Last month, The National returned with another excellent album in Sleep Well Beast. Amidst their ongoing tour in support of the record, the Brooklyn indie recently stopped by KCRW to perform a stripped down set for Morning Becomes Eclectic.
To close out their six-song performance, the band ripped through a cover of The Ramones’ “The KKK Took My Baby Away”. Frontman Matt Berninger introduced their rendition of the 1981 track by sharing the purported “true story” behind the song with a newly relevant twist. “Joey [Ramone] was in love with this girl in high school and apparently Donald Trump rolled in with daddy’s sports car and took her away,” Berninger deadpanned. “It’s a true story that happened in Queens many years ago.”
(Read: The National Are The Hardest Working Band In The World)
The band also ran through Sleep Well Beast cuts “Nobody Else Will Be There”, “Walk It Back”, “Born to Beg”, “Guilty Party”, and “Carin at the Liquor Store”. Afterwards, they sat down with host Annie Litt to chat about the new record. Watch the full performance and interview above (the Ramones cover starts around 24:37).
Recently, The National paid tribute to Tom Petty with a cover of “Damaged By Love”. While on the road, they’ve also tackled Queen (“I Want to Break Free”), Cat Power (“Maybe Not”), Talking Heads (“Heaven”), and New Order. (“Love Vigilantes”). Last week, the band added new dates to their massive world tour. Find the full itinerary here.
