"The New Year" by Death Cab for Cutie

The first track off Death Cab for Cutie's best album, "Transatlanticism," is an uptempo little ditty that is really driven by Jason McGerr's drums and Ben Gibbard's lyrics. McGerr announces his arrival (this 2003 album was the first to feature the now veteran DCFC drummer) with a perfectly awesome beat to go over Chris Walla and Gibbard's ringing guitar sound. It's just a perfectly constructed song with an infectious quality about it. However, this one's really all about the lyrics for me. Gibbard is one of my favorite wordsmiths and while much of this song's lyrics are quite cynical ("This is the new year/and I don't feel any different") it's the hopeful bridge that gets me every time. I want to pretend I'm wealthy and set off firecrackers. And it sure would be cool if the world was flat like the old days. There'd be no distance that could hold us back.