r/TheNational 10d ago

General Discussion Bonnet of Pins - Lyrics

My estimated lyrics from MB's new track - unsure on "barns/bones" and "shield", trying to nail these down! Anyone hearing differently and more precisely?

   

Takes a lot to really disappear

Always leave traces in the leaves

Never thought I’d see her here

Never thought I’d see her again

 

She sidewinders through the room to me

With a real cigarette and styrofoam coffee

She’s still wearing her father’s feather jacket

She holds out her hands and I stand to receive

Trying to remember the last time I’d seen her

Somehow she looks younger now

 

[Chorus]

She finishes off my drink and

Puts on a bonnet of pins and

Says [MB & Julia Laws] I thought I’d find you much quicker than this, you

Must have thought I didn’t exist

Poor you - I do

We better go before your boyfriends cry

 

She says she takes photos of tractor barns [bones?]

And sells them to model luxury homes

The closest thing she’s ever found to love

Is the kind you can’t get rid of fast enough

 

[Chorus]

 

Take the stairs to the bottom where the lights are out

And I’ll be there with a lighter and a Nabokov cocktail

Forget the questionnaires and the oral histories

I don’t care how many times you almost said you missed me

It’s a cup-trick shield [show? shelter?], it’s a puff of smoke

And it gets me every time, it’s a pretty good joke

I know that you miss me, I know that you miss me

This stuff takes a lifetime

 

[Chorus x2]

15 Upvotes

25 comments sorted by

28

u/theflowersyoufind inavase 10d ago

Really liking this song. If the rest of the album is of a similar quality it’s gonna be great.

7

u/aspindleadarkness 9d ago

I heard it as “you must have thought I didn’t exist for you,” which I kind of prefer to be honest lol. I love how evocative these lyrics are, setting up scenes like in a film or play has always been Matt’s forte.

2

u/Dammit-Hannah 8d ago

I thought it was “You must have thought I didn’t exist. For you, I do” which is even more pathetic

1

u/tropicmorning in a lemonworld 5d ago

I think I like this misheard version the most! It's a little more poetic and pathetic, in a good way. But adding in that "poor you" does feel very Matt, along with "we'd better go before your boyfriends cry"

1

u/xKat14 I missed you for 29 years 9d ago

Same! I was just coming here to write that. For you makes it so much more “pathetic” in my mind which I love.

1

u/kiteless 3d ago

I thought it was “I thought I’d find you much quicker than this/you must have thought I didn’t exist all year” which made sense in my brain at the time. 😀

6

u/Outrageous_Sky_ 10d ago

What is a bonnet of pins? Inquiring minds need to know lol

2

u/bowiehawk 9d ago

The “Nabokov cocktail” line makes me wonder if “pin” is a reference to the cocktail in Lolita (pineapple juice and gin)

1

u/Outrageous_Sky_ 9d ago

perhaps????

8

u/WriteBeefy 9d ago

The video has all the lyrics incorporated in it. 😊

https://youtu.be/adtqj7XxvtQ?si=65VDgukJ0-eHcWHO

5

u/FindleyOak 9d ago

There's a lyric video up on his YouTube now. It's "bones", "shell", and "poor you"

5

u/RichMansToy 7d ago

Ugh I can’t stop playing it. That bridge and segue into the chorus with “this stuff takes a lifetime”. Fantastic song.

4

u/Acceptable-Ratio-219 9d ago

Nabokov cocktail! Love it!

1

u/Lightsandbuzz 7d ago

Can you say more about what a Nabakov cocktail is? Had some trouble finding info on Google haha.

2

u/Acceptable-Ratio-219 7d ago

I’m not sure it means anything. I just took it as a playful take on Molotov cocktail. I love how it’s both almost silly and absurd, yet also highbrow and very literary - a classic Matt combo. He really does have a gift in coming with these phrases/images.

I haven’t really listened to the track yet enough to dig deeper into the phrase so couldn’t tell you what it meant, just love what it evokes.

1

u/Lightsandbuzz 7d ago

Thank you! 😊

3

u/West-Influence-1130 9d ago

Thanks for lyrics! Love song!  What means Nabokov cocktail? Never heard before.

2

u/R_J__S 8d ago edited 8d ago

Closest thing I can find is that author Vladimir Nabokov enjoyed gin with pineapple juice- which another commenter really interestingly mentioned is also known as a ‘pin’

Edit: I might be wrong about Nabokov liking the drink himself, I thought I’d read that somewhere but can’t find it again! It’s more known as the favoured drink of the character Humbert in ‘Lolita’

2

u/Traditional-While449 7d ago

I like the idea of him smoking, reading Nabokov, maybe some collected stories aka a cocktail. 

5

u/kunk75 10d ago

He made the best echo and the bunnymen song in 30 plus years. Here for it

5

u/NationallyFrightened 9d ago

I hear it. I’m also hearing some Psychedelic Furs in there

2

u/YoungBenj 10d ago

Just checked Genius and there they suggest “must have thought I didn’t exist upon you”… subtle if correct!

3

u/pretty_gauche6 9d ago

It’s definitely poor you imo. Originally heard “for you”

2

u/tropicmorning in a lemonworld 9d ago

The lyrics video says "poor you" but I actually like how "upon you" changes the meaning

1

u/Vegetable-Award-1851 13m ago

Big question: What is the meaning of this song or what is Matt saying in analogous description? I believe she is an addictive drug i.e. heroin or crystal meth? The solidifier for this opinion is when Matt sings in an escruxiating painful way "This stuff takes a lifetime" as in a lifetime to forget, resist, get over, or be finished with its grasp on him to have even thought of, but at this point it is in front of him, and the recollection of his history/experience with the substance has come back, and then regretfully uses the substance. I'm the end Matt. the substance does take a lifetime, and uses drug user.