| The American Analog Set – The Postman Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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@Huntman556: Ben Gibbard, the singer of The Postal Service (as well as Death Cab for Cutie), actually provides backing vocals on "The Postman" near the end. Andrew Kenny of AmAnSet and Ben also did a split EP on the Postparlo label called "Home: Volume V," where Ben covers "Choir Vandals." Beautiful tunes all. |
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| Death Cab for Cutie – 20th Century Towers Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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@tundradesert: The Photo Album was released October 9, 2001. It makes your point no less valid, though. According to dcfc-tour.net, they were playing "20th Century Towers" no later than September 4th, 2000, if not earlier. |
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| All-Time Quarterback – Rules Broken Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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This is Ben just mocking the punk scene. "They had a bad case of nostalgic blues / And started a group just to cop the tunes" is talking about how they listen to punk music (likely getting 'nostalgic' for the days of the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, and the Clash) and start writing the same exact songs that've already been written -- punk songs tend to follow the ol' I-IV-V format. "And if we could break the rules that were already broken before we were born Then we could hold them to their guns cause we'd be a punk rock band too" The original punk bands did it all -- any and all rules they could break have been done. There's no room to do anything further -- so you'll just be breaking the same rules to be the same punk band. Right in line with the question he asks: "What could they possibly do next to shock the crowd?" Not much -- it's all been done. Ben's not really a fan of punk music; there's a radio interview he did in either '96 or '98, I believe where he quite directly rips on the punk scene a bit. I had to laugh, even though I enjoy a little punk now and then. |
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| Death Cab for Cutie – Two Cars Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| I don't think he's referring to literal children -- I think the line "depression and time breed to multiply" is metaphorical, and that he has "more mouths to feed than [he] could ever fit in this song" refers more to the fact that he is unspeakably depressed after a long time. | |
| Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Upon Encountering the Crippled Elephant Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I believe the accordion line is featured in the breakdown of "Love Song No. 7," though it's hard to hear in all the thick instrumentation. This is a takeoff on that, with a organ line and a lot of fun stereo panning. I wonder if having "Love Song No. 7" essentially bookending "Satan Said Dance" on the album has anything to do with anything. |
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| Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Upon Encountering the Crippled Elephant Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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I believe the accordion line is featured in the breakdown of "Love Song No. 7," though it's hard to hear in all the thick instrumentation. This is a takeoff on that, with a organ line and a lot of fun stereo panning. I wonder if having "Love Song No. 7" essentially bookending "Satan Said Dance" on the album has anything to do with anything. |
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| Primus – Eleven Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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... It definitely has nothing to do with age. The song is called "Eleven" because there's eleven beats per measure. ZzZiff has it dead-on. God bless Claypool for being able to write something this damn good in 11/8. I struggle writing in 5/4, forget 11/8. |
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| Death Cab for Cutie – Stable Song Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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As posted on "Stability," Chris Walla references the original version of this song as 'the sound of a band breaking up.' I always took that to be more than just the bleak sound of the original "Stablility," but that that's what the song was about. They all basically couldn't stand each other at this point; I vaguely recall seeing a song on Walla's site, hallofjusticerecording.com, that dealt with him being pissed off about it, though I don't see it there now. If that happens to be the case, though, there's no reason to believe that Ben wouldn't write something in the same vein. With this reading, the opening line of "Time for the final bow" takes on a HUGE importance and connotation. "All our stable mates are highway bound" would refer to everyone going their separate ways; "Give us our measly sum" would be them just playing for the money, and getting fed up with how little they're making. When you listen to the original "Stability," you can almost hear it in the music as well as in the lyrics. I feel like "Stable Song" is taking the same song but totally unifying the band in that gorgeous epic outro, almost like saying that they can recognize their past for what it is, but now they're together and whole, and it's beautiful. My $0.02. |
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| Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Heavy Metal Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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The background chorus vocals are the following: One two and love baby love me Two to three now hold me hold me Three to four really really need me Four to five now are we still alive, now Five to six we're forgetting six Six to seven I'll need you in heaven Seven to eight we're staying up too late Eight to nine we're having such a good time (If you want to discern them for yourself and you feel like taking the initiative, open it in an audio editor, split the stereo tracks, and invert the phase on one of the two stereo channels, which will cancel out the center track -- which, on this particular mix, is most of the drums and Alec's voice, leaving the background vocals -- mixed hard left -- very easily heard.) |
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| Death Cab for Cutie – Bend to Squares Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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Did you know that you can only fold a piece of paper in half five to six times before it becomes impossible? Even if you had a sheet of paper the size of Manhattan, it would not be possible to fold it over more than six times. A smaller piece of paper, or one of particular thickness, would not be able to be folded the sixth. That's what I always think of when I hear those lines -- the machine can only bend the piece of paper into the smaller squares five to six times. I'm not really sure if Mr. Gibbard (bless his genius) was thinking of this as well, but if he was, maybe that has something to do with his intended meaning. |
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| Catch 22 – Point The Blame Lyrics | 20 years ago |
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I believe this song is all about Thomas Kalnoky, now of the band Streetlight Manifesto. After leaving Catch 22 after their first album, their former lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter took a lot of heat from his old band, and they let him know it with this song. * "We've got the rhythm wrong. It sounds just like a Phish song" and " We've got the rhythm wrong. It sounds just like a Dead song" are both references to Tom's dissatisfaction with the band when they didn't express his musical visions the way he saw it and his criticisms. * "Policeman coming, so I'm running away, Badboy coming, so I'm running away, Richboy coming, so I'm running away" are all mocking Tom's lyrical stylings, which often had mafiaesque themes, as well as a dislike for the wealthy. * "So, brother say what you want. I never know what you want from me. I'm moving up, moving on. So, say goodbye, because I won't say goodbye to you" is expressing the band's dissatisfaction with Tom and his way of getting things across, and telling him that they can and have picked up and ran with the ball after his departure. * "'Cause you're playing by the rules of the game" is indeed probably a reference to their debut album, "Rules of the Game", as noted by Suculant J. |
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