Death Cab for Cutie’s Plans, released in 2005, contains many excellent songs.
But occasionally you encounter something so simple and haunting that you never quite escape it. A song may even assume a larger purpose in your life, expressing what you believe—or hope—about love, death and whatever may come afterward.
“I Will Follow You into the Dark” reached me that way. With little more than a voice and an acoustic guitar, it offers no confident answers about the hereafter. It offers something more human: the promise that the person you love will not face it alone.
When I approach the end of my own life, if I have any role in planning my final sendoff, I may ask for this song to be played at my memorial. It feels appropriate.