The Final Countdown!

Yesterday at work I was listening to Pandora - as you know I am wont to do - and I was invited (by an ad) to listen to 5-Hour Energy's "Get Up and Go" station. It's all pump-up songs to get you moving and excited. Also to keep you awake at work, I wager. The first few numbers were of the pop hip-hop genre. Then they played one of the greatest pump-up songs ever: "The Final Countdown" by Europe. If you haven't heard it, GTFO. No, no, I'm joking. I will post it below for both newbies and seasoned listeners alike.

Many of you will recognize it as Gob's theme song from Arrested Development. But I wonder how many of you have ever actively listened to the lyrics of this little ditty. It's clearly about space travel, that much I understand. The "countdown" of the title most likely refers to the countdown before lift-off. Okay, that's fine. But when you really listen to the verses, you start to realize that English is not Europe's first language. (They're Swedish.) And then you start to wonder how they came up with the words that make up "The Final Countdown." Maybe they thought these words sounded good in succession. Maybe they knew these words all had something to do with space travel. Maybe they had a really bad translator. I don't know. It seems like they're going for something deep, but it's not coming across.

Listen carefully to the lyrics, and you be the judge. Keep in mind: you will accept these words at first as making sense because grammatically it works, but then think about what they're saying and tell me if the story of the song means anything, particularly the part about Venus and a previously-unmentioned female character. I say it means nothing. But then again, so do a lot of songs. It's still epic. I just wanted to bring this to your attention. Enjoy.