https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_xWeSwbmXw

John Darnielle whispers through much of “Cobra Tattoo” as our narrator tries to hold on.

Track: “Cobra Tattoo”
Album: Get Lonely (2006)

Erik Friedlander plays cello with the Mountain Goats often and is one of twelve people listed as a “former collaborator” of the band on their Wikipedia page. He played with the band on the only live recording of “Cobra Tattoo” I can find and he really adds to the mood. Someone yells, predictably, as it goes, for “death metal band” but you can excuse that. I only mention it because it’s hard to imagine a more opposite outcome if you ask for that song and instead get a string section with a performance of the quiet “Cobra Tattoo.”

As with much of Get Lonely, you do not necessarily need to take in “Cobra Tattoo” line by line. There are three biblical references, at least, but I contend that you do not need to decipher them to “get” this one. Honestly, the more I think about “Cobra Tattoo” and what I’ve gotten from it over the years, it’s mostly that mood. The first strum is a slam, but then it wanders around. The narrator is out of sorts. The tune meets the mood. It’s a whisper, but it’s an unnerving one.

“What does this mean” and “what is this trying to do” are different questions. You can try to find meaning in the title’s tattoo, but do you need that for “Cobra Tattoo?” You don’t really need it for any of them, but this is a rare one where I have never really sought much beyond the surface. I feel like it accomplishes the mood, which seems to be the point, though that’s not to discount anything you’ve found.