Over a haunting cello, the story of hard drugs and running away mentally plays out in “Dilaudid.”

Track: “Dilaudid”
Album: The Sunset Tree (2005) and Come, Come to the Sunset Tree (2005) and Dilaudid EP (2005)

Dilaudid is technically the marketing name for hydromorphone, an opiate that’s typically used to treat intense pain. I’ve only personally come across it once, when a friend in college scratched his eye so badly they gave it to him alongside several serious warnings. He turned out fine, but as I listened to a public radio report this morning about the ongoing opiate crisis I thought about that moment and how it could have gone both ways.

John Darnielle has played “Dilaudid” hundreds of times. It’s one of the most popular songs from The Sunset Tree and it does an incredible job of conveying the intensity of the moment but also the seriousness of what lies underneath. A fan went even deeper some years ago and asked John Darnielle on Tumblr if this character is the same one from “Attention All Pickpockets,” which Darnielle confirmed and commended their “sleuthing.”

If you are into “sleuthing” like that, which I assume you must be if you’re reading this, I encourage you to dig into live performances of “Dilaudid.” The screams at the end really pop with an audience, but the banter shines here, as well. Dilaudid is serious stuff, which Darnielle mentions trying recreationally at a very young age. Obviously you would not assume from The Sunset Tree anything else, but it helps sometimes to remember how old these characters really are. None of that is to say that there is an age where these things become better, but The Sunset Tree feels familiar to an adult, but really try to remember that these people are kids.