When we laugh indoors, the blissful tones bounce off the walls and fall to the ground.
Peel the hardwood back to let them loose from decades trapped and listen so still.
This city is my home, construction noise all day long and gutter punks are bumming change.
So I breed thicker skin and let me lustrous coat fill in and I'll never admit that
I loved you Guinevere.

I've always fallen fast with too much trust in the promise that
"no one's ever been here, so you can quell those wet fears."
I want purity, I must have it here right now.
But don't you get me started now.

December's chill comes late, the days get darker and we wait for this direness to pass.
There are piles on the floor of artifacts from dresser drawers, and I'll help you pack.



Lyrics submitted by jephque

Track duration: 04:58

"We Laugh Indoors" as written by Nicholas Harmer, Christopher Walla, Benjamin Gibbard

Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


We Laugh Indoors song meanings
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49 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment:Remember guys. Everything is about sex.

    When we laugh indoors
    The blissful tones bounce off the walls
    And fall to the ground.
    Peel the hardwood back
    To let them loose from decades trapped
    And listen so still

    Ben obviously loved this girl and had fun with her.
    The first verse makes me think of him and this girl laying around in bed giggling and just loving each other.


    This city is my home
    Construction noise all day long
    And gutter punks bumming change

    When he starts talking about the city, I think it refers to their love, or love making. Yeah, he was at home with her and felt comfortable. But it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. It was a place full of discomfort and "gutter punks", which to me makes me think of other guys having sex with her; begging for it.


    So I breed thicker skin
    And let my lustrous coat fill in


    "Breed"" helps us see the sexual meaning. He keeps making love to her because he loved her. It also could mean that he's decided that, yeah this girl has lied to me about being a virgin. I can't take the fact that she sleeps with other guys so he decides to leave.

    And here is where we see the whole story come together.


    I've always fallen fast with too much trust in the promise that
    "No one's ever been here, so you can quell those wet fears"

    To me, 'No one's ever been here' means she's claiming she's never had sex with anyone before Ben.
    'So you can quell those wet fears' means that maybe he is very insecure about the situation. Maybe he has cried about it? Or, if we go back to the sexual connotation....wet....Ahem. Anyway.


    I want purity, I must have it here right now
    But don't you get me started now
    Don't you get me

    'I want purity' means he wanted her to be a virgin. He wanted someone innocent. He's pissed off. And 'Don't you get me started now' probably means something like I'm so pissed off, but we've had this talk so many times before that I don't even want to get into it.
    'Don't you get me.' I see this as a question. Don't you understand why I am so angry?

    December's chill comes late
    The days get darker and we wait

    December means the time of death. Their love has died. They have fought so much and she has lied about being innocent. He loved her, but she was not what she claimed to be.

    Oh Ben...such heartache... =/
    Flag Sierrabelleon March 25, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Isn't it spelled 'Guenevere'?
    Flag Sierrabelleon March 25, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I've been a DCFC admirer for a long time, and am now deciding to share my thoughts on the meaning of this song...

    First of all, I really don't think there's a right or wrong meaning to any song, especially one of Ben's songs. I honestly think they all have a certain direction but the end meaning belongs only to the end listener. I may view this song completely different from anyone else here, simply because of different life experiences. Anyhow, here's how I interpret "We Laugh Indoors":

    I think this song is more a way of Ben (or the listener) to tell Guenivere (or the listeners girl/guy) that they are over them, but still remember the love and life they had. From laughing and loving... to eventually splitting and moving on.

    The word "loved", in this song, is very powerful. It says to me that he loved her and STILL loves her, but it's now time to move on. He wouldn't be telling her that he loved her unless he, in some way, still loved her. And I don't really think it's a mean spirited "I loved you", like rubbing it in her face that he no longer is in love with her. I think it's a very healthy and forward thinking way of saying it to her. As in "What we had was great, I'll always wish it lasted and will wonder what we would have been, but it's over. I'll always love you, but it's time to move on, Guenivere."

    One of the more emotionally powerful songs from DCFC, especially concerning relationships.
    Flag NickQon March 25, 2010   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:Guenivere was a queen back in the medieval days that Sir Lancelot was supposed to be "Chivalrous" and have a "Courtly Love", aka nonsexual love, and they become physical and she was "impure" then Camelot crumbles beause this sexual code was broken.

    Haha, i learned that in english today, im pretty sure death cab wrote the song about that general thangg
    Flag a13xftwon November 04, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Did I mention I loved Guenivere?
    Flag IKnowGoodMusicon March 09, 2009   Link
  • -2
    General Comment:This song is easy to decipher. Look at the lines and read them. It's about World of Warcraft.
    Flag Icheadle1990on January 04, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:One other thought I have about these lyrics are that were he says:
    "I want purity, I must have it here right now
    But don't you get me started now"
    if we take purity as meaning virginity, or at least naivety, he could be saying that he craves a girl who has that purity, but at the same time he is telling her not to tempt him, because he knows that by being with her he would ruin that purity. Does that make sense?

    Other than that I love this song so much, the repetition and the hypnotic style...the sparseness of the guitar notes...then the build-up to the heavier part and then it loops right back around, like a metaphor for releasing anger but ultimately it changes nothing. This song evokes a real feeling of powerlessness for me. Amazing.
    Flag Silverdewon November 25, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:to the lines about the city ("this city is my home, construction noise all day long and gutter punks are bumming change")--if being in a city reminds you of someone (in a not-so-good way), you will definitely understand why they're in here. Seattle is my favorite city, but i feel just itchy and uncomfortable knowing the person who had my heart still lives there.

    i'd never needed to look up the lyrics to this, just did it today for no reason. i never knew he said "i'll never admit that i loved you gweniviere." holy shit. wow. amped up the song's meaning for me tenfold.
    Flag mikion April 24, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:this song got me.
    Flag jterranceon April 24, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:guenivere is such a beautiful name. okay, but yeah, i adore this song. he says that he always trusts people too quickly and they end up hurting him. he wants real purity in a person. aparantly he trusted guenivere and she hurt him. he doesnt want to be vulnerable anymore and admit that he loves her. she ends up leaving at the end and helps her pack the her bags finding old memories in the drawers.
    Flag sollischon April 13, 2007   Link

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