Welcome everyone to the latest edition of Top Five Fridays! This week, let’s take a microscope to the discography of Death Cab for Cutie and pick five songs that are the best in the bunch. This list is solely my opinion, so if you don’t see your favorite song don’t freak out.
5. The New Year
Last week, I featured my favorite side ones, track ones. I left this one out specifically so I could talk about it in long form. Transatlanticism is a fantastic album (we’ll get to another track later) and it starts out with a lot of drums and some solid guitar riffs.
“So this is the New Year/And I have no resolutions” is a phenomenal line in a song filled with some great lyrics. Looking back at last week’s discussion about what constitutes a good opening track, it passes all the tests. The intro is rocking, it hits a lot of high points, and sets the tone for the rest of the album.
4. Monday Morning
There’s an interesting story about this song (and entire album if we’re being honest). A lot of ithe album Codes and Keys was influenced by Ben Gibbard’s relationship and subsequent marriage to Zooey Deschanel and the entire first verse of this song is a perfect example of this.
Sadly though, about five months after the album came out, they announced they were separating. It’s the typical melancholy you normally hear from the group, but it works for me.
3. Transatlanticism
As a person who loved listening to music while walking around campus during my time at UL, this was a perfect song for that. Clocking in at seven minutes and 55 seconds, it’s the longest track on the album of the same name and it’s perfect for that aforementioned walk from my parking spot to whatever class I had that day (especially if that day started in Griffin.
It’s a hauntingly beautiful song about a long-distance relationship and it just works on so many levels. When the bands hit that crescendo, it hits the ears in exactly the right way.
2. I Will Possess Your Heart
I don’t quite remember where or when I first heard this song, but it works extremely well. While the radio version cuts out the five minute intro, I actually enjoy these elongated intros where it slowly introduces each instrument. It’s an old trope that groups have used, but it always works.
It’s your typical Death Cab song and might be one of the most popular songs from the group. In fact, Narrow Stairs wound up being the biggest seller in the group’s history.
1. Soul Meets Body