My Favorite 100 Songs of the Aughts - #97

Phoenix - "Too Young"

United, 2000

If you were one of the millions of people who saw 2001's Lost in Translation (my favorite movie), you likely remember the scene in which a drunken Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson and a bunch of Japanese "surfers" are dancing to this song. He later calls his wife to tell her all about the "really great music" he heard, but she only wants to talk about carpet samples (or something like that - I've seen this movie over thirty times, but it's been a couple years since my last viewing). It's one of the few moments levity, and arguably the last truly happy scene, in an otherwise claustrophobic, cinematic fugue of disappointment, hope, escapism, (fleeting) connection and stultifying reality.

But how great is the soundtrack? Produced by Air-collaborator and longtime Sofia Coppola associate, Brian Reitzell, it boasts a host of beautifully atmospheric selections from Jesus and Mary Chain, Air, Squarepusher, Death in Vegas, Sebastian Tellier and Kevin Shields that serve to underscore and advance the film's overcast mood. This is cloudy music for rainy days or the slow creep and sudden pounce of a life crisis.

However, the one song on the record that initially seems out of place is Phoenix's "Too Young". At first blush, it appears to have very little in common with its peers. Where the other songs are spacey and gray, all late night or very early morning, "Too Young" is a lean burst of neon, a party-ready jam rippling with the infinite possibility of Friday night. It's a great song and the perfect soundtrack to the aforementioned scene (although Thomas Mars' (Phoenix's lead vocalist) relationship with director Sofia Coppola likely also had something to do with its use - Nepotism is so retro).

Sonically, from the chunky, buoyant synths, to the stuttering, syncopated guitar line to the galloping chorus, "Too Young" teems with a youthful ebullience. However, it's not quite that simple. Upon closer scrutiny, the lyrics betray a palpable regret ("I can't lie on my bed without thinking I was wrong"), and there's an unease you invariably feel when that minor chorus swoops in. I've always thought, in this song, you can hear the full sensory and sentimental gamut of a night out. The excitement of the first few drinks, the clamorous haze of the strange middle hours, the creeping, penumbral regret you feel upon realizing you're drunk and alone. Perhaps this is why Sofia Coppola found this song so attractive. In the inherent tension of this one tune, she had the perfect foil for the trajectory of Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson's relationship. Sure, things fall apart, but for a few fleeting moments...

This scene is the very moment when Phoenix first appeared on many peoples' musical radars (although Erlend Oye's inclusion of the excellent, dancefloor ready "If I Ever Feel Better" on his much lauded 2004 !K7 DJ-Kicks mix was a similar sort of moment for the band). In "Too Young" you can hear the considerable promise of a band that has since become one of the biggest groups in independent music. It took three more albums and a bunch of great songs, but they've definitely arrived. However, even so, when someone mentions this band, I will always think of Bill Murray "dancing". As they say, you always remember your first time.

Listen here (easily one of the most unlikely music videos for a song of this stripe ever).

Next up - #96 - Mylo's "In My Arms"