Nicole Recommends: “Miriam” by Norah Jones

I learned this the hard way: don’t make out to this song.

I’m going to overshare with you for a moment. At the beginning of my relationship with my husband, we put on Norah Jones’ first album, Come Away With Me, when we were feeling amorous. The first time we saw each other, I was singing “I’ve Got to See You Again”—I know; fortuitous!—so that album just meant a lot to us.

CAWM came out in 2002, and I didn’t buy another NJ album until 2012, when Little Broken Hearts came out and I bought it on a whim after happening upon it somewhere (probably a Best Buy, back when they still sold CDs).

Given our history with her music, Lawrence and I pressed play without a thought, snuggling up to each other for some face time (if you know what I mean).

Cut to the second-to-last track on the album: a slow, eerie tune called “Miriam.” And immediately, the mood is ruined.

Why? Because this is a song about murdering a woman named Miriam who slept with the speaker’s husband.

WOW. I didn’t know you had it in you, Norah. (Obviously, I assume this isn’t an autobiographical song, but still.) What a narrative.

The moral of this story, my friends, is: listen to this song because it’s great and revengey and dark, but under no circumstances should it be playing when you’re trying to make out. (Unless you’re into that kind of thing.)