give up deluxe 10th anniversary edition booklet

DELUXE 10th ANNIVERSARY EDITION

1 T H E D I S T R I C T S L E E P S A L O N E T O N I G H T

smeared black ink: your palms are sweaty and i’m barely listening to last demandsi’m staring at the asphalt wondering what’s buried underneath where i am

i’ll wear my badge: a vinyl sticker with big block letters adhering to my chest

that tells your new friends i am a visitor here: i am not permanentand the only thing keeping me dry is where i am

you seem so out of context in this gaudy apartment complex

a stranger with your door key explaining that i am just visitingand i am finally seeing why i was the one worth leaving

d.c. sleeps alone tonight

you seem so out of context in this gaudy apartment complex

a stranger with your door key explaining that i am just visit ingand i am finally seeing why i was the one worth leaving

the district sleeps alone tonight after the bars turn out their lightsand send the autos swerving into the loneliest eveningand i am finally seeing why i was the one worth leaving

benjamin gibbard: guitars / jenny lewis: backing vocals

2 S U C H G R E A T H E I G H T S

i am thinking it’s a sign that the freckles in our eyes our mirror images and when we kiss they’re perfectly alignedand i have to speculate that god himself did make us into corresponding shapes like puzzle pieces from the clayand true, it may seem like a stretch, but its thoughts like this that catch my troubled head when you’re away

when i am missing you to deathwhen you are out there on the road for several weeks of shows and when you scan the radio, i hope this song

will guide you home

they will see us waving from such great heights, “come down now,” they’ll saybut everything looks perfect from far away, “come down now,” but we’ll stay

i tried my best to leave this all on your machine but the persistent beat it sounded thin upon listening

and that frankly will not fly. you will hear the shrillest highs and lowest lows with the windows down when this is guiding you home

benjamin gibbard: guitars, additional keyboards / jen wood: backing vocals

3 S L E E P I N G I N

last week i had the strangest dream that everything was exactly how it seemedwhere there was never any mystery of who shot john f. kennedy

it was just a man with something to prove slightly bored and severely confusedhe steadied his rifle with his target in the center

and became famous on that day in november

don’t wake me i plan on sleeping in

again last night i had that strange dream where everything was exactly how it seemedno concerns about the world getting warmer people thought that they were just being rewarded

for treating others as they’d like to be treatedfor obeying stop signs and curing diseases

for mailing letters with the address of the sendernow we can swim any day in november

don’t wake me i plan on sleeping in


4 N O T H I N G B E T T E R

will someone please call a surgeon who can crack my ribs and repair this broken heart that you’re deserting for better company?

i can’t accept that it’s over: i will block the door like a goalie tending the net in the third quarter of a tied-game rivalry

so just say how to make it right, and i swear i’ll do my best to comply

tell me am i right to think that there could be nothing betterthan making you my bride and slowly growing old together

i feel i must interject here, you’re getting carried away feeling sorry for yourself with these revisions

and gaps in history.so let me help you remember. i’ve made charts and graphs that should finally make it clear.

i’ve prepared a lecture on why i have to leave

so please back away and let me go, i can’t my darling i love you so…

tell me am i right to think that there could be nothing better than making you my bride and slowly growing old together

don’t you feed me lines about some idealistic futureyour heart won’t heal right if you keep tearing out the sutures

i admit that i have made mistakes and i swear i’ll never wrong you againyou’ve got a lure i can’t deny, but you’ve had your chance so say goodbye

jen wood: vocals / chris walla: piano

5 R E C Y C L E D A I R

i take a breath and pull the air in ‘til there’s nothing left im feeling green like teenage lovers between the sheets

ba ba ba ba…

uckles clenched to white as the landing gear retract for flight y head’s a balloon inflating with the altitude

ba ba ba ba…

i watch the patchwork farms’ slow fade into the ocean’s arms

and from here they can’t see me starethe stale taste of recycled air

i watch the patchwork farms’ slow fade into the ocean’s armscalm down, release your caresthe stale taste of recycled air


6 C L A R K G A B L E

i was waiting for a cross-town train in the london underground when it struck me hat i’ve been waiting since birth to find a love that would look and sound like a movie

so i changed my plans i rented a camera and a van and then i called you“i need you to pretend that we are in love again.” and you agreed to

i want so badly to believe that “there is truth, that love is real”

and i want life in every word to the extent that it’s absurd

i greased the lens and framed the shot using a friend as my stand-inthe script it called for rain but it was clear that day so we faked it

the marker snapped and i yelled “quiet on the set” and then called “action!”and i kissed you in a style clark gable would have admired (i thought it classic)

i want so badly to believe that “there is truth, that love is real”

and i want life in every word to the extent that it’s absurdi know you’re wise beyond your years, but do you ever get the fear

that your perfect verse is just a lie you tell yourself to help you get by?

benjamin gibbard: drums / jenny lewis: backing vocals

7 W E W I L L B E C O M E S I L H O U E T T E S

i’ve got a cupboard with cans of food, filtered water, and pictures of you and i’m not coming out until this is all over

and i’m looking through the glass where the light bends at the cracks and i’m screaming at the top of my lungs pretending the echoes belong to someone i used to know

and we become silhouettes when our bodies finally go

i wanted to walk through the empty streets and feel something constant under my feet,

but all the news reports recommended that i stay indoors

because the air outside will make our cells divide at an alarming rate until our shells simply cannot hold all our insides in, and that’s when we’ll explode (and it won’t be a pretty sight)

and we’ll become silhouettes when our bodies finally go

benjamin gibbard: additional keyboards / jenny lewis: backing vocals

8 T H I S P L A C E I S A P R I S O N

this place is a prison and these people aren’t your friendsinhaling thrills through $20 bills and the tumblers are drained and then flooded again and again

there’re guards at the on ramps armed to the teeth

and you may case the grounds from the cascades to puget sound, but you are not permitted to leave

i know there’s a big world out there like the one i saw on the screenin my living room late last night, it was almost too bright to see

and i know that it’s not a party if it happens every nightpretending there’s glamour and candelabra when you’re drinking by candlelight

what does it take to get a drink in this place?

what does it take, how long must i wait?

jimmy tamborello: accordion, additional keyboards / benjamin gibbard: drums, electric piano

The Postal Service is Benjamin Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello.All Songs programmed by Jimmy Tamborello (Dying Songs, BMI).

Lyrics by Benjamin Gibbard (Where I’m Calling From Music, BMI).

Written, recorded and mixed at Dying Songs (L.A.) and computerworld (Seattle) by The Postal Service except where noted otherwise.

Guitars on 1,2,3,5, and 9, drums on 6 and vocals and piano on 4 recorded by Chris Walla at the Hall of Justice, Spring 2002.

Mastered by Emily Lazar and Joe LaPorta at The Lodge.

Original images from Give Up by Al Columbia.Original images from the “Such Great Heights,” “District Sleeps Alone Tonight,”

and “We Will Become Silhouettes” singles by kozyndan.Art direction/design by Jeff Kleinsmith.

Management: Jordan Kurland for Zeitgeist Artist Management, assisted by Joe GoldbergLegal: Gary Gilbert and Craig Marshall for Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP.

Business Management: Zeisler, Zeisler, Rawson & Johnson, LLP.North America Booking Agent: Trey Many for Billions Corporation

UK/Europe Booking Agent: Chris Myhill for The Agency Group

Thanks to Jenny Lewis, Jen Wood, Chris Walla, Tony Kiewel and all at Sub Pop Records, all at the Teviot house, Death Cab for Cutie, Rilo Kiley, Figurine, team Dntel,

and our families and friends.

G I V E U P (Remastered)T H E P O S T A L S E R V I C E9 B R A N D N E W C O L O N Y

i’ll be the grapes fermented, bottled and served with the table set in my finest suit like a perfect gentleman

i’ll be the fire escape that’s bolted to the ancient brick where you will sit and contemplate your day

i’ll be the waterwings that save you if you start drowning in an open tab when your judgment’s on the brink

i’ll be the phonograph that plays your favorite albums back as you’re lying there drifting off to sleep…i’ll be the platform shoes and undo what heredity’s done to you: you won’t have to strain

to look into my eyesi’ll be your winter coat buttoned and zipped straight to the throat with the collar

up so you won’t catch cold

i want to take you far from the cynics in this town and kiss you on the mouthwe’ll cut our bodies free from the tethers of this scene, start a brand new colonywhere everything will change, we’ll give ourselves new names (identities erased)

the sun will heat the ground under our bare feet in this brand new colonyeverything will change, ooo ooo….

benjamin gibbard: guitar, drums / jenny lewis: backing vocals

1 0 N A T U R A L A N T H E M

i’ll write you a song and it won’t be hard to singit will be a natural anthem, familiar it may seem

it will rally all the workers on strike for better payand its chorus will resound and boost morale throughout the day

i’ll write you a song and i hope that you won’t mind

because all the names and places i have taken from real lifeso please don’t get upset at this portrait that i paint

it may be a little biased, but at least i spelt your name right…

T U R N A R O U N D

cold hands, warm heartbig dreams, false starts

and those pills don’t workthey just make it worse

don’t say your through‘cause i’ll swim beside you

and this town, this seait won’t drag you underneath

you gotta know that this will turn arounduntil then i will not let you down

when you find your ship has run agroundyou can call me i won’t let you down

i won’t let you downthis will turn around

sick days, drunk nightsshort fuse, loud fightslose weight, all bones

the white drugs, the undertow

don’t say your done‘cause you’re brave and your loved

and this town, this seait won’t drag you underneath

(chorus)

i won’t let you downyou gotta know that this will turn around

ben gibbard: intro and additional keyboards / jenny lewis: background vocals

B E S T I L L M Y H E A R T

i was running late for workso i didn’t change my shirt

and the evening’s drinks left a lingering taste in my mouthand when i left you were fast asleep

tangled in the sheetsand on the bus i could have sworn it was all a dream

and it didn’t happen to me

and then i felt the scrapes from the slippery subway grateoh how you laughed at my complete lack of grace

but i could not recall a more perfect fall‘cause when i looked up into your eyes it didn’t hurt at all

and i thought, “be still my heart.this could be a brand new start

with you.”and it will be clear if i wake up and you’re still here

with mein the morning

and i thought, “be still my heart.

this could be a brand new start with you.”and it will be clear

if i wake up and you’re still here with me

be still my heartthis could be a brand new start with you

and it will be clearif i wake up and you’re still here with me

in the morning

T H E R E ’ S N E V E R E N O U G H T I M E

in due time we’ll finally see there’s barely time for us to breathe.

A T A T T E R E D L I N E O F S T R I N G

we drained every dive in the lower east sideand you failed to catch the train back to queens

so you came to my room and we did some things that we knew not to do

in the glow of the night’s golden hue

you’ve got a tattered line of stringand you tie it ‘round everythingthat you want to call your own

but it never seems to hold

and when we woke we agreedthat we would not ever speak of this night

to anyone that we both knewand you said, “every time we kissed i felt something that couldn’t exist”

and i confessed that i thought i felt it too

i’ve got a tattered line of stringand i tie it ‘round everything

that i want to call my ownbut it never seems to hold

ben gibbard: additional guitar and keyboards / jenny lewis: background vocals

C D 2 E V E R Y T H I N G E L S E

1 T U R N A R O U N DBacking vocal by Jenny Lewis

Recorded in 2006, additional recording and mixing 2012, previously unreleased

2 A T A T T E R E D L I N E O F S T R I N GBacking vocal by Jenny Lewis

Recorded in 2006, additional recording and mixing 2012, previously unreleased

3 B E S T I L L M Y H E A R TBacking vocal by Jenny Lewis

Recorded Fall 2004

Originally appeared on the “We Will Become Silhouettes” single 2/8/05

4 T H E R E ’ S N E V E R E N O U G H T I M EBacking vocal by Jenny Lewis

Guitars recorded by Chris Walla at the Hall of Justice, Spring 2002

Originally appeared on the “Such Great Heights” single 1/21/03

5 S U D D E N LY E V E R Y T H I N G H A S C H A N G E D

Written by Steven Drozd, Michael Ivins, and Wayne Coyne

EMI Blackwood Music, Inc / Lovely Sorts of Death Music (BMI)

Originally appeared on “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight” single 7/8/03

6 A G A I N S T A L L O D D S (Take a Look at Me Now)Written by Phillip David Charles Collins

Imagem Sounds Collins (ASCAP) / EMI Golden Torch Music Corp. (ASCAP)

Originally appeared on the Wicker Park soundtrack album 9/3/04

7 G R O W O L D W I T H M EWritten by John Lennon

Lenono Music (BMI) (Administered by Blackwood Music Inc.) (BMI)

Originally appeared on Instant Karma-The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur 6/12/07

8 S U C H G R E A T H E I G H T S (John Tejada Remix)Additional production and remix by John Tejada


9 T H E D I S T R I C T S L E E P S A L O N E T O N I G H T

(DJ Downfall Persistent Beat Mix)Additional production and remix by DJ Downfall at Black Cat Fireworks, London E2


1 0 B E S T I L L M Y H E A R T (Nobody Remix)Additional production and remix by Nobody

Originally appeared as an iTunes exclusive 2/15/05

1 1 W E W I L L B E C O M E S I L H O U E T T E S

(Matthew Dear ’s Not Scared Remix)Additional production by Matthew Dear.

Recorded in Corktown, Detroit.

Matthew Dear appears courtesy of Ghostly International


1 2 N O T H I N G B E T T E R (Styrofoam Remix)Rebuilt and remixed by Arne Van Petegem.

Styrofoam appears courtesy of Morr Music


1 3 R E C Y C L E D A I R (Live on KEXP)Recorded and mixed by Scott Colburn 6/6/2003

1 4 W E W I L L B E C O M E S I L H O U E T T E S (Performed by The Shins)Recorded and produced by James Mercer 12/2002, Portland, OR


1 5 S U C H G R E A T H E I G H T S (Performed by Iron & Wine)Recorded and produced by Sam Beam 11/2002, Miami, FL


Deluxe edition booklet photos by Autumn de Wilde, Aaron Ruell, Seth Smoot,

Brian Tamborello, Tony Kiewel, Ben Gibbard, Jimmy Tamborello and Jenny Lewis.

Art direction/design by Jeff Kleinsmith.

DISC 2

DISC 1

give up deluxe 10th anniversary edition booklet

Documents

gaudy apartment

door key explaining

silhouettes

tonight single

november dont

jenny lewis

benjamin gibbard

worth leaving