iMedia: Transatlanticism and Tiny Vessels

Transatlanticism song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNqQC7R_Me4
Transatlanticism lyrics:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/deathcabforcutie/transatlanticism.html


Tiny Vessels lyrics:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/deathcabforcutie/tinyvessels.html
Tiny Vessels song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADa7n1fM12g


We've all heard of juxtapositions of ideas throughout movies and books. But what about through music? These two songs, Tiny Vessels and Transatlanticism, are juxtaposed in Death Cab for Cuties album, Transatlanticism. Tiny Vessels comes before Transatlanticism. The ending of Tiny Vessels fades into the beginning of Transatlanticism through the steady "footsteps."

Why did Death Cab for Cutie do this? Why does this bring interest, or extra layers to the meaning of the songs? We need to look at the lyrics of both songs.

Tiny Vessels is about a man letting go of the woman that he doesn't really love. "She is beautiful, but she don't mean a thing to me." As much as he wants it to work, he knows that it can't. Basically, hes over her. There are references to "Silver Lake" and "dark grey clouds."

Transatlanticism is about a man wanting to get closer to a woman. It seems they have been separated, whether it be in heart or literally by oceans. Once again, there are references to clouds and water. "The clouds above opened up and let it out;" "I thought it less like a lake and more like a moat." Instead of being too close the the woman, he needs to be closer(as he repeats TWELVE TIMES at the end of the song).

These two songs create an interesting scene for the listeners to think about. Was the lyricist feeling both of these songs at the same time? How can one want to be closer to someone, but at the same time feel too close? The blending of the two songs suggest they are similar. The idea here is that water can separate people(the references to moats) or pull them together(dark grey clouds).

Is it better to be far apart from the one you love, or to be too close to someone you only half love? Either way, there is still suffering. Sure, the songs are beautiful to listen to: slow and mesmerizing(especially Transatlanticism). But when you get down to the root meaning of the songs together, they make for a pretty depressing theme.

Why do we listen to depressing music in the first place? It doesn't make us feel better; if anything, it makes us feel worse. Is it because we can relate to it? Most of the people I know listen to music, and it isn't always happy. We go back to those sad feelings, over and over again. When we hear different pieces of music, we remember the bad times we've had(with people, instances, life in general). We all go through hard times, and need something to take our mind off the pain. But sad music increases the pain.

I think it is more important to acknowledge how we are feeling, then to just ignore it. Sad music makes us feel depressed, but if we can see our feelings, and look them in the face, maybe we can change them. These two songs put together side by side make us see the two sides of love. Each of us will probably be at both or one of those sides. Once we acknowledge they are there, we can learn from our feelings and move on to better places.