Title Track

This song is about a one night stand. The most confusing part is the first verse; it's clear that the woman Gibbard is talking to at a party is a charming writer (she has a manuscript). I think the "crust of railroad earth" he's talking about is a pencil. After all, a pencils and railroad ties are both made of wood. Perhaps he's left uninspired because he disagrees with the edits made to the manuscript. (Though, if that's the case, one wonders why the pencil is what left him uninspired.) Or maybe it's because he doesn't understand them. (Her "advantage" would seem to be that she's more intelligent than he is.)

I imagine Gibbard sitting, leaning back on his hands on a deck or driveway (something concrete) before sitting up to talk to this girl. The part about hammering pillars is either a sexual reference, or else he's planning way into the future when they're married. ('White picket fences' are one understanding of the American Dream.)

Talk turns to the fact that all the couples at the party seem to have gone off to make out. They're smoking a cigarette. (You're right, fraeulein, that's a GREAT line. :-)

He's still trying to fight the urge, but it's a losing battle. I take "call-response" to mean the answer to a call; she's receptive/interested in him too, so he's throwing caution to the wind.

Did he mention that they're drunk?

Now comes what I think is my favorite Death Cab lyric: "my best judgement signed its resignation." He decides to go for it, even though he knows it won't last beyond that evening.

They don't get married. The song ends with Gibbard kicking himself for rushing things. Who knows if things could have progressed had they held off; he makes it sound like she was out of his league anyway.

This is my second favorite song on "We Have the Facts..." after "Company Calls Epilogue"! So good.

this is my favorite song on the cd. i love the line "i could taste your lipstick on your filter"....very sexy.

This is my interpretation, but I could be way off...

I kinda think this song is about old highschool friends (this is where the reference about the group splintering comes in) coming together after having been in college for awhile... he is reading her manuscript to catch up on what she has been doing in school. her "advantage" is that he's always been in love with her, and now as he watches her she's so smart and he realizes they are both growing up.

all the talk about picket fences, maybe he has always been in love with this girl and since he's maintained a close friendship with her he's hoping that maybe they could fall in love and one day end up married. but then they have a drunken hookup one night that ruins everything and makes things weird between them...

This song doesn't relate to me at all. But when I listen to it... it feels like it was written for me.

The last bit almost brings tears to my eyes.

'I rushed this we moved too fast tripped into the guestroom' <3

Not about a one stand IMO, but about Gibbard running into an old ex he never really got over, the same one that the rest of the album, specifically Company Calls (Epilogue) is about. It's called "Title Track" because it sets the scene for the rest of the record.

It describes and awkward and shallow conversation with an ex at an event, possibly the wedding described in the Company Calls tracks. They talk about their old friend group that splintered off after they broke up. The "advantage" he describes is the imbalance of him loving her more than she loves him back, as he ultimately is reliant on her more than the opposite.

I always interpreted the "and I could taste your lipstick through the filter" lyric as the speaker still deluding himself that she is still interested in him despite her best attempts to be entirely benign and "filtered" in talking to him. He picks up on a sort of romance and intimacy in her filtered speech with him.

"I tried my best to keep my distance from your dress but call response overturns convictions every time" seems to be referring to him intellectually knowing he does not have a chance to be with her, but his heart taking over and ultimately staying in love with her.

Towards the end of the song, he spirals and continues to fall deeper in love with her, ("my best judgement signed it's resignation") while simultaneously reflecting on the failure of his relationship and losing his chance.

I think the "tripped into the guest room" doesn't describe hooking up, but more so him being relegated to a "guest" in her life instead of something more intimate.

Sad song, and definitely about something more intimate and heartbroken than a one night stand.

"I rushed this...we moved too fast and tripped into the guestroom."

That part of the song gets stuck in my head SO MUCH. I wanna marry this band.

Excellent analysis toadtws....I could not get anything out of that first verse--but I'm curious. I've heard many rumors that We Have The Facts is a concept album--does this relate the girl in Title track to all other relationships, or is this album just relationships gone wrong? Thoughts?

i agree.. excellent analysis toadtws.. however, everyone make note that this song cannot be taken out of context of the whole album.. each song on "we have the facts..." is just one piece of the whole narative that is this album.. it's a freakin literary masterpiece.. this album still gives me the chills.. beautiful.

beautiful song... i must have listened to it 300 times before i sat down to try and piece the lyrics and emotions together. whether i ever get them or not, i love this song so much, it never stops playing.

it's a damn great song, it is...