Songfacts®:

• Monsters of Folk are an alternative rock band comprising Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes, and indie singer-songwriter Matt (M.). Ward. The band was formed in 2004 when the foursome were on tour with their respective bands and solo projects. This was the first song that they wrote for the project. Mogis recalled to Express Night Out: " We were playing 'Morning Becomes Eclectic' [on KCRW] in California. We were on Bright Eyes Tour, M. Ward was opening and we said, 'You should come play with us.' On our way to there they stopped by - it was brutally early and Conor was hung-over - we stopped by this herbalist store, to try to get some sort of magical herb to make you feel good. The salesman, his name was Truth. We went back to KCRW and Conor was f---ing around on guitar with Matt and they came up with that chord progression and refrain: 'Never buy nothing from a man named truth,' together as Matt and Conor, and we said right away: 'That was going to be our first Monsters of Folk song.' We tucked it away as a Monsters of Folk song, but Conor ended up finishing it. It was a collaborative effort for like the first two minutes of that song. This was two years before we got to recording anything for Monsters of Folk."
• Oberst and Mogis also played this on Bright Eyes 2007 tour.