The “perfect” song, according to Ben Gibbard
The musical inspirations that shaped Death Cab For Cutie’s sound have evolved over their extensive career. Initially aligned with the emo movement of the late 1990s and early 2000s, the band transitioned into a more melodious and alternative rock direction with albums like Transatlanticism and Plans. For the band’s visionary founder and singer-songwriter, Ben Gibbard, the formative influences of punk and indie music also profoundly shaped the sonic landscape he crafted within those initial demos.
Like many musicians at the time, the air was still very much filled with the aftermath of The Velvet Underground’s prominent wave. Even though the dust had settled on their reign, the musical disruption they caused was still very much forming the cornerstones of new wave indie rock.
Gibbard’s upbringing exposed him to the burgeoning rock scenes of the ‘90s, but his first love centred around a band that rose to prominence much earlier. This was none other than the esteemed rock group The Monkees, who, as Gibbard puts it, “made being in a band seem so fun”. Countless hours in front of the TV watching reruns of the band’s performances made a young Gibbard feel a sense of belonging and a strong desire to one day experience the magic of being in a band himself.
In 2016, Gibbard’s childhood fantasies materialised into a beautiful collaboration with his contribution to The Monkees’ 2016 album, Good Times. Gibbard wrote the melancholic ‘Me & Magdalena’ for the record, which he called “the greatest honour of my career”.
However, when asked about the ultimate “perfect” song, in his eyes, his answer wasn’t one in the American pop-rock band’s discography. In fact, it came from one of Liverpool’s finest rock collectives – The La’s. Like many others, Gibbard is a big fan of their hit song ‘There She Goes’, even going so far as to call it “the perfectly written pop song”.
He detailed further: “While I find what I consider the perfect song to be relative to the constantly changing moods and emotions in my life,” he clarifies, “the one song I constantly come back to is ‘There She Goes’ by the La’s. It defines the perfectly written pop song: an instantaneously recognisable melody and lyric set to simple, economic musical structure.”
For many, the “perfect” song would be one rife with clever musical arrangements and a melody original enough to conjure inspiration. However, for Gibbard, what makes ‘There She Goes’ so seamless is actually its simplicity – a simplicity that evokes joy in a way that no other song can: “It is such a simple song that it boggles the mind that someone hadn’t already written it.”
He continued: “Regardless, for just over two minutes, ‘There She Goes’ lifts me off the ground and removes the troubles from my mind in a way no other song has ever done. even when I hear it now, I feel the same sense of joy and elation that I did when I heard it for the first time nearly 15 years ago. I can only hope that I have the ability to write a song that has the same effect on someone else.”
‘There She Goes’ is a unique gem due to its lack of verses – it actually only has one chorus, repeated four times. Gibbard isn’t the only one who praises the song, Noel Gallagher has also added that it’s his favourite song from the ‘90s. As a staple of Britpop, the song has made its way onto many charts and compilations, which just shows that the waning years of the era still had a lot to offer.
