Seeing words on a page and hearing words in a song evoke different experiences that highlight different elements of language as written and spoken. Syntax (according to its definition as “the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language”) reveals meaning more rigidly defined by punctuation than it is as free-flowing speech, and sometimes the meaning behind a phrase changes entirely depending on where a simple comma is placed. This is what makes Death Cab for Cutie’s song “I Will Possess Your Heart” so magical in my opinion, whose chorus carries such a weighty word play. Not to mention the beauty and poetry behind the lyrics as a whole, but to be fair I’m biased as a great fan of theirs.
So let’s look at the chorus, which I’ll transcribe without punctuation for the sake of this little activity:
You gotta spend some time love
You gotta spend some time with me
And I know that you’ll find love
I will possess your heart
Now let’s look at what punctuation does, when matching the punctuation pattern of the first couplet with the second:
You gotta spend some time, love
You gotta spend some time with me.
And I know that you’ll find, love
I will possess your heart.
According to this reading, “love” is used as a pet name to address the speaker’s subject. The interjection of this address emphasizes the enjambment at work between these lines, but it also portrays a casual speaking pattern (which is more evident when spoken aloud as intended).
Now let’s look at what punctuation does again, when only adjusting the third line:
You gotta spend some time, love
You gotta spend some time with me.
And I know that you’ll find love,
I will possess your heart.
According to this reading, “love” is used as a pet name in the first line but changes to mean literal “love” in the third line. Before, the speaker says that “you’ll find…I will possess your heart” while this reading says that “you’ll find love, [AND] I will possess your heart.” Although theoretically this doesn’t mark a drastic change in meaning, the two sentences are not the same. It’s possible for someone to possess your heart without finding love in the process, yet the opposite is also a possibility.
This ambiguity achieved through the word play on “love” makes the chorus extremely well-crafted and well-written, obviously for me enough to be extremely impressive as well. Perhaps not everyone who listens to this song will find it as mesmerizing and epic as I do, but perhaps there are some who know exactly what I mean and felt this song speak to them as strongly as I did. Either way, I’ll continue sitting here listening and losing myself in the language and always catchy tune that Death Cab promises.
Sound and Vision 