Ben Gibbard

Liking interesting things doesn’t make you interesting.

At this point in my life, I find myself obsessed with alternate paths I could’ve taken. I don’t think about this with a sense of regret, but with a sense of wonder...

Our Youth is fleeting Old age is just around the bend And I can't wait to go grey And I'll sit and wonder Of every love that could have been If I'd only thought of something charming to say

As the flashbulbs burst she holds a smile Like someone would hold a crying child <P> Soon everybody will ask what became of you Your heart was dying fast and you didn't know what to do.

At some point I thought that, as I got older, I’d come to terms with a lot of things. I’d solve some big problems, and eventually I’d become content. It’s almost more depressing to think that the older you get, the more your problems multiply. When I’m old, I’d like to wake up in the morning and not really do anything — just be happy to exist. I’d like to look at my accomplishments and sit back and revel in my own achievement. But I don’t think that’ll ever happen. Before I made a living playing music, I used to work shitty job after shitty job and think “Man, as soon as I’m able to make a living in music, it’s really going to come together then, it’s really going be amazing.” I remember hoping there’d be 10 people at a show in 1998 when there was an incredible write-up in the local weekly. I don’t want to go back to that period of being obscure and having nobody know who I am, let alone have to struggle to get people to come to the show. I remember what it was like, and it was shitty.

You'll be loved you'll be loved Like you never have known The memories of me Will seem more like bad dreams Just a series of blurs Like I never occurred Someday you will be loved

I don’t spend my time perusing message boards to find out what people think about me or if people think my songs are good or if people love that lyric or this or that. I just want to be happy with it myself — and if other people like it, that’s great.

It seems that you live in someone else's dream In a hand-me-down wedding dress With the things that could have been are repressed But you said your vows and you closed the door On so many men who would have loved you more

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

How I wish you could see the potential The potential of you and me It's like a book elegantly bound, but In a language that you can't read just yet <p> You got to spend some time, love You got to spend some time with me And I know that you'll find love I will possess your heart

I feel like there's a lot of beauty in the darkness of Narrow Stairs, but that's not really a place I'm ready to go to for a while. I'm interested in taking a different approach and having the next record be different in tone — I'm just not interested in making another dark, dark album.

It wasn't quite what is seemed: a lack of pleasantries (My able body isn't what it used to be) I must admit I was charmed by your advances Your advantage left me helplessly into you

If you tell certain people that you like Kerouac, they assume that’s all you read, like you don’t know anything else about literature. I recognize all the things that people dislike about the way he writes — his tone and the sentimentality of it all. But those books were there for me at a very important point in my life.

I decided a handful of years ago that I just want to write songs that you can understand as soon as you put the record on. There’s no need to veil what’s happening in the song the way I used to. My goal as a songwriter now is to simply write some memorable turns of phrase.

A lot of the material is about the inevitable disappointment people feel as they move through life, and things don’t feel the way they expect. No experience will ever match up to the idealized version in your mind.