The Story Behind The Shins' "New Slang" with James Mercer

As The Shins celebrate the 20th anniversary of their classic Chutes Too Narrow, James Mercer reflects upon the songs that took the band from indie favorites to indie megastars: "New Slang." From how he wrote the lyrics to how it became part of Garden State, the frontman goes deep on The Story Behind the Song.
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[@m.branson4785]

Some dark humor with my family years ago, we were all thinking about what song we would each want played at our funerals... When it came to my father, he got dead serious and earnestly asked us to play this song when he passes. Surprisingly really, since he's quite an old man, rarely listens to anything from after the seventies, and I wouldn't have expected he even knew who the Shins were. I asked him why, and he said, "It's the story of my life. I heard it in my heart before he ever sang the words."

[@southlagoon]

that's incredibly poetic

[@guilhermealbuquerque6508]

This story on itself is a song.

[@KatJ3st]

You know. I have the song My Ride's Here on my personal funeral playlist.

[@WordUnheard]

The Shins - New Slang
Death Cab For Cutie - Soul Meets Body
Manchester Orchestra - The Maze, The Silence
Four PERFECT songs!

[@eves.2825]

New Slang changed my life. Before it I had never heard a song that felt like me. Thank you Zach Braff for introducing it to me and thank you James for The Shins ❤

[@williamyoste2812]

I like that, thank you Zack Braff. I didn’t watch the movie they talking about, but it is on an episode of scrubs.

[@prplpoet8]

One of my favorite movies ​@williamyoste2812

[@mjjjermaine]

This is one of my favorite songs, nice to hear the story behind it

[@pedrovea3755]

I wouldn’t have known about The Shins if it wasn’t for the movie Garden State

[@prplpoet8]

Right on!

[@johnie463]

One of the songs that I miss about my teenage
Very well job done
Very nice song
I would put that one on repeat and party

[@prplpoet8]

I do

[@michaelburggraf2822]

Some songs just blow you away. They're strong and powerful. Incredibly melancholic or incredibly joyful. As an example of the first category take Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel with "Don't give up". For the second category listen to ELO's "Hold on Tight to Your Dreams".
"New Slang" could be simply placed in the first category. But I feel that it needs to have a category of its own. Maybe together with Talking Heads' "Road to Nowhere" .

[@matthewpublikum3114]

Great voice!

[@random666777]

The soundtrack of NPR stories

[@noelleelizabeth9991]

I always thought "new slang when you notice the stripes" was about trying to seem cool to fit in and was referring to the White Stripes. The real meaning is so much darker.

[@KatJ3st]

Bingo!

[@АлексейСамуилов-з7л]

For the first time I heard it in Scrubs

[@noelleelizabeth9991]

Its was in the Sopranos before Garden State came out

[@Discreetcaptain]

This shins was a cold band, this new band covering the shins songs with Mercer singing is a boring chapter.