The National’s members have mentioned in the press the mayhem that they engaged in during the making of their new video for Graceless off their Best of Year Album (take that, Arcade Fire) Trouble Will Find Me. You may notice that a beer or two (OK, maybe three), were consumed during the filming, which took place at singer Matt Berninger’s folks’ house in Cincinnati. Berninger told Rolling Stone that along the way the band “kind of destroyed the place and ourselves along the way.” And no stunt men were injured (or used) during the filming of the video. “I gave myself a minor concussion, head injury on the slip and slide,” bassist Scott Devendorf told RS. “I had a serious face injury, Bryce [Dessner] had a back injury,” Berninger said. Berninger also got beat up (repeatedly) filming the sequence in which he rides a bike into the family pool. “My face hit the water hard all three times,” he told RS. “I had glasses on, I had bruises around my eyes where the glasses hit. It was the most brutal video we’ve ever done. It was really fun, but it cost us. No one died, though.”  Berninger’s father can be seen in the background sweeping up the mess and mowing beer cans on his sit-down.  Heartwarming stuff.

To us it just looks like 40 year-old guys (in suits of course) refusing to grow up while acknowledging their inner juveniles.  Who would do such a thing?

Check out the Graceless video below.  As the band said with its’ release: “Graceless is full of punks and cannonballers.” The songs’ lyrics follow.  The lyrics mesh well with the video, including the “bullets [potatoes?] through rotten fruit.”  When performed live, Berninger sings the last portion of the song with vitriol, which belies the fun-for-all treatment in the video.  Read a little closer and let us know what you think.

“Graceless
Is there a powder to erase this?
Is it dissolvable and tasteless?
You can’t imagine how I hate this
Graceless

I’m trying, but I’m graceless
I don’t have the sunny side to face this
I am invisible and weightless
You can’t imagine how I hate this
Graceless

I’m trying, but I’m gone
Through the glass again
Just come and find me
God loves everybody

Don’t remind me
I took the medicine and I went missing
Just let me hear your voice
Just let me listen

Graceless
I figured out how to be faithless
But it would be a shame to waste this
You can’t imagine how I hate this
Graceless

I’m trying, but I’m gone
Through the glass again
Just come and find me
God loves everybody

Don’t remind me
I took the medicine and I went missing
Just let me hear your voice
Just let me listen

All of my thoughts of you
Bullets through rotten fruit
Come apart at the seams
Now I know what dying means

I am not my rosy self
Left my roses on my shelf
Take the white ones they’re my favorites
It’s the side effects that save us
Grace

Put the flowers you find in a vase
If you’re dead in the mind it’ll brighten the place
Don’t let ’em die on the vine, it’s a waste
Grace

There’s a science to walking through windows
There’s a science to walking through windows
There’s a science to walking through windows
There’s a science to walking through windows without you

All of my thoughts of you
Bullets through rotten fruit
Come apart at the seams
Now I know what dying means

I am not my rosy self
Left my roses on my shelf
Take the white ones they’re my favorites
It’s the side effects that save us
Grace

Put the flowers you find in a vase
If you’re dead in the mind it’ll brighten the place
Don’t let them die on the vine, it’s a waste
Grace

Grace
Put the flowers you find in a vase
If you’re dead in the mind it’ll brighten the place
Don’t let them die on the vine, it’s a waste
Grace”