You Are A Tourist

This song went to number one on the Alternative charts for Death Cab For Cutie in 2011.  It’s their only number one song to date, though “Black Sun” came close (hitting number two just last week).

“You Are A Tourist” is the band’s 18th single.  It’s on their 7th album.

I only mention those numbers because many believe the music business is nothing but overnight successes. 

There certainly are some of those, but the ones that stick around tend to be the singers and bands who do the work, even when the success isn’t immediate.

In part, that’s one of the themes of this song.  The fire grows higher when there’s a burning in your heart.

We’ve all heard “Do what you love and the money will follow.”  I’ve heard it so many times, the words have lost their meanings.  And I think for a lot of us, myself certainly included, it’s difficult to keep doing what I love when the money doesn’t flow fast enough.

We all second-guess ourselves.  Maybe this isn’t what I’m supposed to do.  Maybe I’m kidding myself.  Maybe I’m just doing it wrong.

You can drown in all those maybes.  And you can give up your dream.

Better to take a step back.  Don’t give up.  Take a breath.  Look at your path.  And if you can’t get to where you want to be TODAY, remember that you can still get there, perhaps tomorrow. 

The job you have at the moment, the place where you live, even the relationship you’re in, doesn’t have to be the end of your story.  Only you can make that decision.  Likewise, you’re the only one that can abandon your dream.

Where you are today isn’t forever.  It may just be “for now” until you’re ready for the next step, the next phase, the next adventure.

Take care of yourself, and make plans for whatever is going to come next.  And if you aren’t quite ready for that, just make plans to make plans.

The other part of this song that I really like is the title.  You are a tourist.

In the song, it suggests that if you feel like a tourist in the city where you were born, it’s time to go. 

And that’s definitely something to consider.  If your house is not your home, you need to remedy that, one way or another.

But I take it a different way.

We all get so tied down to material things.  Our homes, our cars, our stuff.  We get into ruts where our daily routine consists of work and errands and to-do lists, period.  One weekday bleeds into the next, until we’re finally so glad it’s Friday!  Then we collapse and the weekend whizzes by, and it’s back to the grind.

And that’s only if you don’t work on the weekend.  Or if those two days of supposed respite are instead filled with more of the mundane tasks you couldn’t finish during the week.

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, America leads the world in vacation-days-not-taken.  So there are plenty of us who have the opportunity to take that time for ourselves, and we choose to stay in our ruts.

I suggest you take your cues from the song’s title, and, even if you can’t go on a vacation, be a tourist.  Right there, where you live.

Do something, every week, that’s just for you.  It doesn’t have to cost money.  Go to the beach, the lake, the woods, the park, a museum.  See the sites.  Your town’s sites.  Everybody’s town has something to see, but since we live there, sometimes we forget.  Or just take it for granted.

You don’t have to buy anything.  You don’t need to be on a schedule. 

Just be a tourist.

One last thing, and while it’s a best technical, I hope you get a little inspiration it.

On April 5, 2011, Death Cab For Cutie streamed a live performance of the music video for "You Are a Tourist". The video, directed by Tim Nackashi, was accomplished in one take, using multiple cameras, and no edits or re-takes. The production employed dancers, actors, and projected images.

According to the band, "You Are a Tourist" was the first ever live, scripted, one-take music video shoot.

Think about that for a moment.

Bands have been making videos for a while now.  The Beatles did a bunch of them back in the 1960’s.  Plenty of other singers and bands followed, and then it all exploded in the 1980’s with MTV.

But no other band has ever done what Death Cab For Cutie did with the video for this song.

You can still blaze your trail, and reach your dream, no matter how many have come before.  No one else is you.

And you are a tourist.