Written By:
Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley, Pete Wiggs

Publisher
Momentum/Warner Chappell/Warner Chappell (2000)
Universal/Warner Chappell/Warner Chappell (2009)

Production
Arrangements By: To Rococo Rot
Arrangements By: Sean O'Hagan
Arrangements By: Gerard Johnson
Co-Producer: Gerard Johnson
Engineer: Gerard Johnson
Mixer: Gerard Johnson
Producer: Saint Etienne

Companies
Mixed at: Protocol, London Recorded at: Amber Studios, Berlin

Timing
Recorded: 1999
Released: May 22, 2000

Notes
Downey is a city located in Southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, 13 mi (21 km) southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. Karen Anne Carpenter, who is mentioned in the song, was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and early drummer of the highly successful duo the Carpenters, formed with her older brother Richard. Carpenter was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and moved to Downey, California, in 1963 with her family. (SaintEtienneDisco 2025)

The lyrics were also completed in Berlin. Downey, CA, for instance most strongly connects not with the California of its title, but with a battered architects' model in a Berlin window. Saint Etienne would pass this diorama every morning on their way to the studio. The song's lyrics are pretty cryptic things: "Asleep in a crystal hideaway... They used to take the head away." But they can be explained. (Bob Stanley 2009)

"In this architect's model everything was knackered. The little figures were all missing heads or arms. It was like CSI Berlin." (Sarah Cracknell 2009)

"We connected it to Downey in California because of the style of the houses. 'American modern' or something. We knew Downey was where The Carpenters lived, but we also had a friend who lived there. Apparently it's a bit of dump. It's like Hawthorne in California where ht Beach Boys come from. 'Hawthorne. California' sounds great but in reality it's like Streatham or somewhere. The Carpenters fit with the architects' model - their outward image had this kind of American perfection, but underneath it was a terrible world they were living in." (Bob Stanley 2009)