With a title from an Aztec poem, “Azo Tle Nelli in Tlalticpac?” really requires you to pay attention to get it.

Track: “Azo Tle Nelli in Tlalticpac?”
Album: Zopilote Machine (1994)

“Azo Tle Nelli in Tlalticpac?” is one of those songs where it’s less about unpacking the meaning than it is about scraping the surface. John Darnielle played it at Zoop II, possibly the best live show he’s ever done, and said that he didn’t think he’d ever played it live. It turns out he had, but I think we can forgive him for forgetting one night in Belgium from 13 years ago. In Belgium he explained the title and said he never does that, but I think with a song called “Azo Tle Nelli in Tlalticpac?” you sorta have to break your rules. The title means “is that the only thing in the world” and seems to be a religious, repetitive statement from an Aztec poem.

I just said the title out loud which is a first for me, I realized I’ve listened to this dozens of times over the years and never tried to say it. The guitar is repetitive and, to be honest, a little challenging to listen to more than once. At that same Zoop show John Darnielle joked about how this song being second on the album was a little bit of an indefensible choice. It’s slow and droning and feels very long with the repetition. “Good news like a rare blood disorder” is pure John Darnielle, but I don’t think the pieces come together all that well on this one. The live versions are better, with better vocals that make you consider the narrator more than the studio cut. There are good moments, especially the last verse, but overall this is one that asks a lot of you to really find the center.