Death Cab For Cutie

Plans

Atlantic
August 2005
Buy the CD |

Tracklisting

1. "Marching Bands of Manhattan" (Gibbard) – 4:12 lyrics

If I could open my arms and span the length of the isle of Manhattan
I’d bring it to where you are making a lake of the East River and Hudson
If I could open my mouth wide enough for a marching band to march out
They would make your name sing and bend through alleys and bounce off all the buildings

I wish we could open our eyes to see in all directions at the same time
Oh what a beautiful view if you were never aware of what was around you
And it is true what you said: that I live like a hermit in my own head
But when the sun shines again I’ll pull the curtains and blinds to let the light in

Sorrow drips into your heart through a pinhole
Just like a faucet that leaks and there is comfort in the sound
But while you debate “half empty” or “half full”
It slowly rises: your love is gonna drown




2. "Soul Meets Body" (Gibbard) – 3:50 lyrics

I want to live where soul meets body
And let the sun wrap its arms around me
And bathe my skin in water cool and cleansing
And feel what it’s like to be new
‘Cause in my head there’s a Greyhound station
Where I send my thoughts to far-off destinations
So they may have a chance of finding a place where they’re far more suited then here

(ba da ba ba’s…)

And I cannot guess what we’ll discover
When we turn the dirt with our palms cupped like shovels
But I know our filthy hands can wash one another’s
And not one speck will remain

And I do believe it’s true that there are roads left in both of our shoes
But if the silence takes you than I hope it takes me too
So Brown Eyes I’ll hold you near ‘cause you’re the only song I want to hear
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere

Where soul meets body




3. "Summer Skin" (Gibbard/McGerr/Walla) – 3:14 lyrics

Squeaky swings and tall grass
The longest shadows ever cast
The water’s warm and children swim
And we frolicked about in our summer skin

I don’t recall a single care
Just greenery and humid air
Then Labor Day came and went
And we shed what was left of our summer skin

On the night you left I came over
And we peeled the freckles from our shoulders
Our brand new coats were so flushed and pink
And I knew your heart I couldn’t win
Because the season’s change was a conduit
And we’d left our love in our summer skin

4. "Different Names for the Same Thing" (Gibbard) – 5:08 lyrics

Alone on a train aimless in wander
An outdated map crumpled in my pocket
But I didn’t care where I was going
‘Cause they’re all different names for the same place

I watched the coast disappear when the sea drowned the sun
And I knew no words to share it with anyone
The boundaries of language I quietly cursed
And all the different names for the same thing




5. "I Will Follow You into the Dark" (Gibbard) – 3:09 lyrics

Love of mine someday you will die
But I’ll be close behind and I’ll follow you into the dark
No blinding light or tunnels to gates of white
Just our hands clasped so tight waiting for the hint of a spark

But if heaven and hell decide that they both are satisfied
And illuminate the no’s on their vacancy signs
If there’s no one beside you when your soul embarks
Than I’ll follow you into the dark

In Catholic school as vicious as Roman rule
I got my knuckles bruised by a lady in black
And I held my tongue as she told me, “Son,
Fear is the heart of love,” so I never went back

(chorus)

You and me have seen everything to see
From Bangkok to Calgary and now the soles of your shoes
Are all worn down: the time for sleep is now
But it’s nothing to cry about
‘Cause we’ll hold each other soon in the blackest of rooms

(chorus)

6. "Your Heart Is an Empty Room" (Gibbard) – 3:39 lyrics

Burn it down ‘til the embers smoke on the ground
And start new when your heart is an empty room
With walls of the deepest blue

Home’s face: how it ages when your away
And spring blooms and you find a love that’s true
But you don’t know what now to do
‘cause the chase is all you know and she stopped running months ago

And all you see is where else you could be when your at home
And out on the street are so many possibilities to not be alone

The flames and smoke climbed out of every window
And disappeared with everything that you held dear
But you shed not a single tear
For the things that you didn’t need
‘cause you knew you were finally free

‘cause all you see is where else you could be when your at home
and there on the street are so many possibilities to not be alone




7. "Someday You Will Be Loved" (Gibbard/Walla) – 3:11 lyrics

I once knew a girl in the years of my youth
With eyes like the summer: all beauty and truth
But in the morning I fled, left a note and it read,
“Someday You Will Be Loved”

And I cannot pretend that I felt any regret
‘Cause each broken heart will eventually mend
Just as the blood runs red down the needle and thread
Someday you will be loved

You’ll be loved you’ll be loved
Like you never have known
And the memories of me will seem more like bad dreams
Just a series of blurs: like I never occurred
And someday you will be loved

You may feel alone when you’re falling asleep
And every time tears roll down your cheeks
But I know your heart belongs to someone you’ve yet to meet
And someday you will be loved




8. "Crooked Teeth" (Gibbard/Walla) – 3:23 lyrics

It was 100 degrees as we sat beneath a willow tree whose tears didn’t care: they just hung in the air and refused to fall
And I knew then I’d made a horrible call and now the state line felt like the Berlin Wall
And there was no doubt about which side I was on

‘Cause I built you a home in my heart with rotten wood and it decayed from the start

And you can’t find nothin’ at all if there was nothin’ there all along

I braved treacherous streets and kids strung out on homemade speed
And we shared a bed in which I could not sleep at all
‘Cause at night the sun in retreat made the skyline look like crooked teeth in the mouth of a man who was devouring us both

You’re so cute when you’re slurring your speech but they’re closing the bar and they want us to leave

And you can’t find nothin’ at all if there was nothin’ there all along

I’m a war of head verses heart and it’s always this way
My head is weak and my heart always speaks before I know what it will say

And you can’t find nothin’ at all if there was nothin’ there all along
There were churches, theme parks and malls but there was nothing there all along

9. "What Sarah Said" (Gibbard/Harmer) – 6:20 lyrics

And it came to me then that every plan is a tiny prayer to Father Time
As I stared at my shoes in the ICU that reeked of piss and 409
And I rationed my breaths as I said to myself that I’d already taken to much today
As each descending peak on the LCD took you a little farther away from me

Amongst the vending machines and year-old magazines in a place where we only say goodbye
It stung like a violent wind that our memories depend on a faulty camera in our minds
But I knew that you were a truth I would rather lose than to have never lain beside at all
And I looked around at all the eyes on the ground as the T.V. entertained itself

‘Cause there’s no comfort in the waiting room
Just nervous pacers bracing for bad news
And then the nurse comes ‘round and everyone will lift their heads
But I’m thinking of what Sarah said
That “love is watching someone die.”

So who’s gonna watch you die?

10. "Brothers on a Hotel Bed" (Gibbard/Walla) – 4:31 lyrics

You may tire of me as our December sun is setting ‘cause I’m not who I used to be
No longer easy on the eyes but these wrinkles masterfully disguise the youthful boy below
Who turned your way and saw something he was not looking for: both a beginning and an end
But now he lives inside someone he does not recognize when he catches his reflection on accident

On the back of a motorbike with your arms outstretched trying to take flight leaving everything behind
But even at our swiftest speed we couldn’t break from the concrete in the city where we still reside
And I have learned that even landlocked lovers yearn for the sea like navy men
‘Cause now we say goodnight from our own separate sides like brothers on a hotel bed

11. "Stable Song" (Gibbard) – 3:42 lyrics

Time for the final bout
Rows of deserted houses
All our stablemates highway bound

Give us our measly sum
Getting the air inside my lungs is heavenly
Starting out with nothing but crippling doubt

We’ll rest easy, justified

I suffered a swift defeat
And I’ll endure countless repeats
The gift of memory is an awful curse
And with age it just gets much worse but I don’t mind