The National - Terrible Love

I’ve been slowly getting into a huge lust over The National’s High Violet. I’ve been lucky enough to see them live twice now and I think just that – seeing that energy, that passion, that amazing spirit – has moved me into digging even deeper into their music than before. Compared to the way Boxer starts, many would say the new opener was a slump but “Terrible Love” is a downright classic and I’ve finally realized that. It’s got the heart of a champion and the bitter re-telling of sordid advice. They sing about how it “takes an ocean not to break” and it highlights the many themes they cover on the album: drinking, adulthood, love, etc. And even still, it’s a divisive opener because there are other versions that for some sound better than the album version.

I think the drums on the alternate version – with the way they relentlessly pound away and the way they mix in different amazing rhythms – would’ve been a more ‘signature’ way for The National to open the album. Something like “Secret Meeting” or more sure-fire, like the “Fake Empire” magic that broke them through onto the other side, it probably would have made more ‘sense.’ But then you have the album version’s murkiness with the opening piano notes and more somber, subtle drum pound. When the music breaks into the section where he’s singing about he “can’t sleep without a little help,” the breakdown in the middle is gorgeous before he announces that he won’t follow her into the rabbit hole. The thing about The National’s lyrics is that they’re never printed anywhere so a lot of the lines could be blurred out for intended purposes. The haziness of the song is what makes the album’s leading songs, especially with the back-to-back hits of “Sorrow” and “Anyone’s Ghost” that much more compelling. I love the imagery of how “It’s a terrible love and I’m walking with spiders” and how he probably knows it’s a terrible, horrible mess of a relationship he has and yet, he’s already well deep in the spider-web. It’s just a small glimpse as to why they’re such a great band and why their main man’s songwriting is so beautiful to many. Here’s both versions for fun. – Bryan