"Summer Skin" by Death Cab for Cutie

I have been trying to put my finger on emo's allure. Really, in the bigger scheme of music, it is pretty unimaginative. I liken this CD, which I purchased to help pass long hours on Texas roads, to sad cotton candy. Nothing new, nothing crazy, nothing you really remember beyond the advertising jingle type tune stuck in your head, but it works. In that sense part of me wonders if it isn't like folk music of our parents' generation, only more vague in an attempt to be subtle. I think it appeals to me becuase it deals with real emotions from a pragmatic, 10,000 foot type perspective. I find it empowering to face sadness head on. In a sense, I don't feel as helpless if I think I have a real perspective on what is happening. Emo is a tool for that, or at least a convincing placebo.

Squeaky swings and tall grass
The longest shadows ever cast
The water's warm and children swim
And we frolicked about in our summer skin

I don't recall a single care
Just greenery and humid air
Then Labor day came and went
And we shed what was left of our summer skin

On the night you left I came over
And we peeled the freckles from our shoulders
Our brand new coats so flushed and pink
And I knew your heart I couldn't win
Cause the seasons change was a conduit
And we left our love in our summer skin