A Tattered Line of String

Album: Give Up (2013)
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Songfacts®:

  • This is one of two new songs that appear on the 2013 reissue of the Postal Service's 2003 album Give Up, the only one they released. The song features vocals from Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis, who sang on six of the original Give Up tracks and also toured with the group during their original run and when they hit the road again in 2013.
  • The song finds the narrator desperately trying to hold on to things he can't control. "I've got a tattered line of string," sings frontman Ben Gibbard. "And I tie it round everything. That I want to call my own. But it never seems to hold."

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