Death Cab for Cutie Lyrics: November 2023

Asphalt Meadows (2022)

I Don't Know How I Survive lyrics - Death Cab For Cutie

Listen to the ringing in your ears

The scrambled voices of your fears

Whispering, whispering

Listen to the sound of your heartbeat

Growing louder, gaining speed

You're breathin' out, breathin' in

In these nights, I don't know how I survive

Pacing across the room while she's asleep

Tears raining down her cheeks

Trying to hold, trying to hold on

Praying, even though you don't believe

Just in case they are received

By anyone, anyone

These nights, I don't know how I survive

(These nights, I don't know how I survive)

These nights, I don't know how I survive

(These nights, I don't know how I survive)

These nights, I don't know how I survive

(These nights, I don't know how I survive)

These nights, I don't know how I survive

(These nights, I don't know how I survive)

No, I don't know how I survive

(I don't know how I survive)

No, I don't know how I survive

(I don't know how I survive)

Listen to the ringing in your ears

The scrambled voices of your fears

Whispering, whispering

Roman Candles lyrics - Death Cab For Cutie

It's been a battle just to wake and greet the day

Then they all disappear like sugar in my coffee

(Sugar in my coffee)

A hint of sweetness but the bitterness remains

The acidity devouring my body

(Devouring my body)

But I am learning to let go

Of everything I tried to hold

Too long 'cause they all explode

Like roman candles

I used to feel everything like a flame

But now it's a struggle just to feel anything

(To feel anything)

I watch the world from a window on a hill

Everyone moving as I'm standing still

(I'm standing still)

But I am learning to let go

Of everything I tried to hold

Too long 'cause they all explode

Like roman candles

Ah-woo, ah-woo

Ah-woo, ah-woo

But I am learning to let go

Of everything I tried to hold

Too long 'cause they all explode

Like roman candles

Like roman candles

Asphalt Meadows lyrics - Death Cab For Cutie

Your kiss was a lonely prayer

When you slipped it into my mouth

I closed my eyes and held it in

And then I exhaled it out

The glow of the downtown lights

Casting shadows across your face

As if all the buildings knew

I could only know half of you

And I was a snake under your flowers

I just wanted to disappear

Into the understory of your beauty

Never to reappear

But there's a name writ on your cast

Above the bruised and broken bones

That tells everybody that you meet

To whom the damage is owed

We rode a wave of white noise

Beneath the city sleeping

I saw the train doors closing

I felt your sorrow deepen

Here in the asphalt meadows

There's only one thing that grows

Finding the life through the concrete

Getting trampled under our feet

You said all your bridges and roads

They all lead to an airport

Planes drifting off into the sky

Always depart, but never seem to arrive

And there in the early hour

Lying naked in your unmade bed

I was thinking of how to tell you

What my ticket read

Your kiss was a lonely prayer

A single candle, slowly burning down

But the light, your light was beautiful

Within its here and now

We rode a wave of white noise

Beneath the city sleeping

I saw the train doors closing

I felt your sorrow deepen

Here in the asphalt meadows

There's only one thing that grows

Finding the life through the concrete

Getting trampled under our feet

We rode a wave of white noise

Beneath the city sleeping

I saw the train doors closing

I felt your sorrow deepen

Here in the asphalt meadows

There's only one thing that grows

Finding the life through the concrete

Getting trampled under our feet

Getting trampled under our feet

Getting trampled under our feet

Getting trampled under our feet

Rand McNally lyrics - Death Cab For Cutie

A Rand McNally atlas, cheap coffee stained

Now, I wouldn't know how to use one with my life at stake

You were waiting on a payphone at a truck stop in Houston

Trying to call your mother, 'cause she's a worrier

A handful of twenties in your overcoat

Always rolled into a pillow on some stranger's floor

And you tell these stories with happy endings

Only when interrupted before they're over

But I won't let the light fade

I won't let the light fade

Chasing these roads into dawns

I won't let the light fade

I won't let the light fade

Falling asleep in their arms

It seemed these highways were never-ending

Circling odds and evens, the numbers ascending and

Searching through static on the Wyoming plains

We danced to both kinds of music, as the old joke claims

And I wanted for nothing, I couldn't rent

We lived on whiskey and Twizzlers, and youth's discontent

With this Rand McNally atlas, dog-eared and frayed

Like Old Testament verses that don't make sense in this decade

Don't let the light fade

I won't let the light fade

Chasing these roads into dawns

I won't let the light fade

I won't let the light fade

Falling asleep in their arms

But I won't let the light fade

I won't let the light fade

Chasing these roads into dawns

And I'm holding on

Holding on

I won't let the light fade

I won't let the light fade

I won't let the light fade

I won't let the light fade

I won't let the light fade

I won't let the light fade

Here To Forever lyrics - Death Cab For Cutie

In every movie I watch from the 50s

There's only one thought that swirls

Around my head now

And that's that everyone there on the screen

Yeah, everyone there on the screen

Well, they're all dead now

They're all dead now

And it ain't easy living above

And I can't help but keep falling in love

With bones and ashes

With bones and ashes

And when the color is too bold and bright

I'm daydreaming in black and white

Until it passes

Until it passes

I wanna know the measure

From here to forever

And I wanna feel the pressure

Of God or whatever

Oh, these days it's so hard to relax

You gotta hold a gun to my back

To make me smile

To make me smile

And the only way I seem to cope

Is by trying to hold onto hope

If just for a while

If just for a while

I wanna know the measure

From here to forever

And I wanna feel the pressure

Of God or whatever

Now it seems more than ever

There's no hands on the levers

And I wanna feel the pressure

Of God or whatever

Only rollers keep rolling

While the searchers keep scrolling

I wanna know the measure

From here to forever

And I wanna feel the pressure

Of God or whatever

Now it seems more than ever

There's no hands on the levers

And I wanna feel the pressure

Of God or whatever

Or whatever

Foxglove Through The Clearcut lyrics - Death Cab For Cutie

There was a man who used to live by the ocean

But he never set foot in the sea

It made him nervous that the water was always in motion

And he feared the creatures who swam beneath

And when I asked him how he'd ended up there

Above a world he would never know

He said he'd driven all the way across America

And when he got to the edge there was nowhere left to go

Nowhere left to go

Nowhere left to go

Nowhere left to go

Nowhere left to go

He said that nothing lives long, only the earth and the mountains

As he quoted black kettle's death song

The words drifting off into the emptiness

Of this great land where we've never belonged

And while the frontiers are ever-expanding

Our living rooms fall into disarray

And no one seems interested in fixing what they've broken

They just sweep the pieces into the bushes and slip away

Slowly slip away

Slowly slip away

Slowly slip away

Slowly slip away

And now he and I watch the foxglove grow through the clearcut

Where a forest once grew high and wild

For what is a funeral without flowers

And ten thousand tombstones reaching for the sky

Reaching for the sky

Reaching for the sky

Reaching for the sky

Reaching for the sky

Pepper lyrics - Death Cab For Cutie

Take a picture to remember this by

You'll never hold all the details in your mind

Fillin' your head with superfluous facts

Pushin' out what you're never gettin' back

And all that's left is a version of the truth

A recollection that is often misconstrued

Sgt. Pepper with the faces of friends

But the names all elude you in the end

Kiss me just this one last time

Tell me that you once were mine

Take a picture to remember me by

To show everybody who you left behind

The near-miss that almost shot you out of the blue

I was a city you were only passin' through

And all that's left is a version of events

Favorably framed for the sake of self-defense

We barely notice as the pages disappear

Floating off into another year

Kiss me just this one last time

Tell me that you once were mine

Kiss me just this one last time

Show me that your love was mine

Kiss me just this one last time

Tell me that you once were mine

Kiss me just this one last time

Show me that your love was mine

I Miss Strangers lyrics - Death Cab For Cutie

You were by my side on the front lines

Do you remember? Do you remember?

Two casualties of the punk wars

Buried in leather, in leather

But these days I miss strangers more than I, more than I miss my friends

And the waves of conversations breaking on the shores of my head again

Furnishments dumpstered or groundscored

You didn't need money, not money

Everything you owned in a hatchback

Battered and musty, and musty

These days I miss strangers more than I, more than I miss my friends

And the dive bars filled with hopeless drunks sinking deeper into their sins

And I'm trying to be here now, but I'm only asking when

Reach out

Reach out

Reach out

To what is choking you

To what is choking you

Reach out

To what is choking you

To what is choking you

Reach out

These days I miss strangers more than I, more than I miss my friends

And the waves of conversations breaking on the shores of my head again

These days I miss strangers more than I, more than I miss my friends

And I'm trying to be here now, but I'm only asking when

And I'm trying to be here now, but I'm only asking when

And I'm trying to be here now, but I'm only asking when

Wheat Like Waves lyrics - Death Cab For Cutie

Wheat like waves

The Canadian plains were an ocean wide

Flowing to the sky

With prefab sprout

Echoing out of your '90s Accord

With the mismatched doors

Away from the wives

For just a few days traveling 'cross the divide

My delusions ablaze

But a homesteader's life

At 45 was just a fleeting dream

There's no way I'd survive

The winters in Saskatchewan are so cold

You talked of your kid

How frightened you'd been when she almost died

With tears in your eyes

But I could not pretend

To comprehend the depths of that kind of love

As a childless man

And there's so little time

So many miles to drive before the endless sleep

Eventually arrives

But I never would've thought

That life was so long that we'd be growing old

With stories untold

You were kindled by the dials on the dashboard

Your tattoos like the stamps upon your passport

Speeding like we thought we were escaping

From everything we feared that we were breaking

By trying to hold them in our hands

You were kindled by the dials on the dashboard

Your tattoos like the stamps upon your passport

Speeding like we thought we were escaping

From everything we feared that we were breaking

By trying to hold them in our hands

Fragments From The Decade lyrics - Death Cab For Cutie

Fragments from the decade are splayed out on your floor

Like hundreds of locked doors

There's a story that you're trying to find

But the pieces don't fit together in your mind

Your mother was a drunkard, your father was not a saint

Your sister lacked restraint

And in photos you were always staring through the lens

To some distant place you would rather have been

Days are lonely and long

Walking in place where you don't belong

Here on paved native lands

Time disappears from the palms of your hands

Fragments from the decade are dancing in the fire

Like marionettes on wires

And if you stare too long they almost seem alive

Too beautiful and helpless to survive

Days are lonely and long

Walking in place where you don't belong

Here on paved native lands

Time disappears from the palms of your hands

Time disappears from the palms of your hands

Time disappears from the palms of your hands

I'll Never Give Up On You lyrics - Death Cab For Cutie

I've given up on aspiration

And I've given up on ever being cool

I gave up the drugs that made me restless

Oh and the alcohol that made me cruel

But I'll never give up, never give up

I'll never give up on you

Never give up, never give up

I'll never give up on you

Never give up, never give up

I'll never give up on you

Never give up, never give up

I'll never give up on you

I've given up on confrontation

And I've given up on every politician too

And I've given up on affectations

And the dilettantes they all consume

But I'll never give up, never give up

I'll never give up on you

Never give up, never give up

I'll never give up on you

Never give up, never give up

I'll never give up on you

Never give up, never give up

I'll never give up on you

Never give up, never give up

I'll never give up on you

Never give up, never give up

I'll never give up on you

Never give up, never give up

I'll never give up on you

Never give up, never give up

I'll never give up on you

Never give up, never give up

Never give up, never give up

Never give up, never give up

Never give up, never give up

EP: The Georgia (2020)

Waterfalls lyrics - Death Cab For Cuti

(originally by TLC)

A lonely mother gazing out of the window

Staring at a son that she just can't touch

If at any time he's in a jam, she'll be by his side

But he doesn't realize he hurts her so much

But all the praying just ain't helping at all

'Cause he can't seem to keep himself out of trouble

So he goes out and he makes his money the best way he knows how

Another body lying cold in the gutter

Listen to me

Don't go chasing waterfalls

Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to

I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all

But I think you're moving too fast

Little precious has a natural obsession for temptation

But he just can't see

She gives him loving that his body can't handle

But all he can say is, "Baby it's good to me"

One day he goes and takes a glimpse in the mirror

But he doesn't recognize his own face

His health is fading and he doesn't know why

Three letters took him to his final resting place

Y'all don't hear me

Don't go chasing waterfalls

Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to

I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all

But I think you're moving too fast

Don't go chasing waterfalls

Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to

I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all

But I think you're moving too fast

Don't go chasing waterfalls

Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to

I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all

But I think you're moving too fast

Don't go chasing waterfalls

Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to

I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all

But I think you're moving too fast

King Of Carrot Flowers, Pt. 1 lyrics - Death Cab For Cutie

(originally by Neutral Milk Hotel)

When you were young, you were the king of carrot flowers

And how you built a tower tumbling through the trees

In holy rattlesnakes that fell all around your feet

And your mom would stick a fork right into daddy's shoulder

And dad would throw the garbage all across the floor

As we would lay and learn what each other's bodies were for

And this is the room one afternoon, I knew I could love you

And from above you how I sank into your soul

Into that secret place where no one dares to go

And your mom would drink until she was no longer speaking

And dad would dream of all the different ways to die

Each one a little more than he could dare to try

Fall On MeFall On Me lyrics - Death Cab For Cutie

(originally by R.E.M.)

There's the problem, feathers, iron

Bargain buildings, weights and pulleys

Feathers hit the ground

Before the weight can leave the air

Buy the sky and sell the sky

And tell the sky, and tell the sky

Don't fall on me (What is it up in the air for?)

Fall on me (If it's there for long)

Fall on me (It's over, it's over me)

There's the progress

We have found a way to talk around the problem

Building towers

Foresight isn't anything at all

Buy the sky and sell the sky

Bleed the sky, tell the sky

Don't fall on me (What is it up in the air for?)

Fall on me (If it's there for long)

Fall on me (It's over, it's over me)

Fall on me

Well, I would keep it above

But then it wouldn't be sky anymore

So, if I send it to you

You've got to promise to keep it home

Buy the sky and sell the sky

And lift your arms up to the sky

And ask the sky, ask the sky

Don't fall on me (What is it up in the air for?) (It's gonna fall)

Fall on me (If it's there for long) (It's gonna fall)

Fall on me (It's over, it's over me) (It's gonna fall)

Don't fall on me (What is it up in the air for?) (It's gonna fall)

Fall on me (If it's there for long) (It's gonna fall)

Fall on me (It's over, it's over me) (It's gonna fall)

Fall on me

Don't fall on me (What is it up in the air for?) (It's gonna fall)

Fall on me (If it's there for long) (It's gonna fall)

Fall on me (It's over, it's over me) (It's gonna fall)

Fall on me

Flirted With You All My Life lyrics - Death Cab For Cutie

(originally by Vic Chesnutt)

I am a man

I am self-aware

And everywhere I go

You're always right there with me

I flirted with you all my life

Even kissed you once or twice

And to this day I swear it was nice

But, clearly, I was not ready

When you touched a friend of mine

I thought that I would lose my mind

But I found out with time

That, really, I was not ready, no, no

Oh death, oh death

Oh death, really, I’m not ready

Oh death, you hinder me

Death makes those dear to me

Tease me with your sweet relief

You're cool and you are constant

When my mom was cancer sick

She fought but then succumbed to it

But you made her beg for it

"Lord Jesus, please, I'm ready"

Oh death, oh death

Oh death, really, I’m not ready, no, no

Oh death, oh death

Oh death, clearly, I'm not ready

Metal Heart lyrics - Death Cab For Cutie

(originally by Cat Power)

Losing a star without a sky

Losing the reasons why

You're losing the calling that you've been faking

And I'm not kidding

It's damned if you don't and it's damned if you do

Be true, cause they'll lock you up in a sad, sad zoo

Oh, hidy-hidy-hidy, whatcha trying to prove?

By hidy-hidy-hiding

You're not worth a thing

Sew your fortunes on a string

And hold them up to light

Blue smoke will take

A very violent flight

And you will be changed and everything

And you will be

In a very sad, sad zoo

I once was lost, but now I'm found

Was blind, but now I see you

How selfish of you

To believe in the meaning of all the bad dreaming

Metal heart, you're not hiding

Metal heart, you're not worth a thing

Metal heart, you're not hiding

Metal heart, you're not worth a thing

Metal heart, you're not hiding

Metal heart, you're not worth a thing

EP: The Blue (2019)

To The Ground lyrics - Death Cab For Cutie

The arms lost control

Slipped and began to roll

On the wings of an ocean gale

Crashed right through the rail

Down to the valley below

To the valley below

Down in the charred remains

Stripped the chassis clean

And the gravel grew through the frame

Till it swallowed everything

Swallowed everything

Return to the ground

To the ground

Return to the ground

To the ground

Trees growing tall

Weeds covering all

And the animals make their homes

Underneath its fusted dome

All things come around

All comes around

Comes around

Returns to the ground

To the ground

Ground

Around

Comes around

To the ground

To the ground

To the ground

To the ground

Kids In '99 lyrics - Death Cab For Cutie

I'm thinkin' 'bout those kids

I'm thinkin' 'bout those kids

Back in '99

The gas leakin' in the creek

A firecracker then a spark

And in a moment they were

Gone, gone

Gone, gone

Our house was shaken by the blast

Black smoke billowing off the landscape

Sirens crying through the streets

With choppers hovering like vultures above a meal

Gone, gone

Gone, gone

Gone, gone

Gone, gone

In the waters where we used to swim

Where we thought we would be young forever

The beads that glistened on your sunburnt skin

Evaporated in the flames and embers

I'm thinkin' 'bout those kids

I'm thinkin' 'bout those kids

Back in '99

And wonder who they woulda been

For not a spark and a flash and the moment they were

Gone, gone

Gone, gone

Gone, gone

Gone, gone

Gone, gone

Gone, gone

Man In Blue lyrics - Death Cab For Cutie

If you know my name

Why are you calling out

To an old love?

To an old love?

When you need someone

Why do you always run?

To your lord up above?

To your lord up above?

I just want to understand you

I don't need to be your man in blue

Your days all the same

Prayers like drops of rain

As you wait for the flood

To cleanse everyone

Can you hear my voice?

In a high, lonesome rejoice

Sing a song for you

In and out of tune

And I just want to understand you

I don't need to be your man in blue

I just want you to see yourself the way I do

I don't need to be your man in blue

No I don't need to be your man, man in blue

Before The Bombs lyrics - Death Cab For Cutie

Before the bombs

Before the walls came down

We would lie in the summer sun

Watching the clouds pass one by one

Before the fires

Before the spools of barbed wire

You said you would never forget

What pierces deeper than the bayonet?

There's only one thing that'll save this place

The only thing that they cannot face

There's only one thing that they cannot take

Love, love

Before the mobs

Before the inside jobs

Sleeping in on borrowed time

Too distracted for the modern crimes

Before the war

Before the troops came ashore

I held you deep in my arms

A fool to think that they could save you from harm

There's only one thing that'll save this place

The only thing that they cannot face

There's only one thing that they cannot take

Love, love

There's only one thing that'll save this place

The only thing that they cannot face

There's only one thing that they cannot take

Love, love

Love, love

Before the bomb

There's only one thing that'll save this place

The only thing that they cannot face

There's only one thing that they cannot take

Love, love

Love, love

Love, love

Love, love

Blue Bloods lyrics - Death Cab For Cutie

All the east coast blue bloods come out west

And I watch them argue about who loved you the best

I was conspicuously of my kind

Overdressed, but woefully under-refined

Well, the story held together like boulders with a piece of twine

Three helicopters circling

Retreating and returning

Your photographs were on the news

And I was there just out of view

I was standing with a smile chiseled into my head

With a mind in retreat to the places I wished I would've been

When you caught my gaze, I turned away

Planned an exit like a grand escape

As I watched you spinning through the revelers like a cheap ballet

These words all sound familiar

Convictions are forever

You tied a wish to a balloon

Watched it fly to the moon

But you will find some day soon

That it will fall

Yes, it will fall on you

Because they all do

Because they all do

They all do

Because they all do

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