Don't Swallow the Cap

Following a 22-month tour to promote The National's previous record, High Violet, guitarist Aaron Dessner returned home to Brooklyn, where the fitfulness of his newborn left him punch drunk with sleeplessness. Exhausted, he would shuffle into the band's studio, which is located in his backyard, and amuse himself writing musical fragments that he then sent over to vocalist Matt Berninger. Recalled Berninger of his bandmate, "He'd be so tired while he was playing his guitar and working on ideas that he wouldn't intellectualize anything. In the past, he and Aaron's twin brother, Bryce would be reluctant to send me things that weren't in their opinion musically interesting, which I respected, but often those would be hard for me to connect to emotionally. This time around, they sent me sketch after sketch that immediately got me on a visceral level."

This song finds an insomniac Berninger singing about dying but fearful about leaving his loved ones behind. The title may be a reference to playwright Tennessee Williams, who choked to death on the cap from a bottle of eye drops he frequently used.

This was released to American radio on April 22, 2013 and to European radio on May 13, 2013. It reached #52 on the on the Belgian Flanders singles chart.