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.
Tuttifrutti
Phoenix Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
What you're after
Rush it, rush it, rush it
Who'd you root for?
You sounded too excited
Watch you is not fun
If only boys around you
Don't tell the broken hearted
"That's what you get"
I like the girls around you
But you were missing
You send the letter for the last tuition
Found the reason
You've been tossed around
I'm right behind you
Smash the castle down, delete it
Tuttifrutti, it's all on me
Wreck the spectacle you live in
Broken glass and porcelain
We'll be trashing motels
Tuttifrutti, it's all for free
Sell the gold silverware
Burn the rest and melt with me
Show me, show me, show me
Tears or laughter
Don't hide it, hide it, hide it
It's too sinister
Come buy a ticket
To your next vacation
There's only one around you
That does the stitching
So call me, call me, call me
Back if you wait
Forget the mess behind you
Forgot the lesson
Stop, what you do with your lifetime
It's only protocol
"If I can do it, you can do it"
Smash the castle down, delete it
Tuttifrutti, it's all on me
Wreck the spectacle you live in
Broken glass and porcelain
We'll be trashing motels
Tuttifrutti, it's all for free
Sell the gold silverware
Burn the rest if I can't fit in
You're numero uno, ready for the win
Ready to fool everyone in the end
We'll be trashing motels
Tuttifrutti, melt with me
The lyrics of Phoenix's song "Tuttifrutti" are somewhat cryptic and enigmatic, which makes it challenging to interpret. One possible explanation is that the song is about feeling trapped in a society that puts pressure on individuals to conform and perform. The first verse could refer to someone who is trying to impress others and fit in but is struggling to find their identity. The line "Don't tell the broken hearted, 'That's what you get'" may suggest that the singer is aware of the risks and consequences of pursuing unrealistic expectations.
The chorus seems to be a call to action, a rebellion against conformity and expectations. The lines "Smash the castle down, delete it" and "Wreck the spectacle you live in" imply a desire to break free from the constraints of society and live a more authentic life. The phrase "Tuttifrutti, it's all on me" could be interpreted as a declaration of independence and self-reliance.
The second verse continues with the theme of breaking free and finding one's place in the world. The lines "Stop, what you do with your lifetime, it's only protocol" may suggest a critique of societal norms and institutions that limit individual freedom and creativity. The final chorus repeats the call to action, with the addition of the line "You're numero uno, ready for the win" suggesting that the singer is confident and determined to succeed on their own terms.
Overall, "Tuttifrutti" is a complex and intriguing song that invites multiple interpretations. It could be seen as a statement against societal conformity and a call for individual self-expression and liberation.
Line by Line Meaning
Tell me, tell me, tell me
What you're after
Please tell me what you truly want out of this relationship.
Rush it, rush it, rush it
Who'd you root for?
Hurry up and tell me who you support and are rooting for in this situation.
You sounded too excited
Watch you is not fun
If only boys around you
Would let you listen
You seemed overly excited, but watching your actions is not enjoyable for me. If only the boys around you would allow you to truly listen.
Don't tell the broken hearted
"That's what you get"
I like the girls around you
But you were missing
Please don't say 'that's what you get' to those with a broken heart. I enjoy the company of the girls around you, but you were not among them.
You send the letter for the last tuition
Found the reason
You've been tossed around
I'm right behind you
You wrote the letter for the final payment, and now that you've found the reason, you're being thrown around. But don't worry, I'm right behind you.
Smash the castle down, delete it
Tuttifrutti, it's all on me
Wreck the spectacle you live in
Broken glass and porcelain
Destroy the metaphorical castle and delete it all. The responsibility falls on me. Destroy the spectacle you currently live in, leaving nothing but broken glass and porcelain behind.
We'll be trashing motels
Tuttifrutti, it's all for free
Sell the gold silverware
Burn the rest and melt with me
We'll be recklessly destroying motels, all at no cost to us. Sell the valuable silverware and burn the rest, then we can melt together.
Show me, show me, show me
Tears or laughter
Don't hide it, hide it, hide it
It's too sinister
Let me see your tears or laughter, but don't hide it. It's too malevolent.
Come buy a ticket
To your next vacation
There's only one around you
That does the stitching
Purchase a ticket for your next vacation. There's only one person around you that can mend you.
So call me, call me, call me
Back if you wait
Forget the mess behind you
Forgot the lesson
Please call me back if you wait. Forget about the mess behind you and the lesson learned.
Stop, what you do with your lifetime
It's only protocol
"If I can do it, you can do it"
Don't waste your life doing things that are expected of you. It's just routine. Remember, 'If I can do it, you can do it.'
You're numero uno, ready for the win
Ready to fool everyone in the end
We'll be trashing motels
Tuttifrutti, melt with me
You're the number one contender, ready to win and deceive everyone in the end. We'll be destroying motels, then melting together.
Writer(s): LAURENT MAZZALAI, THOMAS CROQUET, FREDERIC MOULIN, CHRISTIAN MAZZALAI
Contributed by Ian S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
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