"Title and Registration" is a song by

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

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 (keyboar ...

, the third single from their fourth studio album, ''

Transatlanticism ''Transatlanticism'' is the fourth studio album by indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie, released on October 7, 2003, by Barsuk Records. At this point in their career, the group had toured and recorded for nearly a half-decade. With tensions risin ...

''. It was officially released in 2004, as an internet-only single that could be streamed through the band's website, while promotional copies of the single were released on CD. The single also included a cover of the Julian Cope song " World Shut Your Mouth", which was also later released on the " Crooked Teeth" single on Death Cab for Cutie's follow-up album, ''Plans''.

Live performance

Due to the song's layered instrumentation, "Title and Registration" has been difficult to play during live performances in the past, and thus has been performed a variety of ways. All of these involved guitarist

Chris 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 ...

switching halfway through the song from

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, whilst singer/guitarist

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 ...

took over the guitar part. For the first half of the song, initially, both Gibbard and drummer

Jason McGerr Jason McGerr (born July 19, 1974) is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the band Death Cab for Cutie. Musical career Early years McGerr was born and raised in Bellingham, Washington. At age ten, he began learning to play the ...

used

electronic drums Electronic drums is a modern electronic musical instrument, primarily designed to serve as an alternative to an acoustic drum kit. Electronic drums consist of an electronic sound module which produces the synthesized or sampled percussion sounds ...

in order to replicate the distinctive drum machine sound used at the beginning of the song. In the band's 2008 tour, Gibbard performed the entire first two verses as lead vocalist, without a guitar or drums, before picking up his guitar as Walla switched to the keyboard. In later tours, Gibbard kept his

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

strapped on for the entirety of the song, but used a shaker as

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

during the song's first two verses.Archived a
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Since the band has expanded to a five-piece, without Walla, the song has been able to be performed live without any instrument swapping.

Music video

The video, directed by

Patrick Daughters Patrick Daughters (born 1976 in Berkeley, California) is an American music videomaker and commercial director currently signed to Anonymous Content. Daughters is a graduate of Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland. While still in colleg ...

, consists of frontman

lying on an operating table while undergoing a " surgery" (as done by the other band members) to receive a new heart. Although Ben seems to act calm and has the ability to sing throughout the procedure, he was not given

anesthetics An anesthetic (American English) or anaesthetic (British English; see spelling differences) is a drug used to induce anesthesia ⁠— ⁠in other words, to result in a temporary loss of sensation or awareness. They may be divided into two ...

nor was he on any form of life support. During the surgery, it is revealed that Gibbard's chest is simply paper, model organs, and a model

rib cage The rib cage, as an enclosure that comprises the ribs, vertebral column and sternum in the thorax of most vertebrates, protects vital organs such as the heart, lungs and great vessels. The sternum, together known as the thoracic cage, is a sem ...

Track listing

#"Title and Registration" (Album version) #"Title and Registration" (Original version) #"World Shut Your Mouth" ( Julian Cope cover)

References

Death Cab for Cutie songs 2003 songs Fierce Panda Records singles 2004 singles Songs written by Ben Gibbard Songs written by Chris Walla {{2000s-rock-song-stub