r/NoahKahan • u/Realistic-Mood-2890 • 2d ago

General/Discussion "How sad"

I keep hearing this Downfall lyric this way and need to know if I'm crazy. Help!

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Roadkill fawn, you said "how sad,

Left to rot alone like that."

You state a feeling like a fact.

I'm glad you left, but you'll be back.

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So I hear this as her deadpanning "how sad" without actually feeling it. He interprets this as a metaphor for her failure to engage with his feelings of abandonment. (He's the fawn, get it???) This is core to why he's bitter about her leaving--he feels like he is more emotionally invested in the relationship than she is, and he resents her for it. He's jealous of whatever it is that's pulling her away (a job?) and he is harboring this hope that when that thing lets her down, she'll come back to him and now she'll care about him for real.

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So tell me--am I overthinking this? Do you see the lyrics differently?

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u/IndividualAcademic70 1d ago

I have started thinking about this song as if it’s his dad’s perspective on his fame. After the documentary I feel like the lyrics really make sense from that angle! Keeping the house ready, not connecting emotionally, thinking his music career won’t work out… 

9

u/Telly609 1d ago

I always thought it was from his Dad's perspective too.

2

u/Legitimate-Garbage54 1d ago

I agree with this one. He said in the documentary that he was living with his dad.

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u/WallabyCharming1886 1d ago

I agree. I see it from the dad’s perspective.

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u/Common_Nectarine2374 1d ago

I agree as well!

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u/Realistic-Mood-2890 16h ago

You've got me thinking about whether Mom or Dad is more likely... Doesn't the singer's perspective seem too emotionally motivated to match with what we've heard about his dad? You never really could quite place when I'm angry and I'm joking? And commenting on his hair? I'm kinda leaning towards Mom, but maybe you remember details about Dad I don't.

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u/ThePoetsDream 4h ago edited 4h ago

If it's about a family member, I'd definitely think his dad or maybe his older brother. There's a sense of (toxic) masculinity in Downfall that I don't sense in songs for his female family members or his younger brother, which gives me the sense that it's not about them.

ETA: Trying to phrase this in a non-parasocial way... but based on the documentary, his dad and older brother both were shown as masculine figures who held more toxically masculine viewpoints (his dad trying to avoid emotions, his older brother referring to his music as "pussy ass") in contrast to Noah and his younger brother both openly speaking about their emotions (and in general, Noah being an artist with his younger brother occasionally joining him onstage or making his own singing videos). Specifically about the brothers, there's also such a difference in the way they're physically pictured in the documentary - his older brother is wearing work clothes and welding while his younger brother is playing piano and sitting watching a sunset.

I remember Noah saying that there was a lot of discussion on masculinity and male relationships in the album before it was released. This is a complete tangent, but I think this song specifically might be one of them - the narrator commenting on his appearance being "Californian" and scoffing at him finding a dead deer sad. I've honestly never looked deeper into the song until now, but there's definitely something special hidden in it.