Drunk Lyrics | The National’s Boxer
That was one hell of a food coma! Actually I’m just lazy. I didn’t even eat much, just some chicken and salad. But at least I did some drinking. And some listening to music. Nothing new though and honestly, mostly The National. As I stated before, the beginning of “McCormack’s Wall” from the new Glen Hansard album reminded me of the National’s “Fake Empire”. This led me down a pretty deep rabbit hole of listening to all of their saddest songs. So, all of their songs. I never really listened to their first album so I bought that too and gave it a shot. It’s not bad, but from the reviews I’ve read I expected more. Anyway, I mostly went back to my favorites in the decade between Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers and 2013’s Trouble Will Find Me. I’ve change my opinion a few times already but for now I’ve settled on Boxer as my favorite album. So that’s what I’m getting drunk to and trying to interpret tonight.
Without knowing what all of the lyrics are The National has always seemed depressing for me. Their sound can be perfect for a pensive day writing or a rainy day drinking, but I wouldn’t bring it to my summer picnic. Which is something that people probably still do somewhere, right? With their red & white checkered blanket. Or is it a table cloth? I’m tempted to look up cartoon ants invading a picnic but there are more pressing issues. Namely, trying to figure out what Matt Berninger is saying. He mainly talks instead of sings so I probably shouldn’t be surprised by any lyrics, but never forget that I am an idiot.
Track: “Fake Empire”
Sample Lyric: Tiptoe through our shiny city/ With our diamond slippers on/ Do our gay ballet on ice/ Bluebirds on our shoulders
We’re half awake in a fake empire/ We’re half awake in a fake empire
Turn the light out, say goodnight/ No thinking for a little while/ Let’s not try to figure out everything at once/ Its hard to keep track of you falling through the sky
We’re half awake in a fake empire/ We’re half awake in a fake empire
My Drunk Interpretation: I have to think this is probably a criticism of America, which is probably fair but I don’t think the lyrics are the true strength here. The piano and horns on the other hand make this a great song. And on second thought, the emphasis in repeating the line “We’re half awake in a fake empire” feels like a pretty strong statement in its own right.
Track: “Mistaken for Strangers”
Sample Lyric: You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends/ When you pass them at night/ Under the silvery, silvery Citibank lights/ Arm in arm in arm and eyes and eyes, glazing under
Oh, you wouldnt want an angel watching over/ Surprise, surprise, they wouldnt wanna watch/ Another un-innocent, elegant fall/ Into the un-magnificent lives of adults
My Drunk Interpretation: We think people care about what we do so much but we really shouldn’t worry because no one gives a shit about our boring lives. But on the contrary….Snowden. Yeah, think about it. (don’t think about it)
Track: “Brainy”
Sample Lyric: You know, I keep your fingerprints/ In a pink folder in the middle of my table/ You’re the tall kingdom I surround/ Think I’d better follow you around
You might need me more than you think you will/ Come home in the car you love, Brainy, brainy, brainy
My Drunk Interpretation: Berninger explained this song as “about someone trying to pretend they’re smarter than they are and also maybe trying to catch up with somebody who they believe is way ahead of them, much smarter.” I think he’s too afraid to admit he was stalking someone. Weirdo.
Track: “Green Gloves”
Sample Lyric: My friends are somewhere, getting wasted/ Hope they’re staying glued together/I have arms for them
Take another sip of them/ It floats around and takes me over/ Like a little drop of ink/ In a glass of water
Get inside their clothes with my green gloves/Watch their videos in their chairs/ Get inside their beds with my green gloves/ Get inside their heads, love their loves
My Drunk Interpretation: I feel this is about missing someone you used to be close with and maybe being jealous of the life they have. But the answer is probably just being a stalker again.
Track: “Slow Show”
Sample Lyric: Standing at the punch table swallowing punch/ Can’t pay attention to the sound of anyone/ A little more stupid, a little more scared/ Every minute more unprepared
I made a mistake in my life today/ Everything I love gets lost in drawers/ I want to start over, I want to be winning/ Way out of sync from the beginning
I wanna hurry home to you/ Put on a slow, dumb show for you and crack you up/ So you can put a blue ribbon on my brain/God, I’m very, very frightening, I’ll overdo it
My Drunk Interpretation: This is actually obvious, especially to anyone whom has suffered from social anxiety. But I’m lazy I’ll let the man who wrote it describe it: “That one’s actually kind of literal, wanting to get out of some anxiety-filled public situation, where there’s a party of something and you just want to escape and be home, close the doors with someone that you really care about and just be stupid and laugh.”
Track: “Apartment Story”
Sample Lyric: Tired and wired, we ruin too easy/ Sleep in our clothes and wait for winter to leave/ But I’ll be with you behind the couch when they come/ On a different day just like this one
We’ll stay inside ’till somebody finds us, do whatever the TV tells us/ Stay inside our rosy-minded fuzz for days
My Drunk Interpretation: This is one of my favorite songs and I’m pretty sure it’s about barricading yourself inside with the one person in the world that you love enough to not drive you nuts. But it could be about convincing yourself everything is okay when your relationship is killing you. Either way every time I listen to this song I want to cry. Where are my tissues? And my drink.
Track: “Racing Like a Pro”
Sample Lyric: You’re pink, you’re young, you’re middle-class/ They say it doesnt matter/ Fifteen blue shirts and womanly hands/ you’re shooting up the ladder
Your mind is racing like a pro now/ Oh my God, it doesnt mean a lot to you/ One time, you were a glowing young ruffian/ Oh my God, it was a million years ago
My Drunk Interpretation: For the longest time I thought it was “racing like a pronoun” which is almost as ridiculous as this being one of two songs on the album that use the word “ruffian”. What the hell is going on here?
Track: “Ada”
Sample Lyric: Ada, don’t talk about reasons/ Why you don’t want to talk about reasons/Why you don’t wanna talk/ Now that you got everybody you consider sharp/ All alone, all together, all together in the dark
Leave it all up in the air
My Drunk Interpretation: I don’t know but between the vague lyrics and the spooky music (w/ help from Sufjan Stevens) I picture someone having a nervous breakdown and being committed to an asylum. Like one of the bad ones from the 1800s. This shit is depressing, I’m going to go listen to Grimes again instead.
Bake
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[…] a lot of recent stuff with only a few exceptions. There was that week long sojourn with The National, a drunken conversation with Beef Wellington about Modest Mouse that will show up on here someday […]