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best of 2007 #07: the national - boxer

#07: The National - Boxer

thenationalboxer.jpg

Okay, I'm always going to be tempted to call them The Nationals, or American Mary, which they almost called themselves back in 2001.When I first heard this album I thought it was pretty boring. I thought their 2003 album, Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers was way more inspiring.

It has grown on me, though. I'll admit, my top 4 songs carry the whole album, but those songs are great! This guy reminds me vocally of The Magnetic Fields, but without so much of the debauch sexual brokenness. The National is so much more Springsteenlike: political, a little defeated, pretty damn rockin'. By the time they shout, accusingly: "You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends!", I'm hooked.

One of the songs I love is "Racing Like a Pro" and I just read the great Seattle music blog "Sound on the Sound" where I read that she and many of her readers made the same mistake I did. For days I had this in my head: "Your mind is racing like a pronoun." I thought for days about what such a lyric might mean, so impressed by it. Like, which pronoun? Did pronouns race? But no, that's not The National's style. The girl in the song's mind is racing like a pro, now. Oh god, that was a million years ago.

Note: Just found out Abbey at Sound on the Sound is a girl. Who knew?!

Comments

Thanks for linking to my post about mistaken lyrics!

But it's "she and many of her readers made the same mistake I did."

Glad you found Sound on the Sound and hope you've enjoyed it. (and continue to do so!)

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