Death Cab for Cutie has a new single out called “Gold Rush”. The song has a very catchy rhythm and deep, retrospective lines.
According to the band’s frontman Ben Gibbard, the song is about his long-time home in Capitol Hill. “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become acutely aware of how I connect my memories to my geography and [how] the landscape of the city changes,” he told NPR. “I’ll walk down Broadway and walk past a location that used to be a bar I’d frequent with friends, or somewhere where I had a beautifully intense conversation with somebody that I once loved very much.” Gibbard explained that the song is really an observation of change and coming to terms with new phases of life, not a complaint of the past.
You can get a sense of the biting struggle in lines like:
(Gold rush) Digging for gold in my neighborhood
(Gold rush) Where all the old buildings stood
(Gold rush) And they keep digging it down and down
(Gold rush) So that the cars can live underground
(Change) Be this way, be this way
(Please don’t change)
(Stay) Be this way, be this way
(Stay the same)
(Cranes) Be this way, be this way
(Devour the light)
(Strange) Be this way, be this way
(Appetite)
(Gold rush) I’m sifting through these wreckage piles
(Gold rush) Through the rubble of bricks and wires
(Gold rush) Looking for something I’ll never find
(Gold rush) Looking for something I’ll never find
Though the song is about Seattle, the video was filmed in Los Angeles, so don’t expect to see a piece of the cityscape appear.
Stephen is a professional urban planner in Puget Sound with a passion for sustainable, livable, and diverse cities. He is especially interested in how policies, regulations, and programs can promote positive outcomes for communities. With stints in great cities like Bellingham and Cork, Stephen currently lives in Seattle. He primarily covers land use and transportation issues and has been with The Urbanist since 2014.