Something About Airplanes
Something About Airplanes is the debut studio album by indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie, released August 18, 1998 on Barsuk Records. A tenth-anniversary edition of the album was released November 25, 2008, featuring redesigned artwork, liner notes by Sean Nelson, and a bonus disc including the band's first ever Seattle performance at the Crocodile Cafe in February 1998. Early recordings of five songs from the album can be found on the "You Can Play These Songs with Chords" compilation. Songs. "The Face That Launched 1000 Shits" is a cover of an original song  by The Revolutionary Hydra, a band that DCFC guitarist Chris Walla and lead singer/guitarist Ben Gibbard belonged to. The song was written by then-bandmate Jay Chilcote. The song’s title is a play on the phrase “The Face That Launched a Thousand Ships”, attributed to Helen of Troy whose supposed unmatched beauty led to the Trojan War (after Paris, Prince of Troy, kidnapped her from Sparta and her husband King Menelaus). Artwork. Despite the title referring to airplanes, the image on the album cover is of a rowboat. The image is actually seen through a hole in the  booklet cover and a sheet of vellum. Like some of the band's 2000 releases, the text is set entirely in lower case. Personnel. Death Cab for Cutie Additional personnel Live at the Crocodile Cafe, February 1998