The acoustic guitar stumbles a little on the way to the song’s three-note riff: A (open), B (hammer on), D (open). Back when Darnielle still played the song in shows, the fans would freak out as soon as they heard that riff; it’s extremely basic, but there’s something about it, maybe the slightly behind-the-beat weight of the notes, that’s like a fingerprint. The chords, downstroked to the trademark tMG beat—
My take on it has always been with a weirdly light at the end of the tunnel scenario. The narrator has gone through hell and back and is at the end of his rope, not even the gun worked for them so they went to the one person that always was there is still there and they finally just let it all out and this person still holds them...Also the best live performance of this song was at that charity show where he played it for $60(not for charity, for him) and interjects on why he hates the song between every line.
My take on it has always been with a weirdly light at the end of the tunnel scenario. The narrator has gone through hell and back and is at the end of his rope, not even the gun worked for them so they went to the one person that always was there is still there and they finally just let it all out and this person still holds them...Also the best live performance of this song was at that charity show where he played it for $60(not for charity, for him) and interjects on why he hates the song between every line.