Song four: Achilles Come Down
Achilles Come Down is possibly my favourite song on this album, maybe even my favourite by Gang of Youths of all time. The song begins with a haunting cello solo and is mainly focused on strings throughout the story where we see Le’aupepe attempt to talk down the character from jumping off a roof, which is beautiful intertwined with his intrusive thoughts trying to get him to jump, which the vocalist is desperately telling Achilles that they are lies. It is also is quite a long song, so the analysis will be a little bit longer than the others.
“Achilles, Achilles, Achilles, come down
Won’t you get up off, get up off the roof? “
The opening lines of the song are Le’aupepe talking to the character Achilles telling him to get off the roof and not to jump, which could be a reference to the signers own suicide attempt or the character Achilles from Homer’s odyssey.
“Remember the pact of our youth
Where you go I’m going, so jump and I’m jumping
Since there is no me without you
Solider on Achilles, Achilles come down
Won’t you get up off, get up off the roof.”
In this verse, the singer begins pleading with Achilles, explaining that he means much more to him than he thinks, implying that from a youthful pact of sticking together and he hasn’t forgotten that, as there is no Le’aupepe without Achilles. Then telling Achilles to solider on and get down from the roof as there is so much more to live for and jumping would not be worth it.
How the most dangerous thing is to love
How you will heal and you’ll rise above.”
The chorus connects the story of Achilles with Le’aupepe’s personal life; the character of Achilles is in love with a character Patroclus, when she dies in the poem Achilles is obviously distressed, this is where it really refers to the singer’s personal life and his ex-wife and her battle with cancer. The final line of the chorus is a message of hope, which Le’aupepe was able to heal and rise above the pain, so Achilles will be able to do the same.
The next chorus takes a drastic turn as the singers voice is now slightly distorted, which implies that he is now singing from the point of view of Achilles intrusive thoughts:
“Achilles, Achilles, Achilles, jump now
You are absent of cause or excuse
So self-indulgent and self-referential
No audience could ever want you
You crave the applause yet hate the attention
Then miss it, your act is a ruse
It is empty, Achilles, so end it all now
It’s a pointless resistance for you”
This changes the whole tempo of the song and really digs in deep at how intrusive thoughts can effect someone’s thought process. Even though Achilles has the singer talking him down with positivity he can’t help but think negatively in the moment, with his thoughts telling him he’s just making it all up and may as well just end it now.
“Achilles, Achilles, just put down the bottle
Don’t listen to what you’ve consumed
And there may not be meaning, so find one and seize it
Do not waste yourself on this roof.”
In this verse it reverts back to the singer talking to Achilles, the opening line could be a metaphor for Le’aupepe’s life as he was drunk on the night he tried to kill himself, as spoken about in the Magnolia blog. He then closes out the verse by saying, that there might not be a meaning that you can see right now, but you will find one it’s not worth wasting yourself, or jumping off this roof.
The next verse I personally think is one of the best verses I’ve ever listened to, what we hear is the intrusive thoughts and Le’aupepe is arguing with each other about what Achilles should do:
“You want the acclaim, the mother of mothers
(It’s not worth it, Achilles)
More poignant than fame or the taste of another
(Don’t listen, Achilles)
But be real and just jump, you dense motherf**ker
(You’re worth more, Achilles)
You will not be more than a rat in the gutter
(So much more than a rat)
You want my opinion, my opinion you’ve got
(No one asked your opinion)
You asked for my counsel, I gave you my thoughts
(No one asked for your thoughts)
Be done with this now and jump of the roof
(Be done with this now and get off the roof)
Can you hear me, Achilles? I’m talking to you.”
This chorus is the climax of the whole situation and comes to a battle between Achilles own thoughts and his friend down below, both trying to convince him to do what they want. The ending line shows that his intrusive thoughts are adamant that he kill himself that night, however the singer is not relenting, and reassuring Achilles that he is talking to him and won’t go anywhere.
“Throw yourself into the unknown
Clothe yourself in beauty untold
And see life as a means to a triumph”
The final pre-chorus is Le’aupepe showing Achilles that there is so much more the live for, throw yourself into the unknown could be just trying something different, the band relocated to the USA to follow their music careers; it could be in reference to this. The closing line is just saying to Achilles there’s more positives to look at in life then the negatives. I think this implies that the singer was successful is talking down Achilles. But, this could be the most haunting song I have ever listen to, with the heavy focus on the cello and the juxtaposition verse, I think this is their most amazing song.
Musical Musings 