The Meaning Behind “Anyone’s Ghost” by The National and How It Became a Novel

The National released their brooding masterpiece High Violet in 2010.

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The musicians are from Cincinnati but formed in Brooklyn, New York, and quietly became one of their generation’s most enduring bands. Quietly, because The National wasn’t built on an indie trend, like garage rock or post-punk revivalism. There wasn’t a Bob Dylan-like invented myth to accompany their backstory. Just some dudes from Ohio making reliably great music.

On paper, they are wholly unhip, making them especially cool. The twin brothers—Aaron and Bryce Dessner—play guitar and piano. Aaron is a prolific producer and Bryce is a modern classical composer. Matt Berninger, the singer, talk-sings through literate, widescreen tales of characters everyone knows.

And the rhythm section features even more brothers—bassist Scott Devendorf and drummer Bryan Devendorf. A contentious rock band with fighting brothers is one thing, but this group seems like a wholesome Midwest family affair.

 “Anyone’s Ghost” is the third track on High Violet and it recently inspired the title of August Thompson’s brilliant new novel. The song zooms in on an instance of heartbreak. One of many that accumulate over time, dotting the lives of everyone.

Someone’s Sideshow

Past relationships leave permanent marks. “Anyone’s Ghost” is about the fear of becoming something of the past—mostly forgotten, barely visible, a ghost.

Say you stayed home
Alone with the flu
Find out from friends that wasn’t true
Go out at night
With your headphones on again
And walk through the Manhattan valleys of the dead

The song is about distance and isolation. It’s wrapped in the internal anxieties and fear of being alone. Yet the characters choose isolation. The narrator knows his partner has lied about staying home sick. It’s a stabbing feeling to know your partner faked having the flu to avoid you. You are not exactly dead to them, but almost.

I had a hole in the middle
Where the lightning went through it
Told my friends not to worry
I had a hole in the middle
Someone’s sideshow wouldn’t do it
I told my friends not to worry

Anyone’s Ghost (A Novel)

August Thompson’s debut novel is a coming-of-age story of first love, discovery, and grief. The novel shares its name with The National’s song and in it, music, masculinity, friendship, and sexuality combine into waves of emotion and want.

Thompson told Hobart Pulp that “this is a book about the many forms of love we feel towards people of different genders and how conventional masculinity restricts a lot of boys and men from expressing their platonic adoration and/or their queerness.”

Didn’t wanna be your ghost
Didn’t wanna be anyone’s ghost
But I don’t want anybody else
I don’t want anybody else

Said Berninger, “This new novel is a real heart-squeezer. Beautiful, one of a kind and perfectly titled.” The singer is known for writing vividly poetic lyrics, and his band’s cinematic sad-dad rock is well-suited for a larger work. (The band has printed merch with “SAD DAD” written in large letters.)

We’re All Ghosts Eventually

The National’s songs are tiny chapters of the building scars gotten over a lifetime. Their songs describe ordinary moments, banalities, devotion, awkward sex, and drunk insecurities. High Violet, like many of their albums, feels like a movie.    

“Anyone’s Ghost” (the song) is significant because it’s a story of feeling insignificant. Still, haunting someone’s future self is incredibly consequential.

Coming-of-age stories are ones of self-discovery. And the last thing anyone wants to learn is they’ve become someone’s ghost.

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