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Song Stories

“Think You Can Wait”

The National | 2011

The National's contribution to the soundtrack of the Paul Giamatti indie film Win Win was their first foray into composing music for the cinema. Matt Berninger saw the movie and came up with the lyrics with his wife. "Watching [Win Win] helped inspire the way the song was written," the National songwriter and lead singer said. "I mean, it isn't at all narrative to what happens in the movie -- we don't mention Paul Giamatti by name or anything ... It's about very normal and good people trying to do their best and the struggle to be good."

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Song Stories

“He Will Break Your Heart”

Jerry Butler | 1960

A lightly swinging Latin-influenced, almost cha-cha groove and close harmonies decorated Jerry Butler's early soul hit "He Will Break Your Heart," delivering a stately warning that his rival would never love his girl like he did. The melody came to Butler as he was driving on the highway from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Philadelphia with Curtis Mayfield, and as Butler told Rolling Stone, "I just sang the melody and Curtis put the chords to it." The song's premise, Butler added, "was something that I'd lived ...The lyric was an experience rather than a revelation. Whereas music is usually a revelation."

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