“Slow Show (Live)” - The National
(Words/music: The National, originally available on Boxer, Beggar’s Banquet 2007)

Last night at a show in Boston, the National’s Matt Berninger prefaced “Slow Show” with a story about a guy who e-mailed him asking him to dedicate the song to him so that he could propose to his girlfriend at the show.  Berninger held off on replying until right before the show and asked (perhaps jokingly, perhaps fortuitously) if it was “still on.”  The guy wrote back and said that no, adding that his girlfriend dumped him and (the sucker punch) took another guy to the show.  The audience, who Berninger had in his hands from the opening note, groaned on cue.  Presumably, the spurned boyfriend honed in on the “you know I dreamed about you / for twenty-nine years before I saw you” line with good reason – as a non-sequitur, it’s an incredibly endearing sentiment and a beautiful statement of love.  However, “Slow Show” isn’t as simple as this one line; in fact, it sounds more like a relationship ready to fray than one ready to tie the knot..

As with most of the National’s songs about love, “Slow Show” sets its sights on tension rather than contentment.  Berninger’s characters seem genuinely conflicted and often try to reconcile one emotion with another (or an emotion with a contradictory action).  In “Slow Show,” his protagonist feels distracted and awkward at a party, thinking about mistakes, nervousness, and ultimately going home to his lover.  He declares that he made a mistake yet never gets specific about it, and ultimately it doesn’t matter.  It’s his general confusion and his longing that borders on desperation that makes me question the relationship’s stability.  It’s clear that he’s in love, but the way he describes it with such desperation makes me think that he’s longing for something that’s lost.  Again, the specifics aren’t necessary here because Berninger sets the mood with his lyrics, creating specific images yet leaving enough room for the listener to put him or herself in the narrator’s place.  It’s this balancing act between the specific and the general (along with some excellent arrangements) that makes Boxer so captivating.  Even if these songs aren’t typical “love songs,” they approach love from more nuanced places.  While we need both bright love songs and sad breakup songs to match (or alter) our moods, songs like “Slow Show” fill in the gaps when love isn’t as simple as “I love you” or “I hate you.”

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