I roll the window down
And then begin to breathe in
The darkest country road
And the strong scent of evergreen
From the passenger seat as you are driving me home

Then looking upwards
I strain my eyes and try
To tell the difference between shooting stars and satellites
From the passenger seat as you are driving me home

"Do they collide?"
I ask and you smile
With my feet on the dash
The world doesn't matter

When you feel embarrassed then I'll be your pride
When you need directions then I'll be the guide
For all time
For all time


Lyrics submitted by heartattack

Passenger Seat Lyrics as written by Benjamin Gibbard

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Passenger Seat song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

190 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +10
    General Comment

    this song is soo good. its like i wrote about how i felt with my ex. we used to road trip all of the time and drive everywhere and this hits dead on how we felt. it was just nice and quiet and we weren't afraid to ask each other the stupidest of questions. that feeling of acceptance is amazing and i really wish that i could have it back. a lot of people define love as the feeling you get when your heart pounds and you get the chills and everything. but that is just when you have a stupid little crush. those people have never experienced true love.

    ben obviously has and described it here better than i could have imagined possible. its simple, to the point, and gets every single emotion across. i love how he places himself in the passenger seat and gives the control to the girl. i picture perfectly him slouched in the charir with his head resting on top of the door, straring out the window thinking about anything, not worried at all about saying the wrong thing. that love is a beautiful thing. this song makes me tear a little because of how insanely close i can relate to this song. the whole car scenario just hits a little too close to home...

    weez0268on September 18, 2004   Link
  • +5
    General Comment

    this song doesn't mean anything

    it's just about love in it's purest form: when you know its there on everyday tasks like getting driven home

    hell of a song

    elahaynaon May 08, 2004   Link
  • +4
    General Comment

    wow..one word...breathtaking.

    this song=the pure and simple form of LOVE. the crazy state of happiness that is so often hard to capture in today's songs. this song is just so incredibly personal, and i think anyone can relate to it. i think the relationship described here could be between bf/gf, parent/child, or even God/human. Seriously. this is definitely one of the top songs on their album transatlanticism. I LOVE YOU BEN GIBBARD!!!!!!

    benjamingibbardisababypumpkinon February 14, 2009   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    this song totally reminds me of drives home with my friends. When its just me and one of them sitting in silence for most of the ride after a busy evening. Just enjoying being near each other. That comfortable kind of silence you can only share with a few people. Great song

    inculuston April 19, 2004   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    this song reminds me of the innocence and wonder of children. And i think the best lines are " When you feel embarrassed, i'll be your pride. When you need direction, i'll be the guide"

    Rachey3on May 03, 2004   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    someone told me this song is magic, and it is.

    jcortezon September 27, 2009   Link
  • +2
    My Interpretation

    I'm not saying this is the correct interpretation or anything but this is what I imagine when I listen to this song. A guy is driving his girlfriend home late at night and she's tired. She's been wanting to ask him something and now since they're alone it's the perfect time. She wonders out loud on the lines: "I strain my eyes and try To tell the difference between shooting stars and satellites." I think this is metaphorical and the shooting stars represents love while the satellites represent society. She's wondering whether anyone or anything will get in the way of their love when she asks "do they collide?" He answers her by smiling, assuring her nothing will ever get in the way of them. She feels more comfortable and realizes that the rest of society really doesn't matter and won't ever change their love. He then continues to tell her "when you feel embarrassed then I'll be your pride, when you need directions then I'll be the guide, for all time, for all time." He tells her that he will always be there for her and love her, forever.

    14fourteenon January 24, 2013   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    This song, to me, never sounds like a child and parent. I also agree that it is trying to capture a feeling, not a scenario. Therefore, in my opinion, the car has nothing to do with the meaning, that is just an example of where the feeling may take you; ie. driving with your boyfriend/girlfriend/partner. I interpret the lyrics to convey the feeling of when you are IN love, not just loving someone. Therefore you can feel able to ask any question you want and be answered, or guide them and do everything you possibly can for them, for all time.

    emerlyyon December 21, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    The imagery is incredible in this song, I remember the first time I heard it, I was on a road trip on by baseball team's bus heading to a game some two hours away. The route there was through a canyon, and at night you could see faint outlines of evergreen trees and mountain ridges. The line "the darkest country road and the strong scent of evergreen" couldn't have been timed better as I got to the song while passing thorugh the canyon, and I felt like I was right where Ben was singing about. That's the sheer greatness of DCFC.

    As for my interpretation, I never did think of it as a bond between someone and a parent figure, that is definetely an interesting interpretation. But I had always thought of it as perhaps a road trip some friends are taking, it is late at night and he and the driver are the only ones awake. I would think that the driver is his girlfriend, and they are sharing a small moment with each other while they still have it. The guy in the passenger seat is tired and falling asleep, and perhaps mutturs "do they collide?", referring to the stars and satellites. His girlfriend thinks this is silly and is amused by how funny he is while he is tired. The guy, though still falling asleep, realizes this and feels a feeling similar to being on top of the world, resting his feet on the dash and telling himself "the world dosent matter", because he has everything he needs right next to him. As he finally falls asleep, he is thinking of his girlfriend and everything she means to him, and everything he'll do for her - "When you feel embarrased, then i'll be your pride. When you need directions, then i'll be the guide; for all time".

    kch15on March 08, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    So blissfully and perfectly literal. Thank you thank you a thousand times, Death Cab.

    fishwizardon April 17, 2010   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Album art
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988. "'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it." "There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Album art
When We Were Young
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Album art
No Surprises
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Album art
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it. “I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.