Their self-titled debut album"The National" (Brassland 2001) was recorded and released before they had played even a single show. They cut the album with engineer Nick Lloyd and formed a label with writer Alec Bemis, so those recordings could be released. Kerrang! magazine gave it four Ks, calling it "the stuff underground legends are made of."
The National made a second album, "Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers" (Brassland/Talitres 2003). The staff was the same, though Peter Katis, who produced "Turn on The Bright Lights" and "Antics" by Interpol, helped produce and mix, and Australian composer Padma Newsome from Clogs collaborated on arrangements and strings.
Following the first session of several for Bernard Lenoir on France's Radio Inter, an in-between EP was released, Cherry Tree, containing what would become the blueprint for the sound on their next record and the session of Sad Song's standout Murder Me Rachael. After these accolades and being impressed by their live show, Roger Trust signed them to Beggars Banquet.
A show at their favorite bar became a van ride to neighboring cities, became a plane ride to Europe, became two summers overseas. Their ties to those good jobs slackened. And they continue on their own path, moving out even further out in Brooklyn to Ditmas Park, where there is space and familiar suburban streets and even Geese on Beverly Road. Their album, "Alligator", much of which was recorded at their homes in Ditmas Park, was engineered by Paul Mahajan, who has worked with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and TV on the Radio. Padma Newsome camped out for a month with the band, and Peter Katis added more production and mixed the record at his house in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Berninger's potent baritone still intones about matters fraught and funny and sad; about record collections, missing persons and medium-sized American hearts. But the record's not simply gothic or miserablist -- more like the plays of Tennessee Williams, it's full of peculiar intimacies and awkward grace. Alligator's heroes are reckless and possessed seducers, but they are apologetic ones. In The National's imaginings, in songs alternately lush and spare, there is something twighlit and dreamy worked out in the basement of our brains.
"Abel," "Secret Meeting," and "Lit Up" were released as singles.
On May 22, 2007, The National released their follow-up to Alligator, Boxer, on Beggars Banquet. Taking advantage of the fact that nobody had heard their first album and earliest demos, Matt proceeded to steal lyrics and melodies from them and give them the attention they deserved while keeping the intimacy that made them special. They even managed to convince new friend Sufjan Stevens to lay down some piano tracks for them, and recorded the album in a scant 6 months after coming off the long post-Alligator road.
"Mistaken for Strangers", "Fake Empire" and "Apartment Story" have been released as singles. The band have just finished touring North America and are on a large European autumn/winter tour after playing high slots at several large festivals. In their Dec. 07/Jan. 08 issue, Paste magazine named Boxer best record of 2007.
The band's fifth album, High Violet, was released on May 10, 2010 by 4AD Records. "Bloodbuzz Ohio", "Anyone's Ghost" and "Terrible Love" were released as singles.
In 2013 their sixth studio record Trouble Will Find Me was released and named "Best New Music" by Pitchfork. The album contained the single "I Need My Girl". In 2015, the album outtake "Sunshine On My Back" was released.
Four years after Trouble Will Find Me, marking the longest timespan between albums in their career so far, they released their seventh album Sleep Well Beast on September 8th, 2017 and were yet again met with great critical success.
The National homepage: http://www.americanmary.com/
The National blog http://tntl.tumblr.com
The National on Twitter http://twitter.com/TheNational
The National on Instagram http://instagram.com/TheNational
Brassland homepage: http://brassland.org/
Beggars Banquet homepage: http://www.beggars.com/
Beautiful Head
The National Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The air is thin around your beautiful head
You're saying things with your mouth to me
That I don't recognize, you're aware of yourself lately
Redefining yourself, designing yourself
You haven't looked at me forever
Got a diagram of your associations
What would you trade me for?
You're measuring me lately
And I can tell and I can tell I'm losing weight
You're measuring me lately, you're dressing me
Do not tell me I've changed
You're just raising your standards
Do not give me away
I am the same, I am the same
Have you found him?
Have you told him everything?
Does he say he feels bad about all this?
You've shown tenderness for me
Tenderness for me, to him
Do not tell me I've changed
You're just raising your standards
Do not give me away
I am the same, I am the same
The National's "Beautiful Head" is a song that deals with the internal struggles of an individual who is going through a period of self-reflection and identification. The opening lines "You're walking taller than you should, the air is thin around your beautiful head" describe a sense of inflated ego and a loss of connection with the surrounding world. The singer is portrayed as saying things that are unfamiliar to the listener, indicating a sense of disconnect from reality as they are caught up in their own thoughts.
The chorus of the song contains the lines "Do not tell me I've changed, you're just raising your standards, do not give me away, I am the same, I am the same." This suggests that the singer is concerned with how they are perceived by others, and is feeling insecure about their own identity. They are afraid of being judged by others and being seen as different from who they really are.
The lines "Have you found him? Have you told him everything? Does he say he feels bad about all this? You've shown tenderness for me, tenderness for me, to him" suggest that there is a third party involved, possibly a lover or a friend. The singer is concerned about how they are perceived by this person, and might be second-guessing their own actions and motives in the relationship.
Line by Line Meaning
You're walking taller than you should
You seem to be overly confident and are carrying yourself as if you're better than you really are.
The air is thin around your beautiful head
You seem to be living in your own world, filled with your own thoughts and ideas.
You're saying things with your mouth to me
That I don't recognize, you're aware of yourself lately
You're communicating with me in a way that seems foreign, and you've become very self-aware recently.
Redefining yourself, designing yourself
You haven't looked at me forever
You're in the process of changing yourself and becoming someone new, and you've become so focused on that process that you've neglected me.
Got a diagram of your associations
A strategy, you're weighing your options
You have a plan for your life and you're carefully considering all of your options to make the right decisions.
What would you trade me for?
You're measuring me lately
And I can tell and I can tell I'm losing weight
You're measuring me lately, you're dressing me
You're re-evaluating our relationship and considering what it's worth to you, and you're paying closer attention to my appearance and how I present myself.
Do not tell me I've changed
You're just raising your standards
Do not give me away
I am the same, I am the same
You seem to think that I've changed, but really it's just that your expectations have gone up. Don't give up on me, because I'm still the same person you fell in love with.
Have you found him?
Have you told him everything?
Does he say he feels bad about all this?
You've shown tenderness for me
Tenderness for me, to him
Are you talking to someone else? Have you confided in him about us, and does he feel guilty? You've been affectionate with me, but have you been that way with him too?
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Aaron Dessner, Matthew D. Berninger
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind