Mr November is the climactic final track on The National’s 2005 breakthrough third album Alligator and a highlight of every live show.

Fans of The National will know that Mr November is traditionally the climax to their live shows, usually finding Matt Berninger walking offstage to wander through the audience getting up close and personal with the crowd.

A few years back as they performed their party piece at All Points East I witnessed a little girl of seven or eight sitting on her dad’s shoulders ecstatically yelling along to the song’s chorus: “I won’t fuck us over – I’m Mr November.”

The song was on the band’s breakthrough third album, Alligator, way back in 2005 and who would have known then that they would one day become festival headliners with the melancholy mid-tempo songs on which their reputation has been built.

Mr November is one of their few up-tempo numbers, though, and retains a special place in their older fans’ affections.

Its lyric, inspired by 2004 US presidential candidate John Kerry, explores themes of anxiety, identity and the pressures of public life.

The narrator, a rich white “blue blood”, grapples with feelings of disconnection and desperation as he reflects on his personal and existential struggles, the themes of urgency and emotional turmoil echoed in the song’s driving rhythm.