Death Cab For Cutie - Black Sun Lyrics Meaning

As with the rest of DC4C's album "Kintsugi," Black Sun is an autobiographical emotional purge by Ben Gibbard, over his divorce from Actress Zooey Deschanel.

The first verse sets the scene. A group has gathered, high above Los Angeles (the city of seven hills;No doubt at the very home acquired in "Eldorado") to divide assets in a contentious divorce. There is drinking (whiskey in the water) and death of a promising plant, the marriage (and death upon the vine)

The characters are sorting through the wreckage of their marriage(what is yours and what is mine), deciding what to keep or throw into the dumpster in the driveway. Zooey's dad is there (there is fear in the eyes of your father).

But as exquisitely dark as it all seems, Ben expresses hope that their lives will intertwine again, when their "debris meets in the ocean."

Then the second verse: A pained expression of the swirling mess of conflicting pain, and hope, and the incomprehensibility of what is happening. This perfect marriage is dead.

The second half of the verse laments what could have been; the dreams of a marriage die as surely as the actualities: For the actress, the role of a lifetime; for the singer, songs yet left unsung.

"Black Sun" is one of many perfect introspections on this relationship, found on "Kintsugi."