Comments on Pallimed: Arts & Humanities: "What Sarah Said" by Death Cab for Cutie

Amazing. As a Critical Care nurse, I could complet...

2009-11-23T11:54:37.970-08:00

Amazing. As a Critical Care nurse, I could completely relate to this interpretation. Very touching, thank you for sharing this.

I posted the previous comment on enjoying the vide...

2009-10-25T18:43:58.973-07:00

I posted the previous comment on enjoying the video interpreation of the song,(I am the poster who was on the hospital ethic committee). I just want to add that, what Dr. Christian thought was a doorbell at the end of the song, might be the data signal on the audio tape that caused the auto reverse on the tape machine to switch on. Not sure about that but I had a similar reel to reel player a long time ago and I remember that there was a similar method to causing the auto reverse to switch. I saw the music video on http://music.aol.com/video/what-sarah-said/death-cab-for-cutie/1682619 and saw the connection between the sound and the auto reverse function. I am not positive but it might be the source of the sound.

Amazing. I was on a hospital ethics committee and...

2009-10-16T18:46:50.115-07:00

Amazing. I was on a hospital ethics committee and have been on 3 livings wills. I will share this link in a talk I will be giving on Living Wills and Death and Dying.
Remember, as Bob Dylan sang, "He not busy being born, is busy dying"

usb, Thanks for adding your experience here. I ...

2009-08-11T22:39:00.659-07:00

usb,

Thanks for adding your experience here. I am always amazed at how listening to a song can remind one of memories in such a vivid way.

This is interesting and really sad for me...it mak...

2009-08-11T22:28:35.285-07:00

This is interesting and really sad for me...it makes me think of what happen to my aunt, she was on life support for a while and then she came off...able to walk,talk,...but a week later she died...

ICU RN, thanks for your comment. Sorry it took ...

2009-04-25T06:24:44.608-07:00

ICU RN,

thanks for your comment. Sorry it took me a while to reply. Visualizing this song in my head over and over again was actually part of the inspiration for getting the Arts blog started. I wanted to make this interpretive video, but I had no venue for it, and every time I heard the song, I would play it again and again just listening to one instrument until I could 'assign' each instrument to some meaning or organ function. I would love to know if other people hear the instruments representing different entities.

Anon 4/24,

Knowing this made someone who is normally very cynical feel something is a very kind compliment. Thanks! The song by Muse is called "Starlight" and is very relevant to Palliative Care. So relevant that I wrote up a post about the song on Pallimed: Arts & Humanities last year! I too use the line hopes & expectations in family meetings and I often have this song stuck in my head after I use it.

there is a song by the band called Muse which has ...

2009-04-24T12:30:50.375-07:00

there is a song by the band called Muse which has lyrics that go "...our hopes and expectations... " which is a line I sometimes use when I talk to families of patients for palliative care. Sometimes I have the tune rolling in my head over and over as I talk and listen to some families. Very distracting. LOL

Wow. I am an admitted cynical a** prepared to fee...

2009-04-24T11:55:05.084-07:00

Wow. I am an admitted cynical a** prepared to feel nothing, but that was amazing. Very touching. Never thought of it that way.

I am a new RN in an ICU. Watching someone die is t...

2009-03-27T11:19:41.307-07:00

I am a new RN in an ICU. Watching someone die is the most emotional experience I've had to date. The lyrics alone in this song are amazing, but your interpretation of the instruments was unbelievable. I could close my eyes and see exactly what you were describing. Thank you.

I believe the song does have greatly to do with wa...

2008-12-04T18:21:49.735-08:00

I believe the song does have greatly to do with watching your loved ones die, but I see it differently. To me, it is not only watching someone die physically, but mentally and emotionally. When you see someone you love going through alot, you hate seeing that way and sometimes just want to run away. When you see someone needs you, despite what they say and if they think they are fine themselves is true love to me. My boyfriend had left me through a difficult time, and I realized while listening to this song that it was the truth. Love wasn't only happiness, it could be sadness. Love is truly watchign someone die.

Anon 11.14, Thanks for your comments. I didn't he...

2008-11-16T10:14:43.178-08:00

Anon 11.14,

Thanks for your comments. I didn't hear the doorbell at the beginning of the song. I might have to listen to it turned up. On the album it starts out with the piano melody.

oh whoops, I also meant to mention that you hear a...

2008-11-14T19:59:19.504-08:00

oh whoops, I also meant to mention that you hear a sort of doorbell in the beginning of the song also... I'm not sure if thats the organ or what?

I actually have had no experience being a nurse or...

2008-11-14T14:48:31.954-08:00

I actually have had no experience being a nurse or doctor but I can very clearly feel the emotions that are portrayed in this song. It is, in one word, beautiful.

Your interpretation is exactly how I felt, but just had no way of explaining it. I can remember the first time I heard this song and it actually bringing tears to my eyes without fully listening to the lyrics. Very powerful.

Thanks for the comments purple daisies. I am glad...

2008-10-20T23:32:50.339-07:00

Thanks for the comments purple daisies. I am glad someone else who had ICU experience saw some similarities in it.

I just found this. After working in an ICU environ...

2008-10-05T05:08:46.799-07:00

I just found this. After working in an ICU environment for most of my nursing career, it was hauntingly familiar. Thank you!! I love DCFC, and it never listened to the song that way before.

Megan, Thanks for the comments.I tried to find the...

2008-09-09T19:40:27.090-07:00

Megan,

Thanks for the comments.

I tried to find the magazine your quote was from, but all I could find was that it was attributed to Under The Radar magazine. I could not find the exact quote on their website, but did find this from frontman Ben Gibbard: (http://undertheradarmag.com/bengibbard.html)

Obviously, these songs are pieces of fiction, and I’m not deliberately putting less of myself into the songs. Like, “What Sarah Says” has a line that says, “And it came to me then that every plan is a tiny prayer to father time.” And the song is about someone sitting in a waiting room of a hospital waiting to hear if someone is going to be OK. That didn’t happen to me, but I can put myself there and write it as a piece of fiction, and I like that.

I absolutely LOVED the video showing where you hea...

2008-09-09T07:13:30.969-07:00

I absolutely LOVED the video showing where you heard those things. This was INCREDIBLY moving, to see it from a medical point of view.

The lyrics to this song are amazing, and so incredibly true, as I'm sure you know, of an ICU, waiting on someone to die. My 16 year old cousin was killed earlier this year from a car accident. This song perfectly describes waiting in the waiting room, waiting to hear results from tests...everyone waiting, staring at the ground....TV's are on, no one is watching them....In the end, she was taken off life support as the brain damage was too severe, and organs were donated, helping someone else to live....but anyway, I'm off track. Did you read what DCFC said about this song? It was in a magazine.

"...There's a song on the record called, 'What Sarah Said,' and we have a friend named Sarah, and she was talking about her husband and talking about how she was walking down the street with her husband and she got really emotional when she realized that she was going to have to watch her husband die someday. And that's kind of an allusion to that, because you're with someone you love, someone that you're planning to spend the rest of your life with, but the only thing on your mind is that you're going to have to watch them die in 50 years...."

Anyways, thank you again, SO much for the video with the visualizations.

wow. i had developed a similar view of the song , ...

2008-08-12T20:24:26.860-07:00

wow. i had developed a similar view of the song , my favorite line also being the one about the television. .. you did a wonderful job of showing the corrilation between the music and medical sense. . I hadn't heard the doorbell until now. , which adds the interpretation substantially in my opinion. as if the deceased just reached teh other "realm" and is waiting acceptance in. .. all in all. its great.

Thanks for the tip! I looked at a couple poems on...

2008-06-27T17:07:34.301-07:00

Thanks for the tip! I looked at a couple poems on the site and am looking foreword to reading more. I'm glad you're enjoying our blog.

Hello! I am a second year medical student at the U...

2008-06-27T08:59:56.307-07:00

Hello! I am a second year medical student at the University of Virginia. I am doing a research project this summer on blogs maintained by medical students and physicians and I have really enjoyed reading yours!The post on What Sarah Said was just beautiful, and made me listen to the song in a new way. I wanted to let you know about an online journal at UVA called Hospital Drive, which can be found at http://hospitaldrive.med.virginia.edu/. I think you and your readers would really enjoy reading and perhaps even submitting material to the journal. Happy Reading!

Anon,Thanks for sharing your story. I am glad he ...

2008-06-23T20:55:34.185-07:00

Anon,

Thanks for sharing your story. I am glad he is doing ok.

This is a very personal comment, but I am willing ...

2008-06-23T19:00:17.217-07:00

This is a very personal comment, but I am willing to share...I had never heard this song before, and am overwhelmed right at this moment. DCFC was my son's favorite band. When he called me telling me he was going to kill himself, he said, "Who's going to watch me die?" (He is ok now) Another note...his girlfriend's name was Sarah.
Thank you.

Thanks for all the kind comments. I would be curi...

2008-06-21T10:39:54.616-07:00

Thanks for all the kind comments. I would be curious if anyone hears things slightly or vastly differently than I do.

Your interpretation took my breath away. Wow. Than...

2008-06-21T09:42:22.501-07:00

Your interpretation took my breath away. Wow. Thanks.

Thank you, thank you!

2008-06-11T12:43:34.160-07:00

Thank you, thank you!