The title of the song tells you where you are, but it’s all about the general intensity for “Raid on Entebbe”

Track: “Raid on Entebbe”
Album: Jack and Faye (Unreleased, recorded 1995 or 1996)

The title is clear: Raid on Entebbe is a 1977 television movie about a real-life raid on a Ugandan airport in Entebbe. You can get caught up in the life of Idi Amin and what the title means, but let’s look closer.

There’s Rachel Ware, but she’s in the background now. She doesn’t even sing most of the first verse, it’s all John until the last two lines. It’s frenetic, but controlled. Everything about “Raid on Entebbe” contributes to the idea that the speaker is intense and hurried, but they’re definitely comfortable with the way they interact with the world. “They always do this when I come home” comes off as almost bothered, even though they’re talking about regime change. It would be too much for us, but our song’s hero is too busy to care.

“Incredibly, impossibly dry air” is a very John line. Everything is more powerful when it’s more specific, and even without the location in the title you can feel that air. You can imagine yourself standing outside, tucking your shirt in and hoping that the world doesn’t end around you. The lyrics take a backseat, though, which is rare in a Goats song. It’s one of the shortest songs in the catalog, but it’s even shorter lyrically. There are 65 seconds of lyrics and roughly 160 words in the whole song. That’s essentially unheard of for the man that fit “I threw a rock at a crow who was playing in the mulch of some rosebushes by the motel office” in one line in “Distant Stations,” but “Raid on Entebbe” is all about feeling. It’s not about what actually happens, but it’s about the Goats making you feel anxious. Every listen will make you reach for a watch that you don’t wear.