It's Never Over (Oh Orpheus)

As many people have said, this tells the Orpheus and Eurydice, but I’ve read it completely differently to a lot of the responses here, so thought I’d share my opinion – I’ll do my best to explain.

Firstly, I see most of the 2nd disc of Reflektor as a break-up record, particularly Afterlife, Supersymmetry, and this track – just to clarify though, I don’t think Regine and Win are breaking up, but they’re telling the story of a couple that are.

Whenever I hear this song (which is my favourite from the album) I see the ascent of Orpheus and Eurydice from Hades as the final few fateful moments of a doomed relationship (be they minutes, hours, days or years) – Regine’s (or Eurydice’s) constant reminder of her situation, and her reliance on him to survive ( “I’m behind you/Don’t turn around, I can find you”, “And if I call for you, oh Orpheus/ Just sing for me, all night”) is countered by Win’s (or Orpheus’) reassurance ( “Just wait until it’s over/Wait until it’s through” ) a constant in the opening verse.

Regine begins to sound more frantic as the song continues. From “De l'autre côté de l'eau, comme un écho” onwards, it’s almost as if the realisation that Orpheus is leaving her in Hades – and that the power is entirely in his hands.

Then there are the calmer sections, which act as a breath of release from the intense nature of the rest of the song. (“It seems so important now, but you will get over”) Like with all forms of loss, time will make it better (“And when you get over, and when you get older, you will remember, why it was so important now”)

We’re snapped away from this moment of clarity at 3:30, when Win counters Regine’s original request to sing his name “I will sing your name, till you’re sick of me”. He can no longer be the reassuring person he needs to be, this is complimented by Regine’s echoes. The “wait until it’s over, wait until it’s through” that punctuates this section is his moral dilemma of turning around; of ending the relationship – he’s reassuring himself as much as Regine.

Looking at this through the lens of the final stages of a relationship, “It’s never over” refers to Win’s original comment to “wait until it’s over, wait until it’s through” – just as the Orpheus must turn to see Eurydice, this doomed relationship must end, else it’d continue in this purgatorial state indefinitely.

Like most of Reflektor, this whole song is a repeated reflection, like two mirrors facing each other.

The lyrics start out as a pure reflection: Regine sings a line Win sings a line Regine Win

But eventually, after the break at about 2:50, the reflections become more distorted, singing over one another.

There’s also the inclusion of popular break-up line “You say it’s not me it’s you”

This theory compliments the progression of the rest of the disc – Porno, into Afterlife (which, in my opinion, is about life after the end of a relationship).

Well, those are my thoughts – I rarely feel this strongly about the meanings behind a song, and have never posted here before, but thought I’d share!