80 Words: Reborn

I’ve been a big fan of Death Cab for Cutie for a few years now. In fact, I think almost all indie fans are. It’s just one of those bands that you have to love before you’re part of the eclectic indie club. So, now you know the prerequisites — no excuses for listening to Pantera, Skid Row, Korn… you get the idea. But I digress. The point of this entry is really just about an innocent naiveness that really struck me the other day.

The song 405 by Death Cab has always resonated with me fondly. Being in Orange County, I always knew or rather thought it was about the very 405 freeway which I took to school on a daily basis. In fact, I even remember driving to Washington… leaving California behind and listening to songs like California (Phantom Planet), 405 (Death Cab), Just Like California (Old 97s), California Love (Tupac Shakur), California Stars (Wilco and Billy Bragg) and Californication (Red Hot Chili Peppers).

Now that I know the song is actually about the 405 freeway in Seattle — I have an entirely new perspective on the song, it’s meaning and the emotions which it invokes within me whenever I hear those first few chords. You could almost say that the song has been reborn to me. And that stuck with me — I listened to a song which I thought was about something specifically near and dear to me for over two years and then found out it was about something a thousand miles away. That’s kind of odd, isn’t it?

I took the 405 and drilled a stake down into your center,
And stated that it’s never ever been better than this.
I hung my favorite shirt on the floorbaord,
wrinkled up from pulling pushing tasting.
You keep twisting the truth that keeps me thrown askew.
Misguided by the 405 ’cause it lead me to an alcoholic summer.
I missed the exit to your parents’ house hours ago.
Red wine and the cigarettes… hide your bad habits underneath the patio.

The song itself is really simple — just 80 words — yet it means something entirely different to me now than before. Have you ever run across this strange shift in paradigms (music related or not…)?

Adieu. Navid.