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Transatlanticism

by Death Cab for Cutie

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1.
The New Year 04:06
So this is the new year and I don't feel any different The clanking of crystal and explosions off in the distance in the distance So this is the new year and I have no resolutions It's self-assigned penance for problems with easy solutions So everybody put your best suit or dress on Let's make believe that we are wealthy for just this once Lighting firecrackers off on the front lawn As thirty dialogs bleed into one I wish the world was flat like the old days Then I could travel just by folding a map No more airplanes, or speed trains, or freeways There'd be no distance that could hold us back
2.
Lightness 03:30
There's a tear in the fabric of your favorite dress and I’m sneaking glances I'm looking for the patterns in static: they start to make sense the longer I’m at it (ivory lines lead) Your heart is a river that flows from your chest through every organ And your brain is the dam and I am the fish who can't reach the core (ivory lines lead) Oh, instincts are misleading You shouldn't think what you're feeling They don't tell you what you know you should want.
3.
The glove compartment is inaccurately named and everybody knows it So I’m proposing a swift orderly change Because behind its door there's nothing to keep my fingers warm And all I find are souvenirs from better times before the gleam of your taillights fading east to find yourself a better life I was searching for some legal document as the rain beat down on the hood When I stumbled upon pictures I tried to forget And that's how this idea was drilled into my head Cause it's too important to stay the way it's been But there's no blame for how our love did slowly fade And now that it's gone it's like it wasn't there at all And here I rest: where disappointment and regret collide, lying awake at night
4.
Expo '86 04:11
Sometimes I think this cycle never ends We slide from top to bottom and we turn and climb again And it seems by the time that I have figured what it's worth The squeaking of our skin against the steel has gotten worse. But if I move my place in line I’ll lose And I have waited, the anticipation's got me glued I am waiting for something to go wrong I am waiting for familiar resolve Sometimes it seems that I don't have the skills to recollect The twists and turns of plots that turned us from lovers to friends I'm thinking I should take that volume back up off the shelf And crack it's weary spine and read to help remind myself But if I move my place in line I’ll lose And I have waited, the anticipation's got me glued I am waiting for something to wrong I am waiting for familiar resolve I am waiting for another repeat Another diet fed by crippling defeat And I am waiting for that sense of relief I am waiting for you to flee the scene As if you held in your hand the smoking gun And on the floor lay the one you said you loved And what's strange is they're basically the same So I don't ask names anymore
5.
I've got a hunger twisting my stomach into knots that my tongue was tied off My brain's repeating, If you've got an impulse, LET IT OUT! But they never make it past my mouth This is the sound of setting Our youth is fleeting, old age is just around the bend and I can't wait to go gray And I’ll sit and wonder f every love that could've been If I’d only thought of something charming to say. This is the sound of settling
6.
Tiny Vessels 04:21
This is the moment that you know That you told her that you loved her but you don't You touch her skin and then you think That she is beautiful but she don't mean a thing to me I spent two weeks in Silverlake The California sun cascading down my face There was a girl with light brown streaks And she was beautiful but she didn't mean a thing to me I wanted to believe in all the words that I was speaking as we moved together in the dark And all the friends that I was telling, all the playful misspellings and every bite I made that left a mark As tiny vessels oozed into your neck and formed the bruises that you said you didn't want to fade But they did and so did I that day All I see are dark gray clouds In the distance moving closer with every hour So when you'd ask Is something wrong? I'd think, You're damn right there is, but we can't talk about it now. No, we can't talk about it now. So one last touch and then you'll go And we'll pretend that it meant something so much more But it was vile, and it was cheap And you are beautiful but you don't mean a thing to me
7.
The Atlantic was born today and I'll tell you how The clouds above opened up and let it out I was standing on the surface of a perforated sphere when the water filled every hole And thousands upon thousands made an ocean making islands where no island should go (oh no) Those people were overjoyed; they took to their boats I thought it less like a lake and more like a moat The rhythm of my footsteps crossing flatlands to your door have been silenced forevermore And the distance is quite simply much too far for me to row it seems farther than ever before (oh no) I need you so much closer
8.
I roll the window down and then begin to breathe in the darkest country road and the strong scent of evergreen from the passenger seat as you are driving me home Then looking upwards I strain my eyes and try to tell the difference between shooting stars and satellites from the passenger seat as you are driving me home Do they collide? I ask and you smile. With my feet on the dash the world doesn't matter When you feel embarrassed, then I’ll be your pride When you need directions, then I’ll be the guide for all time
9.
You were the mother of three girls so sweet that stormed through your turnstile and climbed to the street But after conception, your body lay cold and withered through autumn and you found yourself old Can you tell me why you have been so sad? He took a lover on a faraway beach while you arrange flowers and chose color schemes Can you tell me why you have been so sad? The girls were all there; they traded their vows The youngest one glared with furrowed brows as they tenderly kissed then cut the cake The bride then tripped and broke the vase The one you thought would spend the years so perfectly placed below the mirror Arriving late, you clean the debris and walked into the angry sea and it felt just like falling in love again
10.
God bless the daylight, the sugary smell of springtime Remembering when you were mine in a still suburban town When every Thursday I'd brave those mountain passes and you'd skip your early classes And we'd learn how our bodies worked God damn the black night with all its foul temptation I've become what I always hated when I was with you then We looked like giants in the back of my gray subcompact Fumbling to make contact as the others slept inside And together there in a shroud of frost, the mountain air began to pass from every pane of weathered glass and I held you closer than anyone would ever get Do you remember the J.A.M.C. and reading aloud from magazines? I don't know about you, but I swear on my name they could smell it on me And I've never been too good with secrets.
11.
And when I see you I really see you upside down But my brain knows better, it picks you up and turns you around If you feel discouraged when there's a lack of color here Please don't worry lover, it's really bursting at the seams from absorbing everything The spectrum's A to Z This is fact not fiction for the first time in years And all the girls in every girlie magazine can't make me feel any less alone I'm reaching for the phone To call at 7:03 and on your machine I slur a plea for you to come home But I know it's too late, I should have given you a reason to stay

credits

released October 7, 2003

All words by Benjamin Gibbard

Produced, recorded & mixed by Christopher Walla, except 4 & 5, mixed by John Goodmanson
Mastered by Ed Brooks at RFI

Original artwork and layout by Adde Russell; www.adderussell.com

Played by Death Cab for Cutie, with help from The Barsuk Men's Choir [Sean Nelson, John Roderick & Phil Wandscher, with Ben, Nick & Chris] on 7 and Rob Herbst, who stomped and clapped with Ben, Nick & Jason on 5

Studios
The Hall Of Justice, Seattle
Assistants: Joel Brown, Robbie Skrocki
Tiny Telephone, San Francisco
Assistant: Aaron Prellwitz
Avast! Recording, Seattle
Assistants: Stuart Hallerman, Kevin Suggs, Troy Tietjen
Ironwood, Seattle
Assistants: Steve Wiseman, Katy Perkins
Studio X, Seattle
Assistants: Sam Hofstedt, Kory Kruckenberg

Legal: Conrad Rippy/Levine, Plotkin & Menin, LLP
Booking: Trey Many/Aero Booking

Thank You: Friends and family; Elizabeth Duffell; Joan Hiller; Kerensa Wight; Suzanne Asprea; Josh, Emily, Christopher, Barry and The Barsuk Family; Stuart Hallerman; Kevin Suggs; Troy Tietjen; John Vanderslice; Aaron Prellwitz; Glynn Durham; Lon Neumann; Ed Brooks; Robbie Skrocki; Joel Brown; Bonnie Reed; Sam Hofstedt; Kory Kruckenberg; Donn Devore; Steve Wiseman; Katy Perkins; John Goodmanson; Sean Nelson; John Roderick; Phil Wandscher; Rob Herbst; Gregg Keplinger; Kris K.; Steve Smith; Jay Chilcote; David Broecker; Scott Solter; Torpedo Screenprinting; Annette at Pacific Pro Audio; Brendan, Julie and Sheila at Tag Team Media; Adam Katz; Tom & Kimberly Osborn; The Dismemberment Plan

This record is dedicated to Sadie Marie Osborn

Death Cab for Cutie: Benjamin Gibbard/Nicholas Harmer/Jason McGerr/Christopher Walla

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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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