Most of “Shot, Repeatedly, At Close Range, In the Chest, By Your Love” is the title, but what a title it is.

Track: “Shot, Repeatedly, At Close Range, In the Chest, By Your Love”
Album: Unreleased

John Darnielle said “I just like the punchline” when he played “Shot, Repeatedly, At Close Range, In the Chest, By Your Love” at City Winery in New York in September of 2021. You can hear that one and you can hear him play it on a live stream series that used to be semi-frequent called “Signal Flare.” Both versions are similar and reveal a song that’s more serious than you’d expect, with that title. I do like that he calls it a punchline, because it certainly is, but it’s not necessarily a funny song. At the City Winery show he also told a few jokes about writing the full title on an album and introducing it that way, with all those commas, to a confused crowd. He then led into “Against Pollution,” where someone else gets shot. Maybe intentional, maybe not!

The song itself doesn’t necessarily build on the title. Darnielle says it’s unfinished and probably always will be, but I love that we have it just to have that title. It’s up there with “I Love You. Let’s Light Ourselves on Fire” for best title. We only have a little bit of a song to imagine this person who doesn’t necessarily match with the title, but we don’t have to really squint too hard.