Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie
During the concert on Friday, October 21st 2022 at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, Ben Gibbard stated this song was about the early days of the band, when they were traveling on the road and playing at small venues to small crowds.
[Verse 1]
A Rand McNally atlas, cheap coffee stained
Now, I wouldn't know how to use one with my life at stake
You were waiting on a payphone at a truck stop in Houston
Trying to call your mother, ’cause she's a worrier
A handful of twenties in your overcoat
Always rolled into a pillow on some stranger's floor
And you tell these stories with happy endings
Only when interrupted before they’re over
[Chorus]
But I won't let the light fade
I won't let the light fade
Chasing these roads into dawns
I won't let the light fade
I won't let the light fade
Falling asleep in their arms
[Verse 2]
It seemed these highways were never-ending
Circling odds and evens, the numbers ascending and
Searching through static on the Wyoming plains
We danced to both kinds of music, as the old joke claims
And I wanted for nothing, I couldn't rent
We lived on whiskey and Twizzlers, and youth's discontent
With this Rand McNally atlas, dog-eared and frayed
Like Old Testament verses that don't make sense in this decade
[Chorus]
Don’t let the light fade
I won’t let the light fade
Chasing these roads into dawns
I won't let the light fade
I won’t let the light fade
Falling asleep in their arms
But I won't let the light fade
I won't let the light fade
Chasing these roads into dawns
[Bridge]
And I'm holding on
Holding on
[Outro]
I won’t let the light fade
I won't let the light fade
I won't let the light fade
I won't let the light fade
I won't let the light fade
I won't let the light fade
Rand McNally was written by Benjamin Gibbard & Dave Depper.
Rand McNally was produced by John Congleton.
Death Cab for Cutie released Rand McNally on Fri Sep 16 2022.