You Can Play These Songs with Chords

You Can Play These Songs with Chords is an early (1996–97) demo from the rock band Death Cab for Cutie, which at the time consisted entirely of founder Ben Gibbard. This demo was originally released on cassette by Elsinor Records. It proved so popular, Gibbard recruited other musicians to make a full band, which would go on to record Something About Airplanes, the band's debut studio album.

You Can Play These Songs with Chords
Demo album by Death Cab for Cutie
Released	1997
Recorded	May–July 1997 (original) November 1996 – January 2000 (reissue)
Genre	Indie rock
Length	30:05
Label	Barsuk[1]
Producer	Ben Gibbard
Death Cab for Cutie chronology
You Can Play These Songs with Chords (1997) Something About Airplanes (1998)

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	65/100[2]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Almost Cool	6.5/10[4]
Billboard	(positive)[5]
Dusted Magazine	(positive)[6]
Pitchfork	6.4/10[7]
PopMatters	[8][2]
Rolling Stone	[9]
Stylus Magazine	C[10]

You Can Play These Songs with Chords was expanded with ten more songs and re-released on October 22, 2002, through Barsuk Records on the heels of the success of The Photo Album.

Track listing

Original release

All songs written by Benjamin Gibbard.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"President of What?"	4:06
2.	"Champagne from a Paper Cup"	2:34
3.	"Pictures in an Exhibition"	4:02
4.	"Hindsight"	3:47
5.	"That's Incentive"	2:13
6.	"Amputations"	4:03
7.	"Two Cars"	3:31
8.	"Line of Best Fit"	5:49

Re-issue additional tracks

All songs written by Benjamin Gibbard, Nick Harmer and Christopher Walla except as otherwise noted.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"This Charming Man"	Johnny Marr, Morrissey	2:14
2.	"TV Trays"		4:02
3.	"New Candles"		3:02
4.	"Tomorrow"		2:17
5.	"Flustered/Hey Tomcat!"		2:56
6.	"State Street Residential"		5:51
7.	"Wait"	Secret Stars[11]	3:34
8.	"Prove My Hypotheses"		4:11
9.	"Song for Kelly Huckaby" (Facts version)		3:51
10.	"Army Corps of Architects"		4:43

Personnel

• Ben Gibbard – vocals, guitar, bass guitar, piano, drums
• Nathan Good – drums, tambourine
• Nick Harmer – bass guitar
• Christopher Walla – guitar, vocals "New Candles" and "Tomorrow"