Death Cab For Cutie: Cath Meaning

Song Released: 2008

Cath Lyrics

Cath, she stands with a well intentioned-man
But she can’t relax with his hand on the small of her back
And as the flashbulbs burst she holds a smile
Like someone would hold a crying child

And soon everybody will ask what became of...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Jun 29th 2012 !⃝

   I think this song is about Wuthering Heights, specifically when Catherine, or Cath, decides to marry Edgar Linton even though she doesn't really love him. On the outside, she keeps telling herself that she can learn to love him, but on the inside, she knows Heathcliff is her soul mate. But she can't be with Heathcliff because he has no social staus, if she married him, their love would not put food on the table, so she chooses security over true love, and closes the door to Heathcliff. She ends up making herself unhappy, ruining her life, but she can't go back on the decision for fear of embarassment, so she has to live with the unhappiness and that what-if feeling the rest of her life because she though pleasing other people was more important than her own happiness.
2. anonymous

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   Jul 1st 2017 !⃝

   She's pregnant! And Forced to marry from the oppression that is the Catholic Religion and Family and Society...

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
3. anonymous

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   Jun 7th 2012 !⃝

   This song is about how people try their best to please other people even if it means making decisions that are harmful to themselves. In other words, people make poor decisions out of the obligations of pleasing other people that they think they have.
   
   I think Cath in this song, while she is opposed to it and her chance of truly loving her marriage partner is fading away right before her eyes (heart was dying fast), is choosing to marry a man who seems like he should be the right person to marry(well-intentioned man) even though he isn't.
   
   "The whispers that it won't last roll up and down the pews" shows that Cath has even more obligation to keep up. She will have a very hard time divorcing this man since she is so bent on not looking bad in front of people. So the decision to marry this guy is looking more and more permanent all the time, which further closes the door on men who would love her more and further causes her heart to die, etc.
   
   The most important lyric is "they'd do the same as you/I'd do the same as you." This explains that pretty much nobody in this situation would just break it off with this guy even if breaking it off would, in the long run, be the best decision for both people, because people will do anything to A. not disappoint people and/or B. not make fools of themselves in front of people.
   
   So in the end Cath will live an unhappy life as long as she keeps trying to please other people by staying with this guy.
4. anonymous

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   Oct 13th 2011 !⃝

   This is a song based on "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte - Catherine's pairing with Edgar specifically.
5. anonymous

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   May 18th 2011 !⃝

   I thought it was about Catherine Zeta Jones' marriage to Michael Douglas. What do I know?
6. anonymous

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   Feb 2nd 2011 !⃝

   The lyrics in Cath are all an extended metaphor describing Ben Gibbard's gradual departure from the catholic faith. He was raised in catholic school and is now an atheist.
   
   Think about it. "Cath, she stands, with a well intentioned man, but she can't relax with his hands on the smalls of her back (his intentions are good. He is simply curious in his investigation of religious thought, and when he comes close enough and actually makes contact with the ideology--hand on the back--it squirms because it is afraid he will discover it's flaws). As the flash bulbs burst, she holds a smile like someone would hold a crying child (as he realizes things, as these ideas go off in his head, the religion still tries to present itself as welcoming and happy, it tries to comfort and nurture the distress he faces as he let's go of the faith by telling him things are fine, his ideas aren't right).
   
   Soon everybody will ask what became of you, cause your heart was dying fast and you didn't know what to do (soon people will wonder where ben's faith has gone, and he will answer that it didn't hold up under his investigation, it gave way). Cath, it seems that you live in someone else's dream, in a hand me down wedding dress, with the things that could have been all repressed (the faith was created by someone long ago--it's someone's dream, someone's fiction--and it has been passed down generation after generation in this unbreakable pact--the wedding symbolism--where all contradicting ideologies are rejected). But you've said your vows, and you've closed the door on so many men who would have loved you more (the faith's immediate dismissal of all outside ideologies is permanent--it is not approachable to people who don't accept its terms and its terms alone--and in turn, it prevents so many people from seeing everything it has to offer in the first place)."
7. cheady0404

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   Nov 27th 2010 !⃝

   I think this song is pretty obvious what it's about. I think it's about this girl who is living the wrong life. She married a man who wasn't who she thought he'd be. almost as if everyone was trying to let her not marry this man, but she did it anyway, and is regretting it. Like in the beginning. She is at a red-carpet event or something and is posing but you can tell she has a 'plastic smile' and just really isn't as happy as she could be with someone else. The entire second verse really says it to me. How she is living someone elses life, because the life she is living isn't what is for her. and how she 'closed the door' on men that would have loved her more than the man she is with. Yet, the writer, would have done the same thing if it was him, and it's really not her fault. Great song though.
   
   Cath, she stands with a well-intentioned man
   But she can't relax with his hand on the small of her back
   And as the flashbulbs burst
   She holds a smile like someone would hold a crying child
   
   And soon everybody will ask what became of you
   'Cause your heart was dying fast, and you didn't know what to do
   
   Cath, it seems that you live in someone else's dream
   In a hand-me-down wedding dress
   Where the things that could have been are repressed
   But you said your vows, and you closed the door
   On so many men who would have loved you more
   
   And soon everybody will ask what became of you
   'Cause your heart was dying fast, and you didn't know what to do
   
   The whispers that it won't last roll up and down the pews
   But if their hearts were dying that fast,
   They'd have done the same as you
   And I'd have done the same as you
8. jocelyn_aka_yoshi

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   Feb 18th 2010 !⃝

   So in the beggining of the song he describes a woman or "cath" who is standing next to her fiancé or "well intentioned man", and she is unsure of the the whole marrige since she is in love with someone else or the man she is getting married to is not the one she is meant to be with. At the wedding they take pictures and she is faking a smile or comforting herself, that it will all be okay as compared to "like someone would hold a crying child"
   
   In the chorus I believe the woman is picturing how marrige is gonna be like after the wedding. How all her friend and family will question and wonder why she is acting a certain way or saying certain things. Since she is so out of place in her love life he wouldn't know what to say. ("but your heart was dying fast, you didn't know what to do")
   
   "Cath, it seems, that you live in someone else's dream in a hand-me-down wedding dress.." is descring how a lot of women would have wished to marry the man she is, in the hand-me-down wedding dress. "...with the things could have been are opressed" but all he women is not allowed to think or the things that could have happened since she is already I be married. Even though she is still uncertain of her decision she "says her vows" thus, letting go of all the men she has loved in the past and was planning on marrying one day ("closed the door, on so many men who would have loved you more")
   
   The chorus is the same
   
   As she walks the down the aile again she sees everyone (or pretends) whispering about how the marrige will never last and comments like that ("with whispers that it won't last, go up and down the pews"). In the line "but if their hearts were dying that fast" is describing her heartaches and how she is giving up her pure and genuine love and marrying the "well-intentioned man". And the last line "they'd have done the same as you" is simply saying if everyone one at the wedding were on her shoes, they would make the same decision.

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