Why You'd Want to Live Here (The Showbox, Seattle 5.08.04) Songtext
von Death Cab for Cutie

I′m in Los Angeles today
It smells like an airport runway
Jet fuel stenches in the cabin
And lights flickering at random

I'm in Los Angeles today
Garbage cans comprise the medians
Of freeways always creeping
Even when the population′s sleeping

And I can't see why you'd want to live here

I′m in Los Angeles today
Asked a gas station employee
If he ever had trouble breathing
And he said, "It varies from season to season, kid"

It′s where our best are on display
Motion picture actors' houses maps
Are never ever current
So save your film and 15 dollars


And I can′t see why you'd want to live here
Billboards reach past the tallest buildings
"We are not perfect, but we sure try"
As UV rays degradate our youth with time

The vessel keeps pumping us through this entropic place
In the belly of the beast that is California
I drank from a faucet, and I kept my receipt
For when they weigh me on my way out here, nothing is free
But the Greyhounds keep coming
Dumping locusts into the streets
′Til the gutters overflow and Los Angeles thinks
"I might explode someday soon"

It's a lovely summer′s day
I can almost see a skyline through
A thickening shroud of egos
Is this the city of angels or demons?

And here the names are what remain
Stars encapsulate the golden lame
And they need constant cleaning
For when the tourists begin salivating


And I can't see why you'd want to live here
Billboards reach past the tallest buildings
You can′t swim in a town this shallow
As you will most assuredly drown tomorrow