Death Cab began as a solo project of Ben Gibbard, now the band's vocalist and guitarist. Gibbard took the band name from the satirical song Death Cab for Cutie, performed by The Bonzo Dog Band in The Beatles' 1967 experimental film Magical Mystery Tour. As Death Cab for Cutie, Gibbard released a cassette titled You Can Play These Songs with Chords; the release was surprisingly successful, and Gibbard decided to expand the band into a complete project. He recruited Chris Walla (who had also worked on the cassette) as an electric guitarist, Nick Harmer as bass guitarist, and Nathan Good to play drums.
The four released the LP Something About Airplanes on August 18th 1998. The album was favorably reviewed in the independent music scene, and in 2000 the band released We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes. Nathan Good left the band at some point during this album's production. His playing on “The Employment Pages” and “Company Calls Epilogue” were kept, but Gibbard played drums on all other songs.
Michael Schorr would first appear on The Forbidden Love E.P., released on October 24, 2000. In 2001, another LP was released, entitled The Photo Album. Limited editions of this album contained three bonus tracks, which were later released separately as The Stability EP.
In 2003, there was another change of drummer, with Jason McGerr of Eureka Farm replacing Schorr. McGerr would play drums on the next release, Transatlanticism.
Transatlanticism was released in October of 2003. It received critical praise and also became the band's top-selling album, with 225,000 copies sold during its first year out.
In spring of 2004, the band recorded a live E.P. titled The John Byrd E.P., named for their sound engineer. The E.P. was released on Barsuk Records in March 2004.
In November of 2004, Death Cab for Cutie signed a “long-term worldwide deal” with Atlantic Records, leaving their long-time label Barsuk Records. Gibbard stated on the official website www.deathcabforcutie.com that nothing would change except that “Next to the picture of Barsuk holding a 7", there will be the letter "A" on both the spine and back of our upcoming albums.” This was a marked change from Gibbard's earlier views on major-label relations, which he said “are set up to fuck you and take all your money.”. After signing to Atlantic, the band was still nervous about corporate economics, and encouraged fans to download its songs from the Internet.
The first and second singles off the band's Atlantic Record release Plans were “Soul Meets Body” and “Crooked Teeth”, respectively. The full album was released in August of 2005. Plans was somewhat well-acclaimed by critics and fans, and received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album of 2005. It achieved Gold Status in 2006 after charting on Billboard for 47 consecutive weeks.
The band released a touring DVD titled Drive Well, Sleep Carefully in 2005. Known for their contributions to animal rights, the band is supporting the activist group PETA in giving away copies of the DVD to promote animal rights.
In early 2006, the band announced the upcoming release of Directions, eleven short films inspired by songs from the Plans album, each directed by a different person. The videos were posted one at a time at the band's website and the DVD went on sale April 11, 2006.
On May 12, 2008 their album, Narrow Stairs, was released and was well received by both critics and fans. It was their first album to reach #1 on the Billboard 200. The album contains the singles "I Will Possess Your Heart", "Cath..." and "Grapevine Fires".
The band's latest released The Open Door EP, which was released on March 31, 2009. Their main styles consist of slow progressive rock with dark lyrics.
The band's seventh album, Codes and Keys, was released on May 31, 2011. The album's first single was "You Are A Tourist".
On October 11, 2013, the band reportedly began working on their eighth studio album. This was then confirmed by the group's official Instagram profile in which an image was uploaded with the caption "DCFC LP8 begins". The new album will be produced by Rich Costey and is expected to be released in early 2015. In an interview with Stereogum, Gibbard said of the new album, "I do think from start to finish it's a much better record than Codes And Keys. If that record turned anybody off, I feel pretty strongly that this one could win them back. There are threads in this one that connect back to our earliest stuff that people love." On October 29, 2013, the band released a remastered tenth-anniversary version of their 2003 album Transatlanticism. The new album included a vinyl LP and MP3 download, with demos for all the songs from the album.
As part of the 2014 Record Store Day, the band released its first live album, a vinyl-only double LP recorded during various 2012 tour dates with Magik*Magik Orchestra. Included within the packaging was a code for a digital download of the recording.
On August 13, 2014, after 17 years as a member of Death Cab for Cutie, guitarist and songwriter Chris Walla decided to part ways with the band, with his last performance occurring on September 13, 2014 at the Rifflandia Music Festival in Victoria, British Columbia. Walla states that he plans to "...continue making music, producing records, and erring on the side of benevolence and beauty whenever possible." When asked in an interview about Walla's involvement in the eighth album, McGerr confirmed that Walla "played on everything and has been involved all the way through, even in the mixing. Even though he's played his last show with us, he's still been involved in everything involving this record."
6. Tiny Vessels
Death Cab for Cutie Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
That you told you loved her, but you don't
You touch her skin and then you think
That she is beautiful
But she don't mean a thing to me
Yeah, she is beautiful
But she don't mean a thing to me
The California sun cascading down my face
There was a girl with light brown streaks
And she was beautiful
But she didn't mean a thing to me
Yeah, she was beautiful
But she didn't mean a thing to me
I wanted to believe in all the words that I was speaking
As we moved together in the dark
And all the friends that I was telling
And all the playful misspellings
And every bite I gave that left a mark
When tiny vessels oozed into your neck
And formed the bruises
That you said you didn't want to fade
But they did, and so did I that day
All I see are dark grey clouds
In the distance moving closer with every hour
So when you 'd ask "Is something wrong?"
I think "You're damn right there is, but we can't talk about it now
No, we can't talk about it now"
So one last touch, and then you'll go
And we'll pretend that it meant something so much more
But it was vile, and it was cheap
And you are beautiful
But you don't mean a thing to me
Yeah, you are beautiful
But you don't mean a thing to me
Yeah, you are beautiful
But you don't mean a thing to me
The song Tiny Vessels by Death Cab for Cutie can be interpreted as a reflection on a past relationship, and the confusion and regret that come with it. The first few lines set the scene for the song, with the singer realizing that he doesn't actually love the woman he is with, despite finding her physically attractive. The second verse details a two-week stint in Silverlake, during which the singer meets a second woman who is also physically beautiful, but again means nothing to him. The third verse reflects on the singer's attempts to convince himself and others that the relationship actually means something, and mentions physical intimacy in the form of "tiny vessels" leaving bruises on the woman's neck. The final verse is somber and hopeless, with the singer acknowledging that there is something wrong in the relationship that cannot be spoken about, and ultimately reducing the woman's beauty to something meaningless.
Overall, the song Tiny Vessels is a poignant reflection on the hollow nature of some relationships, and the difficulty of reconciling one's own feelings with societal expectations and pressures.
Line by Line Meaning
This is the moment that you know
This is the moment when you realize
That you told you loved her, but you don't
That you told her you loved her, but you don't really feel it
You touch her skin and then you think
You touch her skin and you're momentarily captivated
That she is beautiful
You think she's beautiful
But she don't mean a thing to me
Yeah, she is beautiful
But she don't mean a thing to me
But she doesn't hold any significant meaning to you
I spent two weeks in Silverlake
I was in Silverlake for two weeks
The California sun cascading down my face
The sun in California shining on my face
There was a girl with light brown streaks
There was a girl I met with light brown streaks in her hair
And she was beautiful
She was beautiful
But she didn't mean a thing to me
Yeah, she was beautiful
But she didn't mean a thing to me
But she didn't hold any significant meaning to me
I wanted to believe in all the words that I was speaking
I wanted to believe in everything I was saying
As we moved together in the dark
As we were intimate in the dark
And all the friends that I was telling
And all the playful misspellings
And all the friends I told about it and all the playful misspellings I made
And every bite I gave that left a mark
And every bite I gave that left a physical mark
When tiny vessels oozed into your neck
And formed the bruises
That you said you didn't want to fade
But they did, and so did I that day
When I left bruises on your neck, which you said you didn't want to heal, but they did and I did on that day
All I see are dark grey clouds
All I see is darkness
In the distance moving closer with every hour
It's getting worse as time passes
So when you 'd ask "Is something wrong?"
So when you'd ask if something was wrong
I think "You're damn right there is, but we can't talk about it now
No, we can't talk about it now"
I think that there's definitely something wrong, but we can't talk about it yet
So one last touch, and then you'll go
So one last physical touch, and then you'll leave
And we'll pretend that it meant something so much more
And we'll both pretend that the physical touch meant something more than it actually did
But it was vile, and it was cheap
But the physical touch was wrong and lacked real depth
And you are beautiful
But you don't mean a thing to me
Yeah, you are beautiful
But you don't mean a thing to me
Yeah, you are beautiful
But you don't mean a thing to me
And while you may be beautiful, you still don't have any real meaning to me
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Benjamin Gibbard, Nicholas Harmer
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
n0rwegianwo0d
I wanted to believe in all the words that I was speaking
As we moved together in the dark
And all the friends that I was telling all the playful misspellings
And every bite I gave you left a mark
Tiny vessels oozed into your neck
And formed the bruises
That you said you didn't want to fade
But they did, and so did I that day
Barbie Crumpler
I think it's interesting that some people hear the song and think of it as themself singing to someone and other people hear it and think of a specific person singing it to them.
Jared Sullivan
I think of it as me singing to my former self
Dip
For me it’s someone in my past singing to me… it’s sort of sad how so many people relate to this song :(
FleetWood_Zac
I don't think many people know how much it hurts not to love someone.
Wendy
Ugh ... So accurate. Been on both sides and both are horrible.
Hebrewblud
@Wendy 9 years ago and it's still relevant to love someone and they don't love you back; to bare that pain is to be human but to be loved by someone and not love them back is to be a monster in human form; the pain is self inflicting regardless of intent.
InExsilium
don't play this song more than once in front of your girlfriend
Kevin Clements
Oops
Tsumichama
You mean you won't play it at your wedding?
Ann C.
With light brown steaks