Why does “Achilles Come Down” by Gang of Youths slap so hard?
There’s been one song on my mind recently, perhaps because I play it on repeat whilst taking walks around my suburban fall dreamscape of a neighborhood, perhaps because I have multiple diagnosed mental illnesses. Regardless, this is the song that plays when I’m falling asleep, and when I’m not paying attention in my zoom classes. “Achilles Come Down” by Gang of Youths. So I’ve decided to analyze it in 5 subjective categories.
What mood do you need to be in to listen to this song?
Personally I like to be in the sort of mood that is both isolating and connecting. I’m talking about that good social burn out of course. Touch-starved, yet at the same time repulsed by someone touching you. The sort of loneliness that isn’t just cured by cuddling with your friends on a cold and rainy November evening. The type of childhood nostalgia that brings about a longing for the times when you weren’t questioning your gender, and your relationship with your father was somehow not broken yet.
What would come of driving around late at night listening to this song on repeat?
I may or may not be speaking from personal experience, but hypothetically speaking, this song would make you feel like maybe there’s something good about living on this earth. The soft vocals and orchestral background make one feel as if they are being comforted by the universe herself. In addition, the French sections feel like a pep talk from every mysterious stranger working the counter at the gas station when you’re buying a white lighter. This exact cocktail of emotions may or may not end up in one crying in a gas station bathroom.
How might this affect you if you listened to it in the opposite mood that has been recommended?
I had to take one for the team in this category. After feeling proud of myself for doing my chemistry homework, and receiving the serotonin that the Canvas submission page confetti never fails to give me, I put this song on. Not a good choice. Instantly made me think existentially about our purpose on this earth. According to my brother my “mental state declined like a train going off the rails on Mt.Everest.” Would not recommend it.
What happens when you do something creative while listening to this song on repeat?
I feel as if it is important to note in this category that the creative activity done was woodworking, due to my lack of artistic ability, and the fact that this song seems to fit the anti-panic attack vibes that woodworking brings me. This song made my simple spoon making feel like I was a schoolchild in pioneer America making a gift for my secret gay lover. This sort of mindset influenced my piece immensely. I spent more time on it that I would usually, and I was genuinely pleased with the results.
What are some notable lyrics?
The overall theme of this song feels like a letter to a friend who desperately needs to see a therapist. On this theme some lyrics stand out. “Hurt and grieve but don’t suffer alone // Engage with the pain as a motive” and “And see life as a worthy opponent” are good advice. There is something to be gained from listening closely to all 7 minutes and 2 seconds of this musical dopamine rush.
So why does “Achilles Come Down” slap? Is it due to it fitting the mood that so many of us are stuck in, what with the days that feel the same, lack of connection, and general nihilism that these times have brought about? Or is it due to the many scenarios that one can imagine when listening to it? Quite possibly both. Overall however, this song seems to be good because of it’s ability to fade into the background. This property is how it seems to fit almost any slightly sad mood. It creates the perfect backdrop for your breakups, your fantasies about becoming a pioneer, your longings for simpler times.
Pip Jaloma • Sep 9, 2022 at 5:17 pm
As a long time music professional and fellow child, i can not describe this song that genuinely makes me cry whenever i listen to it. this is one of the most relatable articles i’ve ever read. please continue writing, and also pride!
Anonymous • Jan 19, 2023 at 12:01 am
months have already passed and I just heard this song today and immediately started looking for comments on it on the net. This article gently complemented the crushing storm that flared up in me from this song. thank you
Kirikin • Aug 28, 2022 at 9:06 am
Honestly this song hits me hard in the feels because of the subtle contrast of the orchestra which is usually always heard in big songs about emotions shared between a lot of people and yet the song is somehow so intimate, like a secret between two people in an undefined relationship, so close, yet so broken together. Especially the line that goes “remember the pact of our youth, where you go I’m going, so jump and I’m jumping cuz there is no me without you” it hits so hard cuz I actually have a pact with a friend which was made literally the day before I heard this song for the first time.
The song feels like that one ray of moonshine on the darkest of nights that just wraps you in a cold blanket and tells you “I know it hurts and that it’s not over yet but, it really is not ever yet” and honestly that’s just what we need sometimes. This song makes me feel things I didn’t know I was capable of feeling in all regards.
Khione • Oct 13, 2021 at 10:10 am
this is the best song analysis I’ve seen in my entire life, can relate to absolutely everything that’s said. Feeling like listening to the song on repeat for a whole month 🙂
Nik Cunningham • Aug 16, 2021 at 6:01 am
This song is so good. It’s made me laugh and cry, especially when I’m on the verge of a depressive episode and I don’t realize it yet. It makes me think about life and what I’ve done with mine. It’s Especially powerful after reading the Song of Achilles, and I definitely recommend and don’t recommend listening to it after reading the book.
Anonymous • Aug 13, 2021 at 12:23 am
Let me put it this way:
I cannot stop listening to Achilles Come Down because I love it so fucking much, but it was the song I was playing sitting on our apartment building’s roof when I was about to just
Fall
So I love it and there is no way to say anything different but it just really, really fucks me up when I listen to it.
A • Jul 8, 2021 at 6:56 am
Thai song gives me hope, during the bad days and the good days. It reminds me that to love someone is really the greatest challenge of all. We build these walls around us, to protect from the hurt, and it’s really hard to be vulnerable and let someone in. To love, and to be loved. Yet, when we do so, it is the greatest feeling of all. My favourite lines are also “Hurt and grieve but don’t suffer alone // Engage with the pain as a motive”. It’s easy to distance yourself when your hurt and grieving, when you don’t know how to be yourself and it’s easier to hide from the world. Yet, someone you love shows up for you in an unexpected way and it completely changes your day. It’s hard, in the those dark times, to remember how loved you are. There is so much to learn. To sit in the pain, to really understand who you are.
Anonymous • Jul 8, 2021 at 12:00 am
This was extremely well-written. You described everything perfectly. I couldn’t have said it better myself. This is exactly what it does and how it feels. Good writing. You can pride yourself on that.
Anonymous • Jun 29, 2021 at 1:43 pm
i still remember when I first listened to this. it sucked me in and i was so intrigued. it’s melancholy tone was unlike anything i’d experienced. but after a while, i became attached to it. it resurfaced old pains. it tastes of abandonment, desperate love, empty nights. it’s a dangerous masterpiece, a work of genius. it will suck you in and spit you out. “How is the most dangerous thing to love?” hits SO HARD. it makes me feel like trying to coax a suicidal best friend not to jump from a building. if you can’t tell, this song is for the broken folks.
Anonymous • Apr 28, 2021 at 3:23 am
This song does the exact opposite to me, i listened to it whilst going for a walk and it almost made me jump of the bridge, idek but it’s making me feel like there’s an emptiness in me, and it’s even bigger than usual. It really triggers my suicidal thoughts but I can’t stop listening to it
Ulups • Feb 1, 2021 at 9:13 pm
This is probably the most powerful song I have ever experienced. No other song has been able to so consistently drive me to tears both joyful and sad and I’m glad to see more praise for it. Almost every line here is powerful but I am a little shocked that you didn’t include “How the most dangerous thing is to love” as one of the notable lyrics just because that line hits he like a truck every time.