Lyric Breakdown: Counting Stars

** “Lately, I been, I been losin' sleep/ dreaming the things that we could be/ But, baby, I been, I been prayin' hard/ Said, "No more countin' dollars/ We’ll be countin' stars!/ (Yeah, we'll be countin' stars)”

Strong start to this song for the incomparable OneRepublic. No, not One Direction! It’s a fair mistake, but pretty much an insult to them.

If you haven’t heard of OneRepublic, well — like the subtitle says — you’re in good company. But really you have “heard” them. As in heard their songs. Most likely.

Their break-out hit “Apologize” (as in, too late to) became the absolute biggest act on MySpace back in 2006. Yes, that’s 20 years and counting!

You probably remember this song now as it’s still remembered fondly today. If not, go read my parody lyrics called “Too Late to Order Fries.” 🍟 Hey, even if so, because it’s a fun time.

Then there’s their Top 10 (in Europe) hit “All the Right Moves,” which you may also be able to hear in your head if I add the 2nd phrase: in all the right places.

After that came a true global Top 10, on the Billboard Hot 100, “Good Life.”

And then… there’s this diamond-certified Top 2 phenomenon as well!!

So now you know the big-deal-ness of all this.

So, finally, the lyrics.

In our culture, literally everyone can relate to losing sleep, for one reason or another.

But it’s immediately inspiring to speak of losing sleep “dreaming [what] we could be.” It also hits home about our aspirational goals and trying to “become” something else before it’s too late.

I actually stayed up late writing the first part of this piece. So I was living out one of those sleepless nights due to chasing dreams!

“Praying hard” is an unusual phrase, but I think we all have a sense of what it means in a song. That you want it so badly and you put your all, energetically and spiritually, into it.

So then comes one of my favorite lyrics of all: counting dollars versus counting stars. Another one I think we have an intuitive sense of the meaning.

In Western cultures, maybe all cultures (but especially America), we have to count dollars every day. Multiple times a day, in fact — for ourselves, our loved ones, and our employers.

Then, during tax season, we have to count all the counting that we’ve already done all year.

“Money makes the world go round,” they say. No matter how hard we try to fight it.

So that keeps us tied to the material world, for so much of our waking lives.

“Counting stars,” however, points to the cosmic — the ethereal. Most of us, in our psyche, want to be there instead!

** “I feel your love, and I feel it burn/ Down this river, every turn/ "Hope" is our four-letter word/ Make that money, watch it burn.”

So the first two lines there are self-explanatory, in a poetic way. Let’s get to the “four-letter word” then. You probably know that that phrase usually refers to cussing, and that nowadays it’s most commonly used as a way to equate other (benign) words with cussing.

The most common example would be, like in an old song, “love is just a four-letter word.” So, in this case, it’s hope. Hearing this song, I always thought he was saying “a” as well, but to see that it’s “our” gives it a slightly different meaning.

Again, it’s about him and the other person. Or I suppose the “we” and “our” could also refer to a family or group of friends. In songs, however, the most common interpretation is the romantic bond of a couple.

So to say “hope is our four-letter word” centers it in the specific struggle of two people against the world.

Why is hope a curse word to them? Because they feel let down and defeated every time after hope uplifts. So, like with so many of us, it becomes easier to shun hope instead.

Make that money, watch it burn. That’s pretty self-explanatory too — encapsulating the same vicious cycle most of us are trapped in.

** “I (eye yi yi) feel somethin' so right doin' the wrong thing/ And I (eye yi yi) feel somethin' so wrong doin' the right thing/ I couldn't lie, couldn't lie, couldn't lie/ Everything that kills me makes me feel alive!”

So, how can you feel something wrong doing the right thing? And vice versa? Well again, I think we all have an intuitive sense of that. It’s easier to think of when the wrong thing feels right. I mean… fast food, candy, soda, all the addictive substances or behaviors. The list is endless!

Speaks well of our society, doesn’t it?

So what about the other way around? Well, going back to food, it’s the healthier things that tend to be deficient in taste. At least in comparison to the mass-produced or chain options we’re used to.

Of course it doesn’t have to be that way, does it? Why are there so few obese people Asia, the Mediterranean, and the Tropics? There’s the genetic factor, but mostly their diets include very few processed sugars, complex carbohydrates, and saturated fats.

And guess what? When you’re accustomed to that, it tastes good to you too. It’s when you’re not that it feels like deprivation.

Which brings us to the next part. If you’re being honest, or “couldn’t lie,” why would things that kill you make you feel alive?

Well it’s the same endless list, isn’t it? Junk food slowly poisons you. Each cigarette is said to take 15 minutes off your life. Apparently scientists have come to the point of saying each alcoholic drink takes 30.

Even sex, which can make a new life between heterosexuals, can kill you with STD’s or dangerous pregnancies in women. In fact, for many it’s the most dangerously pleasurable activity. And it’s pretty much written into our DNA that it makes us “feel alive.”

But the darkest part is it goes the other way too. Unconsensual sex can make you want to die.

So, then it goes back to the main lyrics: I’ve been praying hard! No more counting dollars… we’ll be counting stars. ✨ ⭐️🌟💫🤩