Black Out Days by Phantogram Lyrics Meaning – Unveiling the Shadows of Emotional Turmoil
Lyrics
I will leave your face out of my mind
You should save your eyes
A thousand voices howling in my head
Speak in tongues
I don’t even recognize your face
Mirror on the wall
Tell me all the ways to stay away-ay ay ay ya
Away-ay ya
Away-ay ya
And stay away-ay ya
Away-ay ya
Away-ay ya
Dig a hole
Fireworks exploding in my hands
If I could paint the sky
Would all the stars be shining bloody red?
Stay-ay ay ay ya away-ay ya away-ay ya
And stay-ay ay ay ya away-ay ya away-ay ya
And stay away-ay ya away-ay ya away-ay ya
And stay away-ay ya away-ay ya away-ay ya
Black out days
I don’t recognize you anymore
Phantogram’s haunting track ‘Black Out Days’ is more than just a chilling melody intertwined with an electrifying beat; it’s a journey through the labyrinth of memory, loss, and detachment. As the pulsating synths and the percussive elements grip listeners, the lyrics written by Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter reveal the depths of a personal blackout, where past and present collide and emotions run rampant.
The dark and enigmatic allure of the song invites an exploration beyond its surface, encouraging a deep dive into the psyche of its lyrical narrative. Each verse resonates with those who have longed for escape, for the obliteration of painful recollections. ‘Black Out Days’ masterfully encapsulates a universal human experience, rendered in sharp relief against the backdrop of mesmerizing soundscapes.
A Symphony of Denial and Dissociation
Within the charged echoes of ‘Black Out Days,’ we hear a protagonist caught in the midst of an emotional blackout. The desire to ‘hide the sun’ and leave a face out of one’s mind is metaphorical for an attempt to suppress and deny painful memories. Through these lyrics, Phantogram touches on a profound human condition—the instinct to avert our gaze from suffering, to save our ‘eyes’ from the reality we can hardly bear to witness.
The ‘thousand voices howling in my head’ vividly illustrates the cacophony of internal conflict, the unceasing noise of thoughts and memories that one desperately tries to mute. It’s an inner turmoil so overwhelming that it transcends language, becoming a babel of abstraction drowning the soul.
The Art of Forgetting: Erase to Emerge
Phantogram takes the listener on a journey through the psyche of someone clawing at the walls of their own mind, wishing to ‘paint the sky’ in an act of defiant creation against internal pain. The wishful imagery of fireworks in one’s hands suggests both a celebration and a destructive force, capturing the explosiveness of emotions too long penned up.
The stars shining ‘bloody red’ serve as a stark reminder that beauty and pain are often intertwined. In the pursuit to extinguish or ‘black out’ the days of the past, there is a sense that even the blank canvas of the sky might be stained with the intensity of one’s lived experience.
The Chorus of Ceaseless Repetition
The repetitive nature of the chorus, with its incantatory plea to ‘stay away,’ amplifies the urgency and chaotic mindframe of the song’s subject. The words become nearly a mantra, a spell cast to ward off the haunting visage of another.
In many ways, this chant-like structure simulates the obsessive cycle of thoughts that characterize the struggle with tumultuous memories or relationships, underpinning the song with a feeling of being trapped in one’s own head, going through the motions of pushing away while being unable to escape.
The Hidden Meaning: Identity and Recognition
One of the song’s most potent undercurrents is the notion of identity—how it is formed and deformed by the forces of our intimate connections. The line ‘I don’t even recognize your face’ is a declaration of changed perception, either from the distance time creates or the transformation emotions undergo.
This struggle with recognition extends beyond merely forgetting a person; it’s a metaphorical exorcism of their influence and echoes our own transformation as we grapple with who we once were in the company of those we no longer know. The recognition Barthel seeks isn’t just of the other, but also of the self.
Memorable Lines That Seize the Psyche
Phantogram’s ability to create lines that bury themselves within the listener’s mind creates an indelible mark akin to the very memories they sing about. Mirror reflections and darkened days become emblems of the struggle between the past’s presence and its eclipse.
The simplicity yet profundity of ‘Black out days / I don’t recognize you anymore’ mirrors the transformation that severs the past from the present. Here, Phantogram captures the essence of memory’s fragility and the weight of its loss—it’s both a declaration of freedom and an admission of an irreparable void.
