3 Spectacular Songs from Ben Gibbard that Continue to Wow Fans and Songwriters Alike

The Bremerton, Washington-born songwriter and performer Ben Gibbard has had a major impact on music both locally in his Pacific Northwest home and around the globe. He played a central role in the PNW with his band Death Cab for Cutie. After grunge and the hardships that followed, Death Cab was a beacon of brightness and music. And globally, with Death Cab and his electronic project The Postal Service, Gibbard has garnered millions of appreciative fans.

Here below, we wanted to explore three songs from the artist that have both stood the test of time and continue to inspire more art from singer/songwriters with their acoustic guitars to those with laptops programming new electronic music. To many, Gibbard is a mentor. Indeed, these are three spectacular songs from the musician that continue to wow fans and fellow songwriters.

[RELATED: For Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, Music is a Time Machine]

“Such Great Heights” by The Postal Service from Give Up (2003)

Released in 2003 on the group’s only studio LP Give Up, this song has been used in countless television shows, movies and commercials. Written by Gibbard and producer Jimmy Tamborello, this is a modern love song complete with percussive electronic drums and bright, falsetto vocals from the poetic Gibbard. Of the track, Gibbard told Rolling Stone it is the “first time I’ve ever written a positive love song.” The couple are elevated together in their affection, their love a beacon, like a sattelite. Sings Gibbard on the heart-melting track,

I am thinking it’s a sign
That the freckles in our eyes
Are mirror images
And when we kiss they’re perfectly aligned

And I have to speculate
That God Himself did make
Us into corresponding shapes
Like puzzle pieces from the clay

“Soul Meets Body” by Death Cab for Cutie from Plans (2005)

This acoustic-driven indie rock song is about an ideal, a place where the divine meets the physical. So much of life is mundane and dreary, cement-ridden and drab. But there are places, at least in an ideal world, where there is more. That’s the stuff that Gibbard sings about in this poem set to music. On the Platinum-selling song, which hit No. 60 on the Billboard Hot 100, Gibbard sings of this almost philosophical concept of transcendence, offering listeners,

I do believe it’s true
That there are roads left in both of our shoes
But if the silence takes you
Then I hope it takes me too
So brown eyes, I hold you near
‘Cause you’re the only song I want to hear
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere

“I Will Follow You into the Dark” by Death Cab for Cutie from Plans (2005)

Another from the group’s breakthrough 2005 LP Plans, this track is likely Death Cab for Cutie’s best-known and most beloved song. The heartfelt acoustic-driven track centers Gibbard’s sticky cerebral voice and lyrical writing. We are in his bedroom listening to him, late at night. The bars are closed and we’re in that moment when the world opens up in a way that is specifically meant for song and art. And Gibbard grabs a hold of that moment on this track. On the romantic offering that doubles as a stream-of-consciousness tune of existentialism, Gibbard sings,

Love of mine, someday you will die
But I’ll be close behind
I’ll follow you into the dark
No blinding light or tunnels to gates of white
Just our hands clasped so tight
Waiting for the hint of a spark

If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the No’s on their vacancy signs
If there’s no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I’ll follow you into the dark

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