"Riptides" lyrics

"Riptides"

These days I say goodbye without opening my mouth
I just stare into the distance til you figure it out
'Cause I feel as invested as a border guard
Who's seen too many people leaving to take it too hard

I'm too tired to talk, I'm too tired to end the war
And I can't seem to hold it together anymore

And my old haunts, each one's a trigger and I'm holding the gun
Like a perp frozen in your headlights who forgot to run
And I'm overcome by the voices multiplying in the crowd
That's been swelling in between my ears and growing frighteningly loud

I'm too tired to talk, I'm too tired to end the war
And I can't seem to hold it together anymore
I'm too tired to start, I can't bring you up to speed
There's too many riptides in this ocean to proceed

And though I'm feeling fine
Roughly half the time
There's a fatal flaw
In my heart's design

I'm too tired to talk, I'm too tired to end the war
And I can't seem to hold it together anymore
I'm too tired to start, I can't bring you up to speed
There's too many riptides in this ocean to proceed

There's too many riptides in this ocean to proceed


Writer(s): Benjamin Gibbard
"Riptides" is the lead single from Death Cab For Cutie's eleventh studio album, "I Built You A Tower". The song and its music video were published on the 16th of March, 2026. The album marks the band's first record on independent Anti- Records, after a 20-year run on Atlantic Records.
Frontman Ben Gibbard explained in an Instagram post shared on this song's release day, "'Riptides' is about the challenge of dealing with personal struggles as the world around us experiences tragedy and loss on an unfathomable scale. When these two elements intertwine themselves in our psyches, it feels utterly paralysing."
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