CONTEST: Death Cab For Cutie Prize Pack
Posted: August 6, 2008
WHAT YOU DID AND WHAT YOU GOT
Since releasing their demo cassette, You Can Play These Songs with Chords back in 1997, Death Cab For Cutie have gone on to record six albums, four Eps, and a bunch of awesome singles. We wanted to know which Death Cab song is your all time favorite, why, and which album it's from. One lucky grand prize winner got an autographed framed poster and a signed copy of the new Narrow Stairs CD, and five runners up also walked away each with a copy of the album.
WINNERS
Grand Prize Winner:
"I Will Follow You into the Dark"
Plans
Because nothing is easy.
Because I'm supposed to get lost and steer off track, and so are you. and it's supposed to be difficult. And when I forget who I am and who we are and were, you won't. Because you don't forget. You'll leave me feeling forgotten for a while, shut in a corner in the dark. And I'll be alone and I'll feel lost. And you'll let me feel lost just so you can follow me into the shadowy corner I thought you'd forgotten. You'll let me feel hurt and alone just to remind me that I'm not. That I've ventured off into whatever obstacle it is I need to face, and remind me that it's ours. It's our obstacle. It's our mess.
Obstacles one after another, faced in imperfection. That I don't have this and you don't have that. But in the tapestry we've woven, embedded in each thread is a piece of me and you. separate but woven. And we intertwine, like a braid meant to endure the harshest wind.
But the familiarity of the marks on your face hold me. Because I know every inch of who you are and who you want to be. Because I can recount the stories of your battlewounds, the ones I can see and the ones I just know. Because I made some. Because I would throw myself upon you as armor to the unprotected soldier, but you'd need to feel the sting of the thorns to love the rose. Because I want to be your rose, the wilted one you left in the corner and then followed, because you wanted to remind it of all of it's colours and smells. That you loved every thorn and petal because it was yours. Because I am yours.
Because.
Runners Up:
"Your Heart is an Empty Room"
Plans
I'm absolutely in love with Death Cab. When I heard about this contest with them I got so pumped. But I wanted to do something different. Trying not write a whole story about why Death Cab For Cutie is so amazing, because that's already a known fact. I wanted to create a visual.
It would be so hard to pick between songs, because they are all so magnificent, so I would have to say my favourite song by Death Cab For Cute is "Your Heart is an Empty Room" from their album, "Plans". It really means a lot., it totally speaks. I can listen to this song for countless hours on end and it doesn't get boring. In the beginning of the song when you hear the heart struck guitar beaming to start opening feelings up, totally brings this song to life. And then there are the piano riffs of sweet gracious harmony. And of course, the best for last, Ben Gibbard, the man of talent, heart felt lyrics, and emotion struck vocals. This song is love.
This is a picture I drew; (drew, using pencil, then scanned and colored using Photoshop.) illustrating what this song means to me. Hope you enjoy.
"I Will Follow You into the Dark"
Plans
I love this song so much because I have a hard time thinking about what happens in the afterlife when I die or when someone I love dies. I have a fear of the unknown, I'm afraid that when I die that'll be it and there'll be no one I love around me. This song comforts me with that fear, that someday I'll find someone that I love and that loves me, and they will be right behind me when I die, so I don't have to be alone. In the song he says he'll follow her no matter where she ends up, if neither heaven or hell accepts her, or "illumate their No on their vacancy signs" he'll go anywhere for her as long as he's with her in the afterlife. I just love how sad, and yet comforted it makes me feel.
"Title and Registration"
Transatlanticism
every song by death cab is completely different, and every song has an amazing, unique ability to send you somewhere far away.
'title and registration' (from Transatlanticism) is a song that has been with me for the past three years. a song that sends me straight back to a three-day trip to edmonton stuffed in a bus with classmates and acquaintances
sleeping on the floor of a church, 5 am wake up call
prairies covered in frost, the magic of the sun spilling over never-ending fields
and the bus ride home
rain and snow and car lights and an acoustic guitar and all of us, strangers, singing along in one huge harmonic voice:
cause behind its door there's nothing to keep my fingers warm
and all I find are souvenirs from better times
before the gleam of your tail lights fading east
to find yourself a better life....
but there's no blame for how our love did slowly fade,
and now that it's gone, it's like it wasn't there at all
and here I rest where disappointment and regret collide
lying awake at night
a song that ties every listener together, a common thread that everyone can relate to
a song that conjures up your own memories of road trips, loved ones, lost things, lost loves
finding keepsakes from times you've forgotten because you've forced yourself to forget them
the song itself, to me, is like a forgotten memento
a photograph so precious it almost hurts to look at
i love every death cab song, but title and registration is the one that stays the closest to my heart month after month after month.
"Passenger Seat"
Transatlanticism
If I had to pick one song, it would be Passenger Seat, from Transatlanticism.
A beautiful song, driven mostly by piano. The words, helping you along to imagine everything Ben describes. The stars, the strong scent of evergreen trees. Even where you'd be sitting. Not too fast, not too slow. This song moves along just right.
"With my feet on the dash
The world doesn't matter"
Completely satisfied, with almost nothing.
Some of the best songs, don't need a lot of words, or instruments. You just need to listen, and enjoy every second of this marvelous song.
As simple as this song is, it is my absolute favorite . If I had to show someone Death Cab For Cutie, this would be the first song to show them.
After hundreds of times listening to this song, I can still say that I still love every word.
"A Lack of Color"
Transatlanticism
My favorite song by Death Cab for Cutie is, hands down, "A Lack of Color".
It's my favorite because it's among all the saddest classics. The tune and the lyrics, they're just pull-at-the-heartstrings and send-chills-down-your-spine amazing. The last part of the song makes my heart break every time I listen to it.
I'm reaching for the phone
To call at 7:03
And on your machine, I slur a plea
For you to come home
But I know it's too late
I should have given you a reason to stay
I think that everyone has been in this situation described in the song. Where that one, important person in your leaves. They chose to move on, maybe even to a new city. Away from you: home. And you just feel that maybe if you had been better for them or just what they needed, they would have stayed. They would have stuck around longer.
Want to see more submissions? Then head over to the Death Cab For Cutie thread.