remain in the trashcan
I burned the cigarette somewhere
Ashes still it fall, fall, falls
I stand outside under broken leaves
I know I can't do without
The future's drowned away
Ah, I never loved you
And if I loved you
I wouldn't say I'm sorry, oh no
I stand outside under broken leaves
Always and forever more
And together getting lonely
I thought I couldn't do this without you
Single in his bed somewhere
Ashes still it fall, fall, falls
Rome, Rome, Rome, Rome
Rome, Rome, Rome, Rome
The lyrics in Phoenix's song 'Rome' are poetic and complex, with a sense of mystery and intrigue woven throughout. The lyrics reveal a story of love and loss, set against the backdrop of the city of Rome. The verse "Who's the boy I like the most? Is it his teasing, or is he underage?" implies an attraction to someone who may not be appropriate. The chorus repeats "Rome, Rome, Rome" almost like a mantra, the city serving as a symbol of the past and the present.
The chorus "Focus looking forward the coliseum" suggests that the author is looking towards the future, but is also aware of the ancient history that surrounds the present day. The line "many tears have fallen here" implies that there have been many struggles in Rome, yet it endures. The line "I'll be driving you look the other way" could suggest that the author feels they are not wanted or that their presence is not desired.
The song continues with themes of distance and loneliness, with lines like "distant silhouettes" and "getting lonely." The repeated line "fall, fall, falls" suggests a sense of inevitability and perhaps sadness. The final lines "I never loved you, and if I loved you, I wouldn't say I'm sorry" bring a sense of finality to the song, with the author acknowledging that they are moving on from a past relationship.
Line by Line Meaning
Who's the boy I like the most
The singer is trying to figure out who they like the most
Is it is teasing you he's underage?
The singer wonders if the boy they like is too young and it's inappropriate.
Could he be waving from a tropical sunset
The singer imagines the boy they like waving from a far-off, exotic location.
Static silhouette somehow
The boy's silhouette is frozen in the artist's mind, despite being far away.
Single in his bed someday
The artist imagines the boy being alone and single in his bed at some point.
Quiet 'til he fall, fall, falls
The singer imagines the boy being quiet and reserved until he falls in love and opens up.
Rome, Rome, Rome, Rome
Repetition of the word 'Rome' that's used as a refrain throughout the song.
Focus looking forward the coliseum
The artist is looking ahead to their future while thinking of Rome's historic coliseum.
Oh no, what did I say?
The artist realizes they've said something wrong or hurtful.
What can I say?
The artist is at a loss for words to make things right.
Rome, Rome, many tears have fallen here
Rome has seen much heartbreak and tears.
I'll be driving you look the other way
The artist will be driving past Rome while pretending to ignore it.
I am easy to ignore
The singer feels like they are forgettable and easy to overlook.
Shutters open all the way
The singer's emotions are laid bare for all to see.
When the scandal that I see I'll go insane
The singer will go crazy if they see a scandal go down.
Distant silhouettes somehow
The people in the artist's life feel like distant shadows.
We shared a cigarette somewhere
The artist and someone else shared a moment at some point in time.
I looked to the fall, fall, falls
The singer is looking forward to falling in love.
Always and forever more
The singer's feelings are permanent and unchanging.
I called to say I'm on the way
The artist is on their way to be with someone they care about.
Two thousand years remain in the trashcan
The artist is talking about Rome's history being discarded and forgotten, comparing it to their own inner turmoil.
Ashes still it fall, fall, falls
Remnants of the past continue to haunt the artist.
I stand outside under broken leaves
The singer is standing outside in a desolate place filled with loss and decay.
I know I can't do without
The artist realizes they cannot live without the person they care for.
The future's drowned away
The potential of the future is gone, leaving only the past and present.
Ah, I never loved you
The singer realizes they didn't actually love the person they were with.
And if I loved you
The singer thinks about what would have happened if they actually loved the person they were with.
I wouldn't say I'm sorry, oh no
If the artist actually loved the person, they wouldn't apologize for anything.
Always and forever more
The artist's feelings are permanent and unchanging.
And together getting lonely
Two people are alone but in each other's company.
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Christian Mazzalai, Frederic Moulin, Laurent Mazzalai, Thomas Croquet
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Dragos Raileanu
on Ora-hora
https://www.facebook.com/TranssylvaniaPhoenixOficial/ that's the band, actually, the romanian one ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transsylvania_Phoenix ... it's name is actually just Phoenix, please see their page