“Unicorn Tolerance” deals with the difficulty of being true to yourself while playing a part.

Track: “Unicorn Tolerance”
Album: Goths (2017)

Given the length restrictions here, I try not to get too far off topic, but allow me a brief aside for “Unicorn Tolerance.” Decades ago I went to a meeting where a few dozen folks got together as part of a subculture I liked. I was put off by the crowd and I left, more or less, out of embarrassment. At the time, it was my own, for them, but now, I recognize it as a generalized feeling of being between the image of oneself internally and the projected reality of earnestness. It’s very hard to take off your armor, even if you want to just enjoy yourself.

“Unicorn Tolerance” is John Darnielle singing about “the thing I’ve been trying to beat to death // the soft creature that I used to be,” but, importantly, also, “the better animal I used to be.” This isn’t a value judgement, but it is a statement about that earnestness. If who you are is someone with great esteem and respect for unicorns, for beautiful, mystical things in general, even if that doesn’t exactly gel with the leather jacket and the cloves, you should not fight your better nature. The drive to be, for real, what you are trying to appear to be, on the surface, is powerful. This isn’t a problem, except if it costs you something that you really shouldn’t be willing to lose. “Unicorn Tolerance” reminds you of this, which you’ll hopefully come back to when you’re done looking cool.