Transatlanticism

I don't think the wife and I have a 'song', per se. Of course, it's more than possible that we do, and I've forgotten it. Like how the husbands do in sitcoms. Maybe it's Faith Hill's "This Kiss", or something similarly uninspired.

While I don't think it has official status in our marriage, I can't hear this Death Cab for Cutie song without thinking of Rachel. In the early days we had only had a few dates before I was on the road for like three months, so we basically got to know each other through phone calls and emails. I listened to the album a ton that fall, while we were having our long-distance courtship. The title song is a masterpiece. It's gotta be the most understated yet satisfying slow build in the history of recorded music (and yes, I know I'm prone to hyperbole). And when the "I need you so much closer"s finally give way to the "so come on"s, well, you gotta be dead to not be moved.

The song was a big influence on me. I quasi-pinched the "come on"s with the "hold on"s we put at the end of "Not Long For This World" on the "Smart Kid" CD. But the greater impact was emotional. I was floored by it so many times. Listening to it late at night in the dark on head phones, like a heart sick teenager. It was a bit painful, but a good pain. Cause it was hard being apart but it was exciting to be in love.

And I think about that now, when I hear the song. How great it is to be in love. You know, with somebody great.

The Atlantic was born today and I'll tell you how...
The clouds above opened up and let it out.

I was standing on the surface of a perforated sphere
When the water filled every hole.
And thousands upon thousands made an ocean,
Making islands where no island should go.
Oh no.

Those people were overjoyed; they took to their boats.
I thought it less like a lake and more like a moat.
The rhythm of my footsteps crossing flatlands to your door have been silenced forever more.
The distance is quite simply much too far for me to row
It seems farther than ever before
Oh no.

I need you so much closer...

So come on, come on...