The nicest thing about Random Weekends is that they often reveal hidden gems within my music collection — songs I didn’t even know I had.
Take today’s SOTD, a deep cut on Ben Folds’ Best Imitation of Myself retrospective collection — which makes it a deep cut on an album of deep cuts.
‘Such Great Heights’ is (I’ve learned) a much-loved single by The Postal Service, the early 2000’s “supergroup” formed by Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, Jenny Lewis and producer Jimmy Tamborello.
I put supergroup in quotes because 90% of human beings probably don’t know any of those people. I feel extremely hip for knowing two out of three.
Folds has often played this song live and in radio performances. This particular version was recorded for a MySpace concert and later remixed for inclusion on this album.
That the freckles in our eyes
Are mirror images
And when we kiss they’re perfectly aligned
And I have to speculate
That God Himself did make
Us into corresponding shapes
Like puzzle pieces from the clay
And true it may seem like a stretch
But it’s thoughts like this that catch
My troubled head when you’re away
And when I am missing you to death
And when you are out there on the road
For several weeks of shows
And when you scan the radio
I hope this song will guide you home
They will see us waving from such great heights
“Come down now” they’ll say
But everything looks perfect from far away
“Come down now” but we’ll stay
I tried my best to leave
This all on your machine
But the persistent beat
It sounded thin upon the sending
And that frankly will not fly
You’ll hear the shrillest highs
And lowest lows with the windows down
And this is guiding you home
They will see us waving from such great heights
“Come down now” they’ll say
But everything looks perfect from far away
“Come down now” but we’ll stay
They will see us waving from such great heights
“Come down now” they’ll say
But everything looks perfect from far away
“Come down now” but we’ll stay
(They will see us waving from such great heights)
(Come down now)
They will see us waving from such great heights
(Come down now)
Meet Me In Montauk 
I guess I’m semi-hip as I too know 2 of the 3 in the supergroup.😄 Still, I had not heard this song in either it’s original form or by Folds. Frankly, I’m not crazy about Folds’ version, but, perhaps surprisingly, I like the original much better. And the video for the original, particularly after just having seen Gravity, is quite cool.(I think youtube took down your link btw, but I was able to find it through a YouTube search).
I think some songs like this, which has a very cool electronic ethereal vibe in the original, just don’t lend themselves to a piano based interpretation.
Check out Iron and Wine’s cover of this song from the film “Garden State” … great cover.