Blank Slate

I think this song is a reference to holding back on impulses that we have on an every day basis. "Gonna tackle young girls off their beautiful bikes" (might not be an everyday impulse, but the idea is stated bluntly) "Gonna keep it upstairs" meaning that your not actually gonna act, but letting it only go as far as your thoughts. "My head is a buzzing three star hotel" might mean that these thoughts are being housed like random people in a hotel...

Aye, I agree. The first part of the song could be about repressing sexual urges while the line "beat off the army with a tennis racket could be about how he represses his anger, "keeping it upstairs." He has so much built-up anger could beat a whole army.

As for "for somebody famous to kidnap and love", when you're an emotionally repressed person, it can be hard to connect with people, so this person is trying to force it in ridiculous ways.

"tackle young girls off their beautiful bikes" could be a comibnation of repressed sexual, angry feelings and once again the hard time he has connecting with people

"three-star hotel" his mind is a bit of dirty mess

I could be off about some things, but man do I love Matt's lyrics

I also think the line in the first verse is "Bees flew out and they flew up their skirts" Once he's fallen from his chair, he looks up someone's skirt. Matt Berninger can have a stunningly gorgeous, dirty mind sometimes. dplafcan is right on. He has all this astounding impulses that he stifles. Most of them are appalling, nevertheless when he meditates on tackling young girls off their beautiful bikes, we stand up and cheer.

The first line is actually "I was home entertaining guests". The National do such quality B-sides and this is no exception, even though it's just a blatant rehash of Keep It Upstairs from the Abel EP.

"Beat off the army with a tennis racket" has my vote for best visual ever

"Bees flew out and they flew up their skirts 'cause they wanted to travel the world"

Absolutely fing brillant imagery! He's thinking about sex, and traveling the world...thats the thought that feel out when he cracked open his head. Amazing metaphor. He's entertaining guests, probably in a bland and boring relationship.

This song is about holding in your thoughts and feelings until you go crazy.

The grand finale is the moment where they all come to fruition. Then he can do and say what he wants. That's true freedom. A fresh start, or blank slate.

The modern man lives under two sets of rules...both he respects: those biological urges that make him feel like a pervert but come wholly naturally and those of the modern age.

IN some ways it makes men into raving lunatics trying to balance both sexual urges and the ability to become mature emotional beings.

Men always think they'll have this precarious balance figured out by middle age. It's one of the perks to getting older and wiser, we think when we're young. But we find out when we get older that things stay complicated. We still feel dirty in some ways and still inadequate in displaying our feelings.

We all hope there's this one crowing moment where we can show off this grand duality and maturity.

the lyrics seem more puzzling than the usual National song. Oh well, still super-duper awesome.

Now it's fixed. Thanks for the heads-up, Mozart Face.

The first time he definitely says:

"Gonna jump out of a cake with my heart on a string"

but the second time it sounds a lot more like:

"Gonna jump out of a cake with my hard-on and sing"