We Laugh Indoors

Ben is comparing this girl to Guinevere, not writing about king arthur and guinevere. Ben is relatiing his situation to that of King Arthur.

This song is about being cheated on and the breakup aftermath of it all. Within the stories about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table the fact that Guinevere cheated on Arthur with Lancelot, the greatest knight to have ever existed, is specifically mentioned. The line "so i breed thicker skin and let my lustrous coat fill in and i'll never admit that i loved you guenivere" is Gibbard lamenting the loss of someone he loved and him using the name Guinevere is an analogy that he brings up. He was cheated on and now he is dealing with the fact that he really did love her at one point. I also believe that he lived with this girlfriend for a period of time. The line "There are piles on the floor of artifacts from dresser drawers, and i'll help you pack" refers to all the keepsakes they collected throughout their relationship and now that she has to leave, she's packing it all up and Gibbard, though sad that it is now necessary for her to leave, helps her pack it all up.

You know your love for a band is unhealthy when can't help but sing the lyrics as you read them...and you realize the prescise use of words makes them all the more elusive. Photo Album was my first DCFC love, but I'm currently a Facts man.--But that won't take away from my love for these songs.

Remember guys. Everything is about sex.

When we laugh indoors The blissful tones bounce off the walls And fall to the ground. Peel the hardwood back To let them loose from decades trapped And listen so still

Ben obviously loved this girl and had fun with her. The first verse makes me think of him and this girl laying around in bed giggling and just loving each other.

This city is my home Construction noise all day long And gutter punks bumming change

When he starts talking about the city, I think it refers to their love, or love making. Yeah, he was at home with her and felt comfortable. But it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. It was a place full of discomfort and "gutter punks", which to me makes me think of other guys having sex with her; begging for it.

So I breed thicker skin And let my lustrous coat fill in

"Breed"" helps us see the sexual meaning. He keeps making love to her because he loved her. It also could mean that he's decided that, yeah this girl has lied to me about being a virgin. I can't take the fact that she sleeps with other guys so he decides to leave.

And here is where we see the whole story come together.

I've always fallen fast with too much trust in the promise that "No one's ever been here, so you can quell those wet fears"

To me, 'No one's ever been here' means she's claiming she's never had sex with anyone before Ben. 'So you can quell those wet fears' means that maybe he is very insecure about the situation. Maybe he has cried about it? Or, if we go back to the sexual connotation....wet....Ahem. Anyway.

I want purity, I must have it here right now But don't you get me started now Don't you get me

'I want purity' means he wanted her to be a virgin. He wanted someone innocent. He's pissed off. And 'Don't you get me started now' probably means something like I'm so pissed off, but we've had this talk so many times before that I don't even want to get into it. 'Don't you get me.' I see this as a question. Don't you understand why I am so angry?

December's chill comes late The days get darker and we wait

December means the time of death. Their love has died. They have fought so much and she has lied about being innocent. He loved her, but she was not what she claimed to be.

Oh Ben...such heartache... =/

I love this song. To me he is saying he fell for the wrong girl. "I've always fallen fast with too much trust in the promise that no one's ever been here." He's saying that is one of the qualities he looks for in girls, but I think with Guenivere he was tricked. She might have let on that she was leading him into a territory where no one had ever been, but it was all a lie. Someone had been there before, and the territory he was led into was not pure, and he wanted pure. He wanted it and didn't get it. To top it all off, we better not get him started because he has more to say on the subject, but he wants to leave us on this level for now...

because gwenhyfar was a whore to arthur; everyone who has every betrayed anyone becomes their private gwenhyfar.

this is a wonderful song.

This song is incredible. The whole Photo Album CD is amazing, but I've found myself listening to this, "Why You'd Want to Live Here" and "Blacking Out the Friction" more than the rest of it.

I'm not really sure what the refrain has to do with the rest of the song. The first verse is clearly about life in the city, "indoors," and how much the speaker dislikes it. The bridge seems to follow in that vein, asking for purity, something a "sophisticated" city dweller might not see enough of.

This would also fit in nicely with the thrust of "Why You'd Want To Live Here," which is solely about how much DCFC's singer hates Los Angeles. :-)

But regardless of the song's meaning, I really, really like it. The first verse is meandering, the chorus is hypnotic, the bridge gets you really riled up (and he's speaking through some sort of voice box), crecendoes with four hard drumbeats, then falls back into the second verse and the chorus one more time. Perfect!

Thank you Death Cab!

"why you'd want to live here" isn't about how much he hates LA. see my post under that song to see what it's really about.

this song is incredible. this album in incredible. i agree with toadtws that why you'd want to live here is one of the best songs on the photo album, however we laugh indoors was the first song on the album that i completely loved. i love when he says 'ill never admit that i loved you guenivere'..

hey, onlyCASTLESburning who said guenivere was a whore?

Rad rad song.