The song that “boggles the mind” of Ben Gibbard
It has always been hard to put a finger on exactly what kind of music Ben Gibbard plays. Whether he’s working in the traditional band setting with Death Cab for Cutie or picking up electronic instruments in The Postal Service, Gibbard always seems to infuse his songs with elements from eclectic genres and atypical inspirations. That’s probably because Gibbard grew up taking in a wide range of music.
From his initial love of pop groups like The Monkees to his embrace of the grunge scene as a teenager in Seattle, Washington, Gibbard was able to fuse a wide array of different sounds into his own musical identity. Part of that came with a love for pop hooks, which Gibbard has taken with him throughout his entire career. And it all goes back to a pre-Britpop classic: The La’s ‘There She Goes’.
“While I find what I consider the perfect song to be relative to the constantly changing moods and emotions in my life, the one song I constantly come back to is ‘There She Goes’ by The La’s,” Gibbard told NPR’s All Songs Considered. “It defines the perfectly written pop song: an instantaneously recognizable melody and lyric set to simple, economic musical structure.”
Originally released as a single in 1988 before being included on the band’s sole studio album The La’s in 1990, ‘There She Goes’ was actually recorded multiple times by The La’s, with band leader Lee Mavers remaining disappointed with each version. Nevertheless, the classic version of the track has become the band’s signature song, one that Gibbard found remarkable in its simplicity.
“It is such a simple song that it boggles the mind that someone hadn’t already written it,” he said. “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.”
The La’s would be a potent bit of counterprogramming to the emerging grunge scene that Gibbard found himself growing up in. With acoustic guitars, Beatles influences, and almost no distortion whatsoever, The La’s were the complete antithesis of groups like Screaming Trees and Soundgarden. But it was his appreciation for both ends of the rock spectrum that shaped Gibbard’s musical style.
“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,” Gibbard concluded. “I can only hope that I have the ability to write a song that has the same effect on someone else.”
Check out ‘There She Goes’ down below.
