| Death Cab for Cutie – Black Sun Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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Gibbard paints a picture with very broad strokes, in line with the stuff he's been writing since Codes and Keys and devoid of the typical specificities he'd put in his songs before that. Metaphors about pollution, unharvested potential and ownership make it almost too easy to point at his failed marriage. There are also spiritual / religious undertones, such as the city of seven hills and the cyclic nature of things, contrasting with the harsh 'desert veiled in pavement' which seems to refer to LA. All in all this wide-eyed imagery seems to be about trying to reconcile with the past, coping and forgiving (hard things to do, evidently). The connecting figure lies obviously in the chorus, where the addressed person is even bigger/scarier than the black sun (both an occult sign and a stand-in for a black hole) revolving around it. |
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| Simon and Garfunkel – Old Friends Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| You are absolutely right. The longevity and strength of old friends as bookends, to me, is enhanced by the imagery of a world rushing by as these two men sit still. First there's the newspaper, its daily trivialities carried by the wind, hitting upon three adjectives - round toes, high shoes, old friends - that stand the test of time. Then there's the just as ephemeral sounds of the city that settle like dust, come to a standstill, on their shoulders. | |
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