7. I Will Follow You Into the Dark
Artist: Death Cab for Cutie
Album: Plans
Released: 2006
Points: 163.1
I Will Follow You Into the Dark was written and performed by Ben Gibbard, the band’s frontman. By imaging what would happen if his lover died, the author tries to find peace with hunting thought that one day he will lose people he loves.
Compared to lyrics, the video more convincingly depicts how unpleasant, and much-avoided fear of death might occupy one’s mind. In video Gibbard is placed in a small room with a hole in the floor that represents the death. At first, the whole is small, and the singer almost doesn’t notice it. But as the song progresses, the hole becomes larger making it hard for Gibbard not to pay attention to it. By the end of the song the hole takes up the whole room, leaving no place for the singer to move. Finally, he falls into the hole, which is not as deep as expected, surrounded by darkness. The video ends with an image of a room with intact floor, suggesting thus that only after plunging into the most unpleasant fears a person can find true inner peace.
The song didn’t enter Hot 100 chart, but the album spent 50 weeks on Billboard 200 hitting No. 4, which is the reason why the song found its place on our list. I Will Follow You Into the Dark is also the band’s best selling single and it was featured in numerous movies and shows, including Grey’s Anatomy and Nikita.
