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And it came to me then
That every plan
Is a tiny prayer to father time
As I stared at my shoes
In the ICU
That reeked of piss and 409
And I rationed my breaths
As I said to myself
That I'd already taken too much today
As each descending peak
On the LCD
Took you a little farther away from me
Away from me
Amongst the vending machines
And year old magazines
In a place where we only say goodbye
It sung like a violent wind
That our memories depend
On a faulty camera in our minds
And I knew that you were truth
I would rather loose
Than to have never lain beside at all
And I looked around
At all the eyes on the ground
As the TV entertained itself
Cause there's no comfort in the waiting room
Just nervous paces bracing for bad news
And then the nurse comes round
And everyone lifts their head
But I'm thinking of what Sarah said
That love is watching someone die
So who's gonna watch you die
That every plan
Is a tiny prayer to father time
As I stared at my shoes
In the ICU
That reeked of piss and 409
And I rationed my breaths
As I said to myself
That I'd already taken too much today
As each descending peak
On the LCD
Took you a little farther away from me
Away from me
Amongst the vending machines
And year old magazines
In a place where we only say goodbye
It sung like a violent wind
That our memories depend
On a faulty camera in our minds
And I knew that you were truth
I would rather loose
Than to have never lain beside at all
And I looked around
At all the eyes on the ground
As the TV entertained itself
Cause there's no comfort in the waiting room
Just nervous paces bracing for bad news
And then the nurse comes round
And everyone lifts their head
But I'm thinking of what Sarah said
That love is watching someone die
So who's gonna watch you die
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Bass Drum: Heart beat
Snare: IV fluids and medicine
Strummed guitar chords: Breathes and respirations
Ride Cymbal: Brain Activity
The other guitar: The will to live
Piano and Synth: EKG/ECG monitor
Listening to it that way makes the song just that much more powerful, as eventually all the instruments fade away, down to the cymbal quietly dying out, leaving only the piano and synth to settle to a chord gently, like an EKG on flatline/asystole... It's just so striking.
I have no interpretation to offer, since I think the song is experiential and thus, too, are my comments. A line that guts me every time, in addition to the ones you've all noted, is that "it stung like a violent wind that our memories depend on a faulty camera in our minds..."
The song is so delicately balanced as a composition, as melody and prosity; the phrasing of the piano creates an almost nauseating urgency hidden by its beauty and then you are destroyed fully by the lyrics - the expression of the crushing reality and numbing sorrow already present, plus the fact that our memories fade and change. In effect, he acknowledges that as horrible as the scene before him is, the implications are foreever: because of our memories, we will be losing your loved ones until our own end. It's like an existential piling on.
Then of course there's his subtle question about the breadth and richness of our own lives: who will be there to smell the piss and 409 for us?
Brilliant.
Very profound, one of the best lyrics I've ever heard in any song period.
I read that Sarah was the wife of one of Ben's friends and one night the couple was taking a walk when Sarah burst into tears after coming to the realization that "love is watching someone die"
The song is very clearly about sitting in the ICU as a loved one is passing. I think due to the line "I would rather lose than to have never lain beside at all" it is safe to assume that the context of the song is a spouse or significant other (unless you have "lain beside" all of your loved ones...). I also think though that part of the beauty of the song is its ability to apply to everyone's individual experiences waiting in a hospital for any friend or loved one.
The line "love is watching someone die" hit me like a truck the first time I heard it, and it is something that will stick with me forever. It may be one of the most amazing lines ever written down on paper. I think it means that when you love someone you are signing up to watch them die, and you are doing it every day as we are all technically dieing. Even though parting with them will be a very painful experience, you are accepting it for the happiness of being with them now.
I think that the second most powerful line in the song is the line immediately after. "so who's going to watch you die?" The character in the song is in the ICU just sitting and remembering that when he fell in love with this person, he knew that someday they would die. He is waiting for the bad news that the love of his life is gone. But now he is alone, so who is going to watch him die? Or will he die empty and alone? This interpretation is influenced by the video where a guy is basically sitting on a bed and smoking cigarettes alone in the aftermath of his loved one's passing. At this part of the song he just starts shaking violently with his head in his hands.
What if the one who is dying is the singer?
You can relate basically everything from the lyrics that way too. And the final lyrics kinda make a lot of sense if you think like that.
Sarah once said to Ben that love is staying with someone until they die. Watching they die. Ben's dying and leaving his love behind. He is wondering who is going to watch her die since he will never be able to do that.
When I hear this song I wonder who loves me and would they care (other than my family).
The way I interpreted it is through the line, "that love is watching someone die", and that I (the only person to know about her depression) was in fact watching her slowly waste away and die. This song is now the most played on my iPod and Death Cab are my favourite band. I have fallen in love with Bens lyrics just like I am now in love with Sarah. I showed her this song, and it is now our song. It means so much to both of us. And we eventually realised, that at 3:10, the exact middle of the song, Ben sings, "love". We share that love through this song and it always brings me peace of mind.
I hope everyone finds this song as meaningful as I do.
- Justin
And it came to me then that every plan is a tiny prayer to Father Time ( We know who father time is with his scythe and hourglass, life is like an hourglass, with how much time left we don't know. Making plans in life is assuming that your hourglass still has and will have time left, yet we are truly unable to know this, so when we make plans, we go off of the hope that we will live to see these plans happen.)
As I stared at my shoes in the ICU that reeked of piss and 409 (When someone is dying, you remember every moment, every movement, every thought, even every smell)
As each descending peak on the LCD took you a little farther away from me (Each time he takes a peak at the TV he realizes that it is another moment closer to death for his loved one)
And I knew that you were a truth I would rather lose than to have never lain beside at all (He would have rather loved and lost than lived a lie and never loved at all)
And I looked around at all the eyes on the ground as the TV entertained itself (Nobody in the ICU is paying attention to what is on the TV because they are all thinking about their loved ones)
But I’m thinking of what Sarah said,
"That love is watching someone die."
So who’s gonna watch you die? (When you love someone, and you are with them every moment, watching them grow old, you are watching them die, every day and every second we are closer to death. It's like a cup half full or half empty.. are we living or are we dying. I think this is saying we are dying, so who is going to be here with you in life until the day you are dead)