A direct release from John Darnielle, “Counting Song For Bitter Children” is exactly what it sounds like.

Track: “Counting Song For Bitter Children”
Album: Unreleased (Uploaded to the forums by John Darnielle in 2007)

Since it’s 50% “na-na-na-na-na,” “Counting Song for Bitter Children” probably doesn’t require as much lyrical examination as most of the songs in the catalog, but the lyrics are an interesting footnote. The song itself came out of the official forums, when a person listed the opening lines as an example of unforgettable Goats lyrics. John Darnielle himself stepped in and said that he barely remembered the lyrics himself. It existed in the way a lot of songs like “Song for Roger Maris” exist, in that they are mostly talked about rather than actually listened to or performed.

John went on to record himself playing what he remembered of it and put it up online, so now there’s an “official” version of “Counting Song for Bitter Children.” It’s a testament to both John’s relationship with the fanbase and with the older parts of the catalog that he was inspired to record a decade-plus old song just in an attempt to remember it and share it. The result is a very quick, old-school Mountain Goats song with the line “good children get nothing” in it.

It’s a funny song, though “funny” as a concept for a Mountain Goats song is a concept we’ll have to get into later. The early Goats songs are “funny” at times, but like “Counting Song for Bitter Children” they largely use humor to conceal some darkness in a character. This one is an angry person talking to someone that they’re finished with. The message, and even the song itself, doesn’t matter nearly as much as the delivery.