The story of how Man-Thing became Man-Thing, “Song for Ted Sallis” has much more than that for you.

Track: “Song for Ted Sallis”
Album: Hex of Infinite Binding EP (2018)

Ted Sallis is Man-Thing, a Marvel comic book character who is a monster made of plant material that no longer has much of his original humanity. It’s complicated, as it always is, but “Song for Ted Sallis” tells the story of Man-Thing through some very John Darnielle language. “Whether or not it was always going to be this way // it only mattered yesterday” is an all-time sentiment, here referencing the finality of literal transformation but elsewhere a perfect sentiment for a way to move forward in life. “No skin like the skin you woke up in” is an equally powerful refrain for similar reasons.

You can hear this one live, which is true of no other song on Hex of Infinite Binding as far as I know. That show in 2020 is one of the great live shows in Mountain Goats history and worthy of your time even beyond that performance. The live version of “Song for Ted Sallis” is similar to the studio one, though as a solo show that performance is missing the saxophone that really makes it go. I think that alone makes the studio one superior, but why not try both? The overall vibe on the studio version really does reward additional listening, which seems supported by the fact that as of this writing, “Song for Ted Sallis” has as many listens as the other three songs on the EP combined. Maybe that’s because it’s first, but I think it’s because it really calls to you to come back to it.