''You Can Play These Songs with Chords'' is an early (1996-97) demo from the rock band

Death Cab for Cutie Death Cab for Cutie is an American rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. The band is currently composed of Ben Gibbard (vocals, guitar, piano), Nick Harmer (bass), Dave Depper (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Zac Rae (ke ...

, which at the time consisted entirely of founder

Ben Gibbard Benjamin Gibbard (born August 11, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie, with whom he has recorded ten studio albums, and as a membe ...

. This demo was originally released on cassette by Elsinor Records. It proved so popular, Gibbard recruited other musicians to make a full band, which would go on to record ''

Something About Airplanes ''Something About Airplanes'' is the debut studio album by indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie, released August 18, 1998 on Barsuk Records Barsuk Records ( ) is an independent record label based in Seattle, Washington, that was founded by the ...

'', the band's debut studio album. ''You Can Play These Songs with Chords'' was expanded with ten more songs and re-released on October 22, 2002, through

Barsuk Records Barsuk Records ( ) is an independent record label based in Seattle, Washington, that was founded by the members of the band This Busy Monster, Christopher Possanza and Josh Rosenfeld, in 1998 to release their band's material. Its logo is a drawi ...

on the heels of the success of ''

The Photo Album ''The Photo Album'' is the third studio album by indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie, released October 9, 2001 on Barsuk Records. The albums spawned three singles: " A Movie Script Ending", " I Was a Kaleidoscope", and " We Laugh Indoors". All ...

''.

Track listing

Original release

All songs written by

Benjamin Gibbard Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's th ...

Re-issue additional tracks

All songs written by

Nick Harmer Nicholas Scott Harmer (born January 23, 1975) is an American musician, best known as the bass guitarist and occasional co-songwriter for the band Death Cab for Cutie. Equipment Basses * Lakland Skyline Bob Glaub Signature Black *Lakland Sk ...

and

Christopher Walla Christopher Ryan Walla (born November 2, 1975) is an American musician, record producer, and film music composer, best known for being a former guitarist and songwriter for the band Death Cab for Cutie. Musical career Early bands While at Bo ...

except as otherwise noted.

Personnel

– vocals, guitar, bass guitar, piano, drums *

Nathan Good Nathan Good (born 1975) is an American musician, known for being the first and former drummer of indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie. He performed all drum tracks for their album ''Something About Airplanes''. On the album '' We Have the Facts an ...

– drums, tambourine *

– bass guitar *

– guitar, vocals "New Candles" and "Tomorrow"

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1997 debut albums Death Cab for Cutie albums Barsuk Records albums Demo albums