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Narrow Stairs

by Death Cab for Cutie

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1.
I descended a dusty, gravel ridge beneath the Bixby Canyon Bridge Until I eventually arrived at the place where your soul had died And barefoot in the shallow creek I grabbed some stones from underneath And waited for you to speak to me But in the silence it became so very clear that you had long ago disappeared And I cursed myself for being surprised that this didn’t play like it did in my mind All the way from San Francisco as I chased the end of your road ‘Cause I’ve still got miles to go And I want to know my fate if I keep up this way But it’s hard to want to stay awake When everyone you meet they all seem to be asleep And you wonder if you’re missing a dream you just can’t see Then it started getting dark and I trudged back to where the car was parked No closer to any kind of truth as I must assume was the case with you
2.
How I wish you could see the potential of you and me It’s like a book elegantly bound but in a language that you can’t read just yet You gotta spend some time with me and I know that you’ll find love I will possess your heart There are days when outside your window I see my reflection as I slowly pass And I long for this mirrored perspective when we’ll be lovers at last You gotta spend some time with me and I know that you’ll find love I will possess your heart You reject my advances and desperate pleas I won’t let you let me down so easily
3.
No Sunlight 02:40
When I was young lying in the grass I felt so safe in a warming bath of sunlight The vast open sky could do no harm Like the embrace of a mother’s arms In sunlight But with every year that came to pass More clouds appeared ‘til the sky went black And there was no sunlight anymore And it disappeared at the same speed As the idealistic things I believed When the optimist died inside of me With a man who hides from all that binds in a mess of fading lines With a tangled thread inside his head with nothing on either end And I'm a man who hides from all that binds in a mess of fading lines And there's a tangled thread inside my head with nothing on either end
4.
Cath... 03:49
Cath, she stands with a well intentioned-man But she can’t relax with his hand on the small of her back And as the flashbulbs burst she holds a smile Like someone would hold a crying child And soon everybody will ask what became of you When your heart was dying fast and you didn’t know what to do Cath, it seems that you live in someone else’s dream In a hand-me-down wedding dress with the things that could've been all repressed But you said your vows and you closed the door On so many men who would’ve loved you more And soon everybody will ask what became of you When your heart was dying fast and you didn’t know what to do The whispers that it won’t last roll up and down the pews But if their hearts were dying that fast they’d have done the same as you And I’ve done the same as you
5.
Talking Bird 03:23
Oh my talking bird though you know so few words They’re on infinite repeat like your brain can’t keep up with your beak And you’re kept in an open cage and you’re free to leave or stay But sometimes you get confused like there’s a hint that I’m trying to give you And the longer you think the less you know what to do It’s hard to see your way out when you live in a house in a house ‘Cause you don’t realize that the windows were open the whole time but oh my talking bird though your feathers are tattered and furled I’ll love you all your days ‘til the breath leaves your delicate frame And it’s all here for you as long as you chose to stay It’s all here for you as long as you don’t fly away
6.
I’m starting to feel we stay together out of fear of dying alone I’ve been slipping through the years and my old clothes don’t fit like they once did So they hang like ghosts of the people I’ve been But it’s like my heart can’t be tamed and I fall in love every day and I feel like a fool And I have to face the truth that no one could ever look at me like you do Like I’m something worth holding on to There’s times I think of leaving but it’s something I’ll never do ‘Cause you can do better than me but I can’t do better than you
7.
When the wind picked up the fire spread And the grapevine seemed left for dead And the northern sky looked like the end of days A wakeup call to a rented room sounded like an alarm of impending doom To warn us its only a matter of time Before we all burn We bought some wine and some paper cups near your daughter's school when we picked her up and drove to a cemetery on a hill Where we watched the plumes paint the sky grey as she laughed and danced through the field of graves And there u knew it would be alright That everything would be alright The news reports on the radio said it was getting worse as the ocean air fanned the flames But I couldn't think of anywhere I would have rather been to watch it all burn away The firemen worked in double shifts with prayers for rain on their lips and they knew it was only a matter if time
8.
You look so defeated lying there in your new twin size bed With a single pillow underneath your single head I guess you decided that that old queen was more space than you would need And now it’s in the alley behind your apartment with a sign that says it’s free And that I hope you have more luck with this than me You used to think that someone would come along And lay beside you in the space that they belonged But the other side of the mattress and boxspring stayed like new And what’s the point of holding on to what never gets used Other than a sick desire for self abuse I try not to worry but you’ve got me terrified It’s like you’re in some kind of hurry to say goodbye
9.
His head was a city of paper buildings and the echoes that remained Of old friends and lovers their features bleeding together in his brain And once it started it was harder to tell them apart He was always distracted by the very mention of an open door 'Cause he had sworn not to be what he'd been before To be a remainder ` The television was snowing softly as she hunted for her keys she said she never envisioned him the type of person capable of such deceit And they carried on like long division as it was clear with every page That they were further away from a solution that would play Without a remainder And he had sworn not to be what he'd been before To be the remainder
10.
I have such envy for the stranger lying next to me Who awakes in the night and slips out into the predawn light With no words: a clean escape, no promises or messes made And chocks it all up to a mistake Cause there are no tears just pity and fear And a vast ravine right in between A storm at sea The bow cracked and I was capsizing And I sunk below where u swore I would never go 'cause when you can't stand in place you can't tell who's walking away from who remains Cause there are no tears just pity and fear and a vast ravine right on between And there are no tears just pity and fear And I recall the push more than the fall
11.
We’re not the same dear as we used to be The seasons have changed and so have we And there was little we could say and even less that we could do To stop the ice from getting thinner under me and you We buried our love in a wintery grave A lump in the snow was all that remained But we stayed by it’s side as the days turned to weeks As the ice kept getting thinner with every word that we’d speak And when spring arrived we were taken by surprise When the floes under our feet bled into the sea And nothing was left for you and me We’re not the same dear and it seems to me There’s nowhere we can go with nothing underneath And it saddens me to say what we both knew was true That the ice was getting thinner under me and you

credits

released May 13, 2008

Death Cab For Cutie are Benjamin Gibbard, Nicholas Harmer, Jason McGerr and Chris Walla

Words by Benjamin Gibbard
Produced by Chris Walla
Recorded by Walla and Wil Markwell at Two Sticks Audio, Seattle, WA; Tiny Telephone, San Francisco, CA; Robert Lang, Seattle, WA; and The Alberta Court, Portland, OR; Except No Sunlight, Mixed at Smart Studios, Madison, WI; and Long Division, mixed by Alex Newport at Metropolitan Sound, Brooklyn, NY
Assisted by Aaron Prellwitz, John Ziemski and Beau Sorenson -- Thank You

Mastered by Roger Seibel at SAE Mastering, Phoenix, AZ
Original artwork and layout by EE Storey
Management: Jordan Kurland / Zeitgeist Artist Management, LTD
Assistance from Ami Spishock, Joe Goldberg, and Yenie Ra
Legal: Gary Gilbert and Steve Butler / Manatt, Phelps, and Phillips, LLP
Business Management: David Rawson, Darlene Johnson / Zeisler, Zeisler & Rawson, LLP
A&R for Atlantic Records: Sam Riback
Extra Support: Mark Duston, Andy Hayward, Jesse Quitslund, Alan Garren, Tom Pisano - Thank You
The bus: Jason Yakel
Jason used Ludwig, Paiste, Remo, Vic Firth, and DW Hardware
Recorded using ATR Magnetics and Radar 24
Centerfold photograph by Eric A. Hegg, 1898, reproduced courtesy of the Eric A. Hegg Collection, University of Alaska Anchorage Consortium Library, Archives and Special Collections Department
Thank you to our families, friends, and everyone who makes this possible

deathcabforcutie.com

Songs by Benjamin Gibbard, C2008 EMI Blackwood Music Incorporated on behalf of itself
Where I'm Calling From Music (BMI), except: "I Will Possess Your Heart", by Benjamin Gibbard, Nicholas Harmer, Jason McGerr and Christopher Walla, C2008 EMI Blackwood Music Incorporated on behalf of itself
Where I'm Calling From Music (BMI)
Shove It Up and "The Ice is Getting Thinner", by Benjamin Gibbard and Christopher Walla, C2008 EMI Blackwood Music Incorporated on behalf of itself
Where I'm Calling From Music (BMI)
Please Pass The Songs (BMI); "Grapevine Fires", by Benjamin Gibbard, Nicholas Harmer and Jason McGerr, C2008 EMI Blackwood Music Incorporated on behalf of itself
Where I'm Calling From Music (BMI)
Shove It Up Your Songs (BMI)
Giant Beat Songs (BMI); "Your New Twin Sized Bed", by Benjamin Gibbard and Nicholas Harmer, C2008 EMI Blackwood Music Incorporated on behalf of itself
Where I'm Calling From Music (BMI)
Shove It Up Your Songs (BMI); and "Long Division", by Benjamin Gibbard, Nicholas Harmer and Christopher Walla, C2008 EMI Blackwood Music Incorporated on behalf of itself
Where I'm Calling From Music (BMI)
Shove It Up Your Songs (BMI)
Please Pass The Songs (BMI)

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Death Cab for Cutie Seattle, Washington

Death Cab for Cutie is an American alternative rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997. The band is composed of Ben Gibbard, Nick Harmer, Jason McGerr, Dave Depper, and Zac Rae. They have been nominated for eight Grammy Awards. The band’s tenth studio album ‘Asphalt Meadows’ is out now. ... more

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