Ode to the Mets

Julian Casablancas began writing "Ode to the Mets" while waiting for the 7 train at Mets–Willets Point station (pictured)

Strokes singer Julian Casablancas began writing "Ode to the Mets" on October 5, 2016. On that day, he had attended, with Strokes guitar technician Paul Vassallo, the 2016 National League Wild Card Game between the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants at Citi Field; Casablancas had been a lifelong Mets fan.[1] The Mets would go on to lose the game, immediately knocking them out of the 2016 postseason. After the game, Casablancas began writing a song while waiting for the 7 train at Mets–Willets Point station.[1] He gave it the working title "Ode to the Mets", which was initially a joke that referenced when he had started writing the song. Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti later convinced him against changing the title, however.[1] Casablancas jokingly suggested that the Mets play the song over the PA system after each defeat at their home field in contrast to them playing "New York Groove" by Ace Frehley after each victory.[2]

Like the rest of the songs from The New Abnormal, the song was primarily recorded at Rick Rubin's Shangri-La studio in Malibu, California.[3] The band performed it live for the first time during a New Year's Eve 2019 concert at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Casablancas preceded the performance by announcing that they would have a new album releasing in 2020.[4] "Ode to the Mets" was officially released as the ninth and final track on The New Abnormal on April 10, 2020.[3]

Despite being written by Casablancas following a Mets game with the title "Ode to the Mets", the song is not actually about the Mets or baseball.[1] Kitty Empire of The Observer found that Casablancas made it difficult for one to decipher the meaning of the lyrics.[5] AllMusic reviewer Heather Phares described the lyrics as "Casablancas [...] telling off someone who's already long gone",[6] while Helen Brown of The Independent felt that the song revolved around the band "[looking] back on their lost years".[7] Fabrizio Moretti said that the song is about "something that you set your heart to and you love unconditionally, but continues to disappoint you", which MLB.com writer Michael Clair felt echoed "the kind of self-deprecation Mets fans are famous for".[2] Casablancas said "that wasn't my intention with the song, but I can’t argue with that" in response to Moretti's interpretation.[1] Casablancas's vocals have been described as going "from monotone to octave jumping" on the track.[8]

Atlantic City Weekly writer Ryan Loughlin described "Ode to the Mets" musically as dream pop,[9] with multiple writers additionally describing the song as a ballad.[10][11] Spectrum Culture's Kevin Korber called the song as a "delicate mix of detached cool and melancholy".[12] Susan Hansen of Clash described the song's progression as "[building] before escalating in intensity, providing a soothing end to the blistering presentation".[13] Ella Kemp of NME noted that the song's main riff sounds as though it was being "put through a wind machine".[10] Helen Brown felt that the song would serve as a fitting soundtrack for the closing credits to the upcoming documentary adaptation of Lizzy Goodman's 2017 oral history book Meet Me in the Bathroom, which heavily involved the Strokes.[7]

A music video for the song was later released on July 24, 2020, to coincide with the Opening Day for the New York Mets, which was previously delayed due to the COVID–19 pandemic. The video was directed by long-time Strokes collaborator Warren Fu and features work from eight different animators. It chronologically depicts New York City throughout various points of history. The video ends in the future with New York underwater, apparently a result of climate change, as banners proclaim optimistic slogans that ironically speak of a better future. The band were inspired by the opening titles for the television sitcom Cheers when making the video. The video also features references to the Mets, having the team's "Ya Gotta Believe" slogan displayed on a poster and including a banner reading "Class of '69", referencing their 1969 World Series victory. A photo of the band during their earliest days, a part of Nick Valensi's private photo collection, is also shown in the video.[14]

Multiple writers who reviewed The New Abnormal regarded "Ode to the Mets" as one of the album's highlights.[8][15][16][17] Writing for Variety, A. D. Amorosi labeled it an "elegant, odd finale to a sharp-kicking album", adding that no other point on the album was "as slick and theatrical as the melancholy melody of 'Ode to The Mets'".[8] Under the Radar's Caleb Campbell felt that it ends the album on a high note,[15] while Kaelen Bell of Exclaim! noted it as a "solid late-career [entry]".[17] In a mixed review of The New Abnormal, Sam Sodomsky of Pitchfork found the song to be one of the album's finer moments, calling it "genuinely pretty" and noting it as a "step in the right direction" for the band.[16] Some reviewers were less favorable toward the song, however. Rachel Aroesti wrote in a four-star review of the album for The Guardian that "Ode to the Mets provides a decidedly unspectacular finale",[18] while Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone found the song's "lachrymose lounge moan" to be "pretentious" and "over-the-top".[19] Commercially, the song peaked at number 27 on the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart.[20]

Credits are adapted from The New Abnormal liner notes.[3]

• "Ode to the Mets" (Official audio) on YouTube