England (2010) – The National

As Matt Berninger told the Guardian, “A lot of [our songs] are sad and about death.” However, as he rightfully adds, they go about it in such a bracing way that the songs almost seem to triumph over it, “In really fun ways.”

England is another atmospheric track from the American band The National. It seems directed towards a woman the singer was once in a relationship with, rather than the place. England works as a metaphor, especially through its climate, reflecting the narrator’s melancholic emotional state. The song carries you through the weather of his feelings.

The opening line – “Someone send a runner through the weather that I’m under” – sets the mood immediately. As listeners, we become that runner, moving through his emotional landscape. It feels like an invitation, or perhaps a quiet reassurance, that we are meant to experience and witness his struggles rather than simply observe them from a distance.

As already alluded to, the song suggests that someone else has caused this emotional dislocation: “You must be somewhere in London / You must be loving your life in the rain.” Meanwhile, the narrator is grounded elsewhere – “I’m in a Los Angeles cathedral” — physically and emotionally removed. As with much of The National’s work, meaning is left deliberately open, encouraging personal interpretation and putting more emphasis on the ethereal instrumentation.

(On the song England) While the songs somewhat cryptic lyrics could be about writer’s block and Berninger’s inability to come up with a song to appease the band’s London-based label 4AD, or about star-crossed lovers separated by an ocean and a river, the theme remains the same of a singer being separated from something, acquiescing to the reality of that separation and at the same time sort of overcoming it by the time of the triumphant finale.

– Far Out Magazine

As a small piece of pop-culture irony, England (the song) was used by BBC Sport in 2018 during a montage celebrating England’s penalty shootout victory over Colombia at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia – a surprisingly triumphant context for such a restrained and inward-looking song.

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England comes from The National’s fifth studio album High Violet (image inset). The sculpture on the album cover was created by artist Mark Fox, and is called The Binding Force.  High Violet was released to widespread critical acclaim receiving a score of 85 out of 100 based on 36 reviews. It appeared on several publications’ year-end lists of the best albums of 2010. Time named it the fourth best album of the year, and it also placed at number 15 on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 30 best albums of 2010. The opening track from the album Terrible Love was performed 2 months prior to the release of the album and featured here in August this year.

[Verse 1]
Someone send a runner through the weather that I’m under
For the feeling that I lost today
Someone send a runner for the feeling that I lost today
Someone send a runner through the weather that I’m under
For the feeling that I lost today
Someone send a runner for the feeling that I lost today

[Pre-Chorus]
You must be somewhere in London
You must be loving your life in the rain
You must be somewhere in London
Walking Abbey Lane
I don’t even think to make, I don’t even think to make
I don’t even think to make corrections

[Chorus]
Famous angels never come through England
England gets the ones you never need
I’m in a Los Angeles cathedral
Minor singin’ airheads sing for me

[Verse 2]
Put an ocean and a river between everybody else
Between everything, yourself and home
You put an ocean and a river between everything, yourself and home

[Outro]
Afraid of the house, stay the night with the sinners
Afraid of the house, stay the night with the sinners
Afraid of the house, ’cause they’re desperate to entertain
(Repeat)

References:
1. High Violet – The National
2. Watch The National’s monumental performance of ‘England’ at the Sydney Opera House – Far Out Magazine