If I Ever Feel Better

Album: United (2001)
Charted: 65
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Songfacts®:

  • This was released as the second single from Phoenix' debut album, United. It remains to date the French band's most successful song in their native country peaking at #12 on the singles chart. It also reached #4 in Italy.
  • This was one of the first songs that Phoenix wrote. Vocalist Thomas Mars told Artist Direct:

    "What I liked about it was when we wrote it was that you could see it. It's very French. It doesn't dictate how you're supposed to feel about the song. You, the listener, the state of mind decides how you feel about the song. It's also a song that's very, it sounds pretentious, but it's Proustian in that way… you know when Proust writes about his grandmother, the grandmother, he so happy that he's going to see her and then as soon as he sees her, he's just sad because he knows that countdown started and that he cannot enjoy that moment because he knows it's gonna go quick."
  • The song samples Japanese jazz musician Toshiyuki Honda's 1979 track "Lament."

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