Death Cab for Cutie

For those who don't have teenagers in the house, yeah, you read it right. Death Cab for Cutie is a band my 13 (nearly 14 going on 26) year old daughter introduced me to. We pretty much have to listen to Hawthorne Heights, American Rejects and sundry "screamers". We have to listen because, even though people have to speak up for me to hear them now, I'm not yet quite deaf enough to not hear her stereo when she plays it loud enough in her bedroom so she can hear it while she takes a shower. But that's not the point. DCfC... they remind me of Sgt. Pepper/White Album era Beatles. In fact, the lead singer sounds like John Lennon on a couple songs. But the fact that I like their more mellow "sound" and orchestration isn't the point either. I like their lyrics. While no one yet touches Simon and Garfunkel for existential lyrics, these guys have a depth and eye on humanity that is worth paying attention to. This is one of my favorite songs, solo guitar, one voice. The video is here.

"I Will Follow You Into The Dark"

Love of mine some day 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 NOs on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark

In Catholic school as vicious as Roman rule
I got my knuckles bruised by a lady in black
And I held my tongue as she told me
"Son fear is the heart of love"
So I never went back

If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the NOs on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark

You and me have seen everything to see
From Bangkok to Calgary
And the soles of your shoes are all worn down
The time for sleep is now
It's nothing to cry about
Cause we'll hold each other soon
The blackest of rooms

If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the NOs on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark
Then I'll follow you into the dark


Actually, the song touches what all the great love songs have in common: they are a reflection of the Divine Romance, the Gospel. This is why they continue, as the ones that have reached into my heart and soul for 40 years, to touch people who are alive to the possibility of love and eternal union with their beloved. We intuitively know that death divides, the darkness of Hades is the loss of unity, the obscuring of our faces to one another, the breaking of our hearts. But we also know that in love Hades is destroyed, death is overcome, and death itself becomes the way we are united forever to our beloved because beyond death there is only eternity. "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts our fear" St. John says in his epistle. If we love, we will follow our beloved into the dark because we know no fear, not even of hell itself. This is the Gospel: God knows we die. We are His beloved and He comes to our side, holds our hand in His, He follows us into the darkest places of our human experience and then into death. He died alone so we will not. When our soul embarks, He is there and follows us into Hades to raise us up eternally with Himself because of Love. We know deep inside us that what Solomon said is true, "Love is as strong as death..."

Death Cab for Cutie and countless poets before them have touched the gospel within us. We will die for the sake of our beloved if it means an eternity together in love. What more can we do for our beloved than what Christ has done for us?