A while ago, after reading about The Postal Service on many blogs, including Kiyomi’s, Harlan’s, and Daniel’s (I think it was those three, and you guys can correct me if I’m wrong), I downloaded a whole bunch of their music. Thanks to the nature of file sharing, I ended up with one file that was actually a cover of their song by another group. But because I tend to download a ton of stuff at once, I didn’t even notice the huge difference between styles, and the song just got stored with my other Postal Service music. Then, today, Winamp shuffled to that cover song and I was just so blown away by the beautiful lyrics that I had to look them up. Then I noticed that I had two versions of the same song: the one by the Postal Service, and the cover by Iron & Wine that came off the Garden State soundtrack. You can download the Postal Service version here [link broken, but here’s the video], and I’ve uploaded the Iron & Wine cover so you can listen to it off my site [try this]. If you have some time, give them both a listen. They’re totally different and both good.
I’m formatting the lyrics the way they sound to me when Iron & Wine sings them. And, because I myself don’t like huge long blocks of lyrics in other people’s posts, I’m only giving you pieces. Just listen to the song off my site, yeah? It’s really easy. Just click and it’ll come up. No effort on your part.
“Such Great Heights”
I
Am thinking it’s a sign
That the freckles in our eyes are mirror images and
When we kiss they’re perfectly aligned
And I
Have to speculate
That God himself did make us into corresponding shapes
Like puzzle pieces from the clay . . .
They will see us waving from such great heights
“Come down now”
They’ll say
But everything looks perfect from far away
“Come down now”
But we’ll stay…
It took me a long time between my first listen of this song and my current appreciation of it, so you might not love it as much as I do right away. But those lyrics!!! They have so much resonance in my own relationship. And I’m rereading them and I realize hey, they have incredible assonance! That’s why they sound so good when they’re sung: I/sign/eyes/aligned, speculate/make/shapes/clay… oooh… they’re good at this.
**edit**
Shra just informed me indignantly that she told me about this song a long time ago. I therefore humbly acknowledge her superiority and bow down before it. *bow*
[This post was imported on 4/10/14 from my old blog at satsumabug.livejournal.com.]
satsumabug.com | Lisa Hsia 
ben gibbard is a musical maniac.
I know this is a late comment, but I srongly implore you to check out (read: buy) The Postal Service’s album, Give Up. (Unless you’re not in the practice of buying CDs, as many people aren’t anymore.) It’s full of songs that are just as lovely (lyrics- and music-wise. The first time I heard “Such Great Heights” in its entirety, I almost choked up. If you like that song as much as I do, and you seem to, the album would be an asset to your collection; it has been in heavy rotation for me recently. Wonderfully unique and thoughtful music. Doubly good for those of us who appreciate the assonance (I noticed that too!).
I do in fact buy CDs–just bought four last week, YAY for the presence of an Amoeba in Hollywood–but I usually don’t get any of popular music (rock, pop, whatever) because I don’t know any good new-ish bands. Thank you for the suggestion of Give Up. Next time I’m at Amoeba, I’ll look for it.
I’m not surprised you noticed the assonance. 🙂