Brainy

I think it's about loving someone you feel intellectually inferior to. And there are definitely some obsessive undertones.

Beautiful stalker song.

I love this song and all of Boxer.

Is it just me? I swear the line goes: "I keep your fingerprints in a pink folder in the middle of my tangle."

This is one of the first National songs I fell for. This and Start a War. To me this song is about a woman who displays some traditionally masculine attributes. The 'tall kingdom' is a reference from Seamus Haney (sp). In that poem, the tall kingdom is the British Empire and is cast as a 'masculine' power. Also this woman is smart, loves her car! :). He digs her, he's trying to impress her (staying up all night boning up on the dictionary - love that) but she is stringing him along. He is trying to tell her that she may not be as self-sufficient as she might think. And that he might be able to offer her something.

I agree with thejlar that the surrounding of the tall kingdom means he wants to protect her, but I don't think it is from a specific threat. I think it just means he wants to be the strong protective male in a relationship with her. Just makes the line so brilliant to me. She is a tall kingdom-what a powerful thing, but he could be the wall to protect her; even tall kingdoms need protection. God, I love this song!

The keeping of her fingerprints and following her around do give the idea of obsession, but it doesn't strike me as creepy in this song. I take this more figuratively. Her identity is with him all the time, he wants to be with her and is puppy dogging her - trying to win her over. Trying to prove he could be important to her.

My take on it: the aftermath of a relationship. They've split up, but they still see each other and they still have feelings for each other, but she ended it. As so many people in this world decide, she wanted to take a break and see other people in case there may be someone better out there, but keeps him around because she has yet to find anyone who is.

He's following her around and keeping her company although it pains him to be around her. It's as if he's living in a dream every time he sees her. "Everywhere you go is swirlin', everything you say has water under it." Nothing is clear anymore and every word she says to him is in no way sturdy or solid and even though she might say she loves him, he can't fully believe it because it could just as easily change.

The fingerprints in the pink folder in the middle of his table are her "fingerprints" on his heart. He's saying "you know I love you."

As others have said, he's protective of his "tall kingdom" (her). And being around her is more than enough for him even if it causes him pain.

"You might need me more than you think you will." He believes they were made for each other and one day it'll all be apparent to her.

"Come home in the car you love, brainy brainy brainy." As I've said, she still has him and he's reliable and available to her whenever she may need him. In other words, he's the car she loves and he'll always be there to take her home. Which leads him to confirm his belief: she needs him and one day she'll see it...his "brainy" plan.

"You keep changing your fancy fancy mind every time I decide to let go." She wants him around even though she was the one to end the relationship, she doesn't want him letting go.

"I was up all night again, boning up and reading the American dictionary. You'll never believe me, what I found." He's trying to appeal to her. Even though he believes that one day she'll figure it all out on her own, but there are times when he's more sure about that than other times. He might be able to convince her that he's interesting and worth keeping.

Over analyzed much? Yeah....

Here's what Matt Berninger says about the song meaning: http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2008/09/matt-berninger-of-the-national-explains-boxer-lyri.html

Don't really agree with others that this is a love song. There isn't anything romantic about stalking someone.

It sounds to me like some guy who is off his nut that is watching a successful woman from a distance and has delusions that he is going to come to her rescue some day.

He is fixated on her life and watches her come home in her nice car, has somehow procured some of her fingerprints and he fantasizes that somehow he is protecting her kingdom.

He spends time trying to improve himself reading a dictionary? Only a nut would do that and think that somehow that's going to put him on her level.

This is more in line with the rest of his work, lots of dark lyrics, few romantic love songs, if any. Listen to "Karen" and "All Dolled Up in Straps".

This is probably my favorite song off of Boxer. It's such subtle, beautiful melancholy. Completely awesome.

i wonder what he found. that the person he is following is a fraud? anyone have any ideas?

the drum sound in this track is really great.

i wonder if "the tall kingdom I surround" is alluding to something specific or just pretty poesy?

I think what he's saying is that he believes he needs to protect this other person. What surrounds a kingdom? A wall; protection; safety. He seems to take it a little far though, going so far as to know when she comes home and to be able to recognize her car easily. Maybe a song about obsession? Or a police officer, keeping watch over someone in danger (or a suspect?)? These are all things that occur to me.