Songfacts®:

• The guy in this song comes up with a clever plan to get back with his ex: He decides to make a romantic movie where she's his love interest, and include a scene where he kisses her like Clark Gable. It's not clear if his plan works, but it sound like she made the film with him, as throughout the song we hear about the shoot.
• Clark Gable was a famous actor who was a popular leading man in movies throughout the '30s and '40s. By evoking old Hollywood, Postal Service lead singer Ben Gibbard goes classic, hoping that this love will have the same timeless quality of those films.
• A short story by Delmore Schwartz called In Dreams Begin Responsibilities was an influence on the lyrics. Postal Service singer/guitarist Ben Gibbard explained the plot: "He goes into a theater and and is watching a film of his parents' courtship and his parents are in the film and it's this obviously very fantastical thing. And I think when I was writing 'Clark Gable,' that was a point of reference. I liked the idea of seeing something that was very formative to who you are that had affected you greatly and having it be removed from your head or heart and have it recreated somewhere else that you could kind of look at it from a distance."
• The Postal Service are the duo of Jimmy Tamborello and Ben Gibbard. To make their only album - Give Up in 2003 - Tamborello would send Gibbard his oddball electronic tracks and Gibbard would vibe on them and write lyrics. All of their work was done by mailing their contributions back and forth, thus the band name.
  
  The brought in Jenny Lewis of the band Rilo Kiley to sing backup on some tracks, including this one. She joined them when they went on tour.