"My Mistake" is a mournful piano ballad that describes a person attempting to cross the United States southern border in order to achieve a better life. The refugee gets caught and describes his "hoping for kindness" as his/her "greatest mistake."
Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig describes the immigrant's innocent youthful days in the first verse. Unaware of the fall Unaware of my fate There was peace in the valley 'Til I made my mistake Ezra Koenig's family were Jewish refugees who came to America from Europe (including Romania and Hungary). Here, he might referencing Elvis Presley singing the gospel staple "Peace in the Valley" on the Ed Sullivan Show back in 1957. The King dedicated the song to the victims of that year's Hungarian refugee crisis, who had fled their country after the October 1956 invasion by the Soviet Union.
Ezra Koenig wrote the song with regular Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino) collaborator Ludwig Göransson. He co-produced the track with Father of the Bride executive producer Ariel Rechtshaid and Kendrick Lamar collaborator DJ Dahl. Koenig told Q Magazine: "I wrote My Mistake, which is a quiet favorite, with Ludwig who I met years ago through Donald Glover. We worked on a chord progression together then he forgot about it and I worked on it with DJ Dahi and Ariel."
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