crazier than shirttails

Summer Anne’s Best 125 Songs of the 2000s: #30

“Slow Show” by The National

Read the introduction for details on my criteria.

And if you’re reading me in tumblr’s dashboard, be sure to visit the blog directly for video.

This is the third or fourth song on this list that owes it’s place in my life to my friend Craig and his thoughtful responses to our ‘mix party’ questions. This was his song for “what does falling in love sound like?,” which I love because even though this song is spine-tinglingly romantic, it’s also messy and dark. I think of it more like “what does falling back in love sound like?,” or “what does remembering that you’re in love sound like?”

The last couple lines:

You know I dreamed about you for twenty-nine years before I saw you.
You know I dreamed about you — I missed you for twenty-nine years.

are a perfect example of what I love most about this band. Those are achingly pretty words, but they also sound exactly how people actually talk in real life (you know…). This band’s songs manage to be both smart and awkward, poetic and conversational. It’s an incredibly fine line to walk — so fine I would have thought it impossible before hearing this.