“Butter Teeth” spends some time with the folks in Portland as they steal things they don’t need.

Track: “Butter Teeth”
Album: Palmcorder Yajna (2003)

“Butter Teeth” is part of the larger universe of We Shall All Be Healed. It’s straightforward in subject matter, as John Darnielle’s narrator tells us they and their compatriots are going to steal random items and look for next steps in a world without next steps. The characters on the album and the two singles that accompany it, Palmcorder Yajna and Letter from Belgium, are not going to make it out of this okay. We might check in on this bunch during a momentary high or during times long after those highs, but we always know the trajectory they’re on no matter what point in the timeline that song happens.

“Butter Teeth” finds the group wandering around and stealing things. “Artlessly shoplifting random things” is a fun turn of phrase, and John Darnielle sells it with a beat before “random” that makes the line almost seem fun. It’s possible in these moments to forget the grander arc of these people’s experience. Much like “Counterfeit Florida Plates,” the mundane elements of someone’s experience can be viewed outside the whole and seem not so bad for a moment, until we’re forced to consider what counting cars or stealing cough syrup actually means for that person’s life.

John Darnielle’s comments about “Butter Teeth” focus on that stealing and on how people outside that group view it. When you see someone in a CVS put some sunscreen in their jacket or someone taking shower curtain rings, what goes through your head? You can try to fill in the details, but John Darnielle wants us to really wonder for more than that brief moment.