http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEUvA9gnVcc

The crowd-favorite “Dance Music” uses two different sad stories to make the same point: you must endure.

Track: “Dance Music”
Album: The Sunset Tree (2005)

The Sunset Tree is the true story of John Darnielle’s upbringing and the abuse he suffered from his stepfather. The album is filled with rage and sadness, but Darnielle has said consistently that the message he wants to convey is that everyone can survive. The liner notes on the album are uncharacteristically short and conclude with three lines: “you are going to make it out of there alive // you will live to tell your story // never lose hope.”

“Lion’s Teeth” is a revenge story and there are moments on The Sunset Tree (and elsewhere) where Darnielle is justifiably furious at his now-dead stepfather. In “Dance Music” he’s still in the moment. He’s just a child in the first verse when violence drives him upstairs to drown out his unhappy home with music. Darnielle has said his mother doesn’t remember the story the way he tells it, but the specifics aren’t as important as the world he describes.

Much has been said of that first verse and how clear the image is, but “Dance Music” has always been about the second verse for me. In live performances he names the woman who is “the last best thing I’ve got going” with the “special secret sickness.” He’s seventeen now and he can’t help Jackie. Both verses are stories of helplessness, but the first one is an external force (his stepfather) and the second is an internal one (addiction). They’re both high and sad and he knows this is a problem, but he doesn’t know how to fix it. The saddest element is the selfishness. What he’s really worried about isn’t solving her problems, it’s that he doesn’t want to die alone. The John of this story still has to get worse before he’s going to get better.