Song · The National
“The Alcott” by The National featuring Taylor Swift
From the album First Two Pages of Frankenstein (2023) Featuring Taylor Swift
“The Alcott” by The National featuring Taylor Swift appears on 7 radio countdowns from 7 stations between 2023 and 2025. It was first released in 2023 on the album First Two Pages of Frankenstein. Its best result is #6 on the WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2023. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #31 indie & aaa song of 2023, #4,889 indie & aaa song of all time and #186 of the '20s.
Watch
Video from YouTube (The National). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
"The Alcott" pairs the National with Taylor Swift on First Two Pages of Frankenstein, the band's 2023 album for 4AD, and it went out as a single that April. Matt Berninger and Aaron Dessner wrote the music, and Berninger split the words with Swift, which makes this a genuine duet rather than a cameo: a slow, piano-heavy ballad the band produced themselves at Long Pond Studio in the Hudson Valley, with Swift left to carry the closing stretch alone.
The reviews ran hot and cool. NME's Andrew Trendell heard something "arena-ready", and Clash's James Mellen called it "truly stunning", while Pitchfork's Brad Shoup, in a mixed notice, heard mostly Swift in it and tagged it "the National (Taylor's Version)".
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 6 | WFUV New York, NY | WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2023 | 90 |
| 2023 | 52 | Indie 102.3 Denver, CO | Indie 102.3 Top 102.3 Songs of 2023 | 98 |
| 2023 | 13 | 90.9 The Bridge Kansas City, MO | 90.9 The Bridge Top 90 Songs of 2023 | 90 |
| 2023 | 9 | WERS 88.9 Boston, MA | WERS Top 88 Songs of 2023 | 88 |
| 2023 | 13 | 107.1 The Peak Westchester County, NY | WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2023 | 107 |
| 2023 | 66 | KXT Dallas–Fort Worth, TX | KXT Top 91 Songs of 2023 | 91 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 422 | The Current | 893 Essential Songs of The Current: 2005 to Now | 893 |
Also listed as: The Alcott (ft. Taylor Swift); The Alcott (Ft. Taylor Swift); The Alcott feat. Taylor Swift.
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about "The Alcott" by The National.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.