“It Froze Me” is one of the few true love songs that doesn’t examine the bad that sometimes follows the good.

Track: “It Froze Me”
Album: Nothing for Juice (1996)

Nothing for Juice has “Going to Scotland” on it, so you would be forgiven for missing that it has an even better love song. John Darnielle is explicit when he introduces “It Froze Me” live. He almost always seems to say — and says this this exactly — “this is a love song.” You don’t get that level of specificity from Darnielle often, and you get that succinct of an answer even less often. He’s a wordsmith and he’s given to lengthy, beautiful descriptions of his work. When he tells you “this is a love song” you have to stand up and take notice.

There doesn’t seem to be much else to consider for “It Froze Me,” but that’s what makes it special. “Going to Scotland” can be taken a dozen ways and every way is “right.” With “It Froze Me,” it’s just one person seeing one other person and being locked in space and time as they consider their connection. In the middle of a career about divorce and destruction there exists one song about which all you can say is “this is a love song.”

As you unfold the catalog and you consider the development of John Darnielle the songwriter alongside the development of John Darnielle the person growing up in the world, you latch on to different elements. Maybe in your low points you think “Waving at You” is your anthem. Maybe in your most solitary you find some hope in “Wild Sage.” Maybe when you’re stricken with guilt you consider what “Cotton” means to other guilt-stricken people. John Darnielle has often said that he hopes his songs are there for you when you need something to sing, and “It Froze Me” is his song for you and yours in the good times.