Our narrator insists that they’re making it okay after a toxic situation in “Cold Milk Bottle.”

Track: “Cold Milk Bottle”
Album: Sweden (1995)

I talk about live shows a lot because they’re so fascinating. “Cold Milk Bottle” has been played at least twice, and was recorded at this New York show in 1997. The setlist from that night is outstanding, and it’s hard not to smile at the fact that right after “Cold Milk Bottle” John Darnielle rants at the crowd to stop requesting “Going to Georgia” because they’ve all heard it “at least twice.” Considering that’s how he felt in 1997, it’s amazing it stayed in the rotation for as long as it did.

On that night in New York in 1997, John Darnielle’s voice cracked several times. The best moment is during the “You’re mean to me // why must you be mean to me?” moment in “Cold Milk Bottle” because it feels very real. Most of the characters on Sweden are difficult, challenging people, and “Cold Milk Bottle” ends the album for a reason. One character sends “another goddamned message” to another and neither of them is happy about it. This relationship is over, hopefully, and the animosity is all that remains.

“I feel all right” is a powerful refrain. “Well, despite your best efforts, I feel all right” is even more powerful. When we listen to “Cold Milk Bottle,” we feel for the speaker. We know what it feels like to be haunted by someone else and the strength it takes to shout back into the void about how fine we are. This character leaves Sweden demanding that they’re okay and that they don’t care who knows it. There are more powerful, more insistent messages among the more recent Goats songs, but it’s nice to know that even an early narrator made it out alive.