On one of the strangest and best songs from the early years, John Darnielle invokes the Easter Bunny as a portent.

Track: “Fresh Berries for You”
Album: Chile de Árbol (1993) and Protein Source of the Future…Now! (1999)

At a show in 1999 in Bloomington, Indiana, a man called out for “the Easter Bunny song.” That night in Bloomington included “Cutter,” (which is about being born in Bloomington and is introduced as such) “Letter from a Motel,” “Tampa,” “You’re in Maya,” and “Poltergeist.” It’s one of those holy grail shows you dream of when you read a set list. It’s the kind of show that doesn’t happen anymore because it couldn’t happen anymore. You can still hear “the Easter Bunny song” though, or you could if you went to the show at the Old Town School of Folk Music in 2014 in Chicago.

Sometimes it’s obvious why a song from the early days persists. “Going to Alaska” is from the very first album, but it still gets play at solo John Darnielle shows because it’s fantastic. It’s a great song, but it’s also tonally appropriate alongside the more modern Mountain Goats songs. “Fresh Berries for You” is an entirely different beast. While certainly not common now, it’s the kind of “kinda funny” song that you’d expect to have been swallowed up by history. It’s good that it hasn’t been. It may be the best song on Chile de Árbol (depending on your ability to appreciate what “Going to Malibu” is going for, but that’s a conversation for another day) and it’s one of the most interesting songs from pre-1995.

John Darnielle’s narrator is insistent that the person they’re addressing is in for a treat. “The time is coming,” they repeat, and “it’s gonna be so nice // when the Easter Bunny comes.” Exactly what that means for everyone involved is left deliberately unclear, but it’s a testament to the other narrators of Goats songs that you can’t help but wonder how bad this is going to go.