Death Cab For Cutie

You Can Play These Songs with Chords

Barsuk Records
October 2002
Buy the CD |

Tracklisting

1. "President of What?" (Gibbard/Walla/Harmer) – 4:06 lyrics

I saw the scene unfold on a rainy Sunday
Creases indicating folds that kept four walls from caving in
I took a little more of what I take for granted
And filled my plate with fear that gears would turn
And wheels would roll away

Something's got to break you down [x2]

Entered the scene (I'm told) on I think it was Monday
You drove straight through and mined that quarry
For all it could bleed 'til dry
I took a little more 'til I got taken for granted
'cause beautiful boys gave chase
And when they arch your backbone
It's such a dreadful sight

Something's got to break you down [x2]

[x2]
I'll react when faces find you
With jealous fits that gag and bind you
'cause nothing hurts like nothing at all
When imagination takes full control

I saw the scene unfold [x4]




2. "Champagne from a Paper Cup" (Gibbard/Walla/Harmer) – 2:34 lyrics

I think I’m drunk enough to drive you home now
I'll keep my mouth kept shut from under lock and key
That's rusted firm, no lie
'cause all these conversations wind on and on...
Drinking champagne from a paper cup
Is never quite the same
And every sip's moving through my eyes
And up into my brain
At half past two; about time to leave
'cause the dj's playing rhythm and blues
A sad-sorry state, stutter step to those slammin' grooves
As I’m waiting around for you...

3. "Pictures in an Exhibition" (Gibbard/Walla/Harmer) – 4:02 lyrics

I think you caught me on the downslide, downturn
I was busy writing with a pen and paper thin dream
And all your plastic people with plastic hearts and smiles
They had the worst intentions all along after all...
The royal castle holds the mellow drama kings and queens
And all their dazzling children; they're so regal (clean)
With pristine fingertips they wash behind their ears
And let their hair down 'til the audiences leave
I'm definitely shaking
The silence isn't breaking
Backwashed and stranded memories
Of something I thought could be

4. "Hindsight" (Gibbard/Walla/Harmer) – 3:47 lyrics

Three wasted years, standing still
As you opened up, 18 miles wide
On this country drive
I can't keep up
'Cause you're so far gone
And it's all too much hindsight
Three wasted years, wasting time
As the hunger pains grow inside

I can't keep up
'Cause you're so far gone
And it's all too much hindsight

5. "That's Incentive" (Gibbard/Walla/Harmer) – 2:13 lyrics

(That's incentive...)
You see nothing to be adored, when obsession takes it's toll
You can't place you in between the pages of fashion magazines
Paper cuts from turning pages, just like a bad dream
Is it this or that or me that makes you love what you can't defeat

Boiled over burning clean toward the flesh blocks in your knees
It's a lesson that just might keep suppressing appetites
Paper cuts from turning pages, just like a bad dream
Is it this or that or me that makes you love what

And I live this life just to bear these scars
Will the hurt subside, if you decide?
That's it's me and you this time
Is it you that always... is it you that decides

And I live this life just to bear these scars
Will the hurt subside, if you decide?
And I live this life just to bear these scars
Will the hurt subside, if you decide?




6. "Amputations" (Gibbard/Walla/Harmer) – 4:03 lyrics

And if it was just how you wanted
You'd be glued to his bones and his brainstem
And changing your image and attitudes
Won't bring you back into your bedroom
Amputating as he's waiting
He's unresponsive 'cause you're irresponsible
Little swinger your bottle is thinking too much
'cause you're aiming to please way off target
And I’ll tell you what you must already know
Of amputating that too slow




7. "Two Cars" (Gibbard/Walla/Harmer) – 3:31 lyrics

I try to scrape it off, the thought of skin against skin
And move it from the front to back and started go again
But the depression and time breed and multiply
And I've got more mouths to feed than I could ever
Fit in this auto
You go have a good time
Bring back stories 'cause I will stay behind

So punch the clock, two months are up, and I am stuck down
Against the floor the heat rises out and leaves town
As the depression and time breed and multiply
'Til I've got more mouths to feed than I could ever
Fit in this auto
You go have a good time
Bring back stories 'cause I will stay behind

That's the story of a boy who tried to play it cool
But found it hard to keep it up when you were changing rules
With the depression and time breed and multiply
'Til I've got more mouths to feed than I could ever
Fit in this auto
You go have a good time
Bring back stories 'cause I will stay behind




8. "Line of Best Fit" (Gibbard/Walla/Harmer) – 5:49 lyrics

There things take my time and energy
Don't stand too close without apologies
Cutthroat; cut out candid glimpses and
Wind me up; I’m ready
Can't escape this line of best fit
I remember being inside something more than you...




9. "This Charming Man" (Steven Morrissey/John Marr) - 2:14 lyrics

On two bicycles
On a hillside desolate
Could nature make a man of me yet?

When in this charming car
This charming man


Why ponder life's complexities
When the leather runs smooth
On the passenger seat?

I would go out tonight
But I haven't got a stitch to wear
This man said it's crucial
That someone so handsome should care

Ah! I'm just a country boy
Who never knew his place
He said return the ring
He knows so much about these things
He knows so much about these things

I would go out tonight
But I haven't got a stitch to wear
This man said it's crucial
That someone so handsome should care
La, la-la, la-la, la-la, this charming man ...
La, la-la, la-la, la-la, this charming man ...

Ah! I'm just a country boy
Who never knew his place
He said return the ring
He knows so much about these things
He knows so much about these things
10. "TV Trays" (Gibbard/Walla/Harmer) - 4:02 lyrics


Summer's gone, I overslept and woke up to the chill of fall.
Overworked and now I'm all used up

This TV haze sucks me through I watch the world from the inside
Overworked and now I'm all used up

Final drag fills my lungs and makes me high
They fill up as I bottom out
Steering wheels watch them driving with someplace to go
I'd steer myself, but I don't have a route.

Working on demand, no ice cream man, beaches filled with sand.
While the TV trays wasted Summer days, slowly slippin' away

But you're so little, Hell, the days are slow, and I'm down inside
I'll have to go you're so little, Hell, when months are slow, and I'm down inside

Summer's gone, I overslept and woke up to the chill of fall
Overworked and now I'm all used up.

This TV haze sucks me through I watch the world from the inside
Overworked and now I'm all used up

Working on demand, no ice cream man, beaches filled with sand.
While the TV trays wasted Summer days, slowly slippin' away

But you're so little, Hell, the days are slow, and I'm down inside
I'll have to go you're so little, Hell, when years are slow, and I'm down inside

I'm down inside, I'm down inside, I'm down inside.
11. "New Candles" (Gibbard/Walla/Harmer) - 3:02 lyrics

You tried you all 13 channels, but they burned me out again
'cause it's over whenever they say
I quit sending postcards 'cause no one know what to revere,
and the mailman can't come in to explain

So I'm out of gasoline, and I hate see, and it's hard to never mind.
It's hard to never mind.

I bought myself new candles, they only burn old flames.
I guess it's all the same anyway

Looked through my high school annuals to see who I still knew
but my point of view's forever changed

All this gasoline just goes to show that no one never minds.
It's building up, bottled up in time

All your energy just says to me that you never can't unwind.
Just bring it down, bring it down this time.

And should it count against me, if I keep everything that you send me?
Are you going to find me so the bogs? aren't empty all the time?

I think way too much about the way things should be said
'cause it just can't leave my head all the way.

It seems my brand new candles would catch on fire today
I think I might get burned anyway

All this gasoline just goes to show not everything is nice.
I do my best, I know not everything is right

All your energy just says to me that you never can't unwind.
Just bring it down, bring it down this time.
Please bring it down, bring it down.

12. "Tomorrow" (Gibbard/Walla/Harmer) - 2:17 lyrics

Believe in me, I'm sad and blue
Left with nothing but a picture
Third or fourth weekend in June
December seems to come too soon

Will you wait until tomorrow?
Will you wait until

Head is swirling with the scene
Of you and him embraced in rapture
Dirty trying to come clean
But every thought I have is obscene

Will you wait until tomorrow?
Will you wait until

Quilted in our hands
And keeping you tucked in too deep
Struck in the shot of two
Twenty-four hours in June

Will you wait until tomorrow?

13. "Flustered / Hey Tomcat!" (Gibbard/Walla/Harmer) - 2:56 lyrics

Once when my folks were gone
I saw a lot of liquor
I saw my tomcat
Famose
I saw my tomcat
What?
Tomcat
What?
My tomcat
Tomcat

I saw a bowl of milk
And I said
"Hey"
What?
I got news for you
That's weird
I got news for you
I got news

10, 5, 0 meters
I think it's, um . . .
I like the beat a lot
And I like the pool
And I can dance around the room
And I

Tomcat
Hello, tomcat
News for you
What, tomcat?
News for you
What, tomcat?
As you're listening to heart sounds
And murmurs
Instead of using words to
Describe them
It's somewhat like eating an apple
And trying to describe how it tastes

What
Tomcat
So what?
The LSD
What?
I'm unsure

I got news for you
Some kind of LSD
Sure enough, I'll come
Tomcat
And I'm sure
The rumors

I got news for you
Hey, tomcat
And I'm sure the rumors
What, tomcat?

And I'm sure the box I
And I'm sure the box
Some kind of L word
One of the LS words
What the LS?
The L word
The LSD pill and the cat

What is going on, motherfucker?
No, no
Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba
There's salt
Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba
You're so flustered
Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba

You're so flustered
I excel at stone
When given the exposed
I am Brian

14. "State Street Residential" (Gibbard/Walla/Harmer) - 5:51 lyrics

Holding fast until the rent checks wear thin
because it hasn't sunk in... so far.

Well it's a drab routine, the dust starts building
until it's hard to come clean.

Then the months stack up to an addict crutch
As if the drink weren't enough
A stagger cannot compete
There's no charm in being residential state street

And if I was sober
could I kill caution and stay over
And if I was sober
would I rip hearts apart like paper?

I wish you could know better than you show
with parted lips pointed down
That the whiskey soothes more than you could ever do.

And if I was sober
Could I kill caution and stay over?
And if I was sober
Would I rip hearts apart like paper?

What a difference it made
What a difference it made

And if I was sober
Could I kill caution and stay over?
And if I was sober
Would I rip hearts apart like paper?

What a difference it made
What a difference it made

15. "Wait" (Geoff Farina) - 3:34 lyrics

Every town has a diner
where I'll meet you, and your friends too.
Things are just a bit nicer over some coffee;
you can tell me all about your day.
I don't know much about you,
not that I want to,
not that I want to.
Sometimes I can't escape from my room so excuse me,
I'll be just a little late.

You will wait for me,
you will wait for me

Every town has a corner,
where I'll see you and your friends too;
hanging out looking cool,
saying the same things over and over (again).
Sometimes we all feel stupid,
we say the wrong things;
you're not the only one.
Sometimes we all get left behind
in a race of style,
it's a dumb thing.
you will wait for me
you will wait for me
you will wait for me
you will wait for me
16. "Prove My Hypotheses" (Gibbard/Walla/Harmer) - 4:12 lyrics


Just admit that you're wrong and I'll give back what I borrowed or stole
From the parent's house, from the studio, it's the principle of...

You said wait here, prove all my hypotheses.

Catching up with the band; their drummer had left to pursue his career.
I rode in their van; they stated,
"The parting was ugly, it brought him to tears."

You said wait here, prove all my hypotheses.
17. "Song For Kelly Huckaby" (Facts Version) (Gibbard/Walla/Harmer) - 3:51 lyrics

Photographs of the best time you had,
windows smudged by the speed.
Leaving home with our bags from Iron Street,
as morning turned into California,
And smoke trailed from the butt of my cigarette.
Our glass house it threw rocks at all those it past.

Waking up to the sound of 5 A.M. to take my turn at the wheel.
Climbed up Shasta, oh how the engine ached
as the sun tortured California,
and old alleys turned deep at the heart of me.
Murals of heroes defacing the blank concrete.

Vision tunneled, Mission Street, hunger beat
lodged out as the engine wheezed.
Still moving regardless of stable ground
and this stable ground.

Photographs of the best time you had,
windows smudged by the speed.
Leaving home with our bags from Iron street
as morning turned into California.
18. "Army Corps Of Architects" (Gibbard/Walla/Harmer) - 4:43 lyrics

Leaving the central state from shallow ground
Home in the valley but the rent's paid south
You said the urn was half full when I said it was half empty
With what was left of our fair city

Call in the army corps of architects
To flatten the skyline and begin again
I knew the years would move quickly,
But never quite as fast as this
So bring the discrepancies, I'll pour the drinks.