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My trip out east was accompanied with the National – not their latest, but their signature, “Boxer.” It was the sound for my drive through the Turnpike, through NYC, on the LIE, even through the suburbs of VA. “Showered and blue-blazin” I ferried from sight to site wearing a black suit in 95 degree weather. It was home for this Brooklyn-based band and it sounded like home to me. Everything they spoke about – building Fake Empires yet staying true, having a cause to fight for to begin with, feeling clean in a big city, getting Mistaken for Strangers by your own friends:

You have to do it running but you do everything that they ask you to
cause you don’t mind seeing yourself in a picture
as long as you look faraway, as long as you look removed
showered and blue-blazing, fill yourself with quarters
showered and blue-blazing, fill yourself with quarters

You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends
when you pass them at night under the silvery, silvery citibank lights
arm in arm in arm and eyes and eyes glazing under
oh you wouldn’t want an angel watching over
surprise, surprise they wouldn’t wannna watch
another uninnocent, elegant fall into the unmagnificent lives of adults

Make up something to believe in your heart of hearts
so you have something to wear on your sleeve of sleeves
so you swear you just saw a feathery woman
carry a blindfolded man through the trees
showered and blue-blazing, fill yourself with quarters
showered and blue-blazing, fill yourself with quarters

You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends
when you pass them at night under the silvery, silvery citibank lights
arm in arm in arm and eyes and eyes glazing under
oh you wouldn’t want an angel watching over
surprise, surprise they wouldn’t wannna watch
another uninnocent, elegant fall into the unmagnificent lives of adults

You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends
when you pass them at night under the silvery, silvery citibank lights
arm in arm in arm and eyes and eyes glazing under
oh you wouldn’t want an angel watching over
surprise, surprise they wouldn’t wannna watch
another uninnocent, elegant fall into the unmagnificent lives of adults

Three interpretations – the third my own:

First from Twistedear.com

Not long after that, the second song starts: Mistaken for Strangers. It’s an eerie song, with an obvious squeak on Dessner’s/Devendorf’s bass pedal – and death-trap like guitars. “You have to do it running / But you do / Everything that they ask you to.” Matt Berninger sings “’Cause you don’t mind seeing yourself in a picture / As long as you look far away / As long as you look real moved.” Simpler words could hardly be conceived. The rock star wearing his heart on his sleeve – and looking real, but feeling fake. “Showered and blue blazing, fill yourself with quarters,” he pushes on, repeating himself: “Showered and blue blazing, fill yourself with quarters.” A rock star jukebox, filled with quarters, change jingling in his pockets. The images are, once again, top notch. Few lyricists have a gift for writing about recognisable people and their recognisable vicissitudes in such an original, fragmentary manner. Berninger is no storyteller; nonetheless, he sets out to describe everyday life in his songs – and he succeeds in doing so, by bringing his life to the listener in a simple yet stirring manner.

Next from Musicomh.com

Those looking for a return to the aggressive polemic of past albums will find most comfort in Mistaken For Strangers, although the reiterated chorus of “showered and blue-blazing, fill yourself with quarters” is more of a comment on the alienation of fame, the musician turned into marionette, a human jukebox there to perform, an object joié. It is a rare angry moment on what is – despite Devendorf’s rapid fire drumming – a deeply reflective, almost hypnotic set of songs.

My take.

This is a song you know by the feeling of cruising downtown on a broad Avenue, flanked by tall canyons of cool metal towers; cool evening, lights changing to green parting the red sea. You’re sharp, dressed, smelling good, have just enough change to park and haven’t even broken a sweat. This song evokes the city. It’s also about how you present yourself: wearing your heart on your sleeve? Gotta have a heart first.

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