Wiki
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Length
2:59
As the opening track on their second album Room On Fire, “What Ever Happened?” kicks off the album’s themes of the band gaining newfound fame and relationships.
The title refers to a topic in journalism and show business, in which they ask this question - or a simplified version of it, such as ‘where are they now?’ – about a formerly relevant person, trend, artist or celebrity that has since dropped in popularity or tabloid appearances. This topic has some similarities with the Latin phrase Ubi Sunt, meaning, “where are they?” This might also be a reference to a 1960 novel by Henry Farrell, called What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? The fact that this is the first song in the album may be a kind of anticipation to all the hate they knew the album would receive when it saw the light; or their inevitable spiral back to anonymity.
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