In “Korean Bird Paintings,” one character tries to impress another, but fails to do the real work necessary for their love.
Track: “Korean Bird Paintings”
Album: New Asian Cinema (1998)
For a band as well-loved and as examined as the Mountain Goats, it’s rare to find a song like “Korean Bird Paintings.” All of the usual sources have nothing to say about it. It’s never been played live, or if it has it has never been recorded and released. It has no mentions, essentially anywhere. It’s not even a rare song (it’s one of the five on New Asian Cinema) but it’s a strong contender for the “least-spoken-about” Goats song.
I’ve always loved it; it’s frequently my choice as my favorite when I have to pick just one, though I know that may sound silly for such an old song with no live versions. With no live performances or interpretations, we are left to consider it literally. It’s a person who misses someone and feels like they have no way to express it. They max out a Visa on the grandest gesture they can think of and fill the room with cards and balloons. When the object of their affection comes home, they reason, they will have to be impressed by the spectacle, if not by the love they have to give.
A lot of New Asian Cinema is about the struggle of relating to exactly one other person. Many of the characters can’t figure out exactly how to express what they feel, and “Korean Bird Paintings” sums up how we all spend most of our effort in the wrong ways. This narrator would tell you that they’ve done a lot of work, but we recognize it as meaningless work. It’s possible that their lover will appreciate it, but it’s more likely that they will be frustrated that they’ve spent all this time on what surely wasn’t the real problem.
A Few Things, Maybe Several Things 
[…] one. When you’re young, it’s easy to romanticize big gestures. I’m a huge fan of “Korean Bird Paintings” because it’s always seemed to have the same idea but with less violence. Both songs are about […]
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New Asian Cinema just arrived on Bandcamp, so I took the opportunity to listen to this song for the first time, and, wow, my interpretation is totally different from yours.
I can’t find any way to read this song other than as saying that the narrator will never see the “you” again, the “you” will never see the flowers and other objects, and, in the most likely interpretation, the “you” has died.
I mean: “chased your memory”, “get well cards, condolences”, “reminders & reverberations”. One wouldn’t chase the memory of someone about to walk in the door. One wouldn’t be driven to talking to statues for five hours if this was just a separation of a few days length. Etc.
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I don’t believe in wrong answers, so I love that it reads differently to you!
In the time since I wrote this, John Darnielle played this as part of the solo set for one of the Jordan Lake sessions. I’m sure some other folks did, too, but I submitted it as my vote in the call for rare suggestions to hear in the solo set. I’m glad to have in some incredibly small way brought this song to more folks.
I will say this one gets more hits than the other rare ones. I think a lot of people search for meaning in this one. I offer just my own take — and I feel like it’s at least a reading I hope other people take. Lots of Goats narrators need to learn the lesson I think this one needs to learn, as do a lot of people who equate effort with emotion in a relationship. Not the only reading, but one I certainly hope some folks hear in it.
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[…] do the emotional heavy lifting to do the little things that actually matter. I am reminded of “Korean Bird Paintings,” another song where someone tries to fill life with happy things to pave over some darkness we […]
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Quite a few years too late to this, but I’ve always thought this song was about child loss either before birth or possibly complications during birth that led to both mom and baby dying? I think “yesterday I put in a good five hours talking to the statues” refers to a cemetery where the narrator is speaking to multiple graves (mom and baby?) and practically the entire last verse I believe refers to all the baby items you would buy if you were expecting a child:
“Mobiles of the galaxy and mylar balloons
Everything we’d saved up in one room at the same time
Cartoon stars and crescent moons
Thank you notes and get-well cards
Condolences, congratulations
Bright colors, hues and signals
Reminders and reverberations”
Now that the narrator is home with all the stuff they bought in preparation that is now going to waste and narrator has nothing to do but sit in their grief. Condolences on the loss, congratulations on getting pregnant, etc. All the baby stuff just a reminder of what they’ve lost.
In any case I like your interpretation too. I think no matter the story behind it, this song is still one about someone who doesn’t know how to express their grief (whether from the loss of a child or from missing someone important to them) and turns to excess to fill that void. I’m glad I stumbled upon this project, it’s always neat to find people who as tmg-obsessed as me or possibly even more.
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I love this reading and I can definitely see it! I don’t believe in right and wrong answers with the Goats, and I love to think about this song in a different way.
I still say it’s about someone buying out a drug store in a blind attempt to relate (it explains buying every type of greeting card rather than just the condolences ones, to me) but I love your reading.
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