“The Ballad of Bull Ramos” is just that, but it’s such a tight package that it’s also a standout song among hundreds.

Track: “The Ballad of Bull Ramos”
Album: Beat the Champ (2015)

The Mountain Goats are both extremely popular (in a way) and extremely insular (in a way). Their most popular shirt is a play on this, with the slogan “I Only Listen to The Mountain Goats.” I had a bumper sticker on my car in college that read in all caps “LISTEN TO THE MOUNTAIN GOATS.” In both cases, you’ll spark a conversation if someone knows what you’re talking about, but you’ll prompt a “like, the animals?” if they don’t.

I mention this because there is a community, obviously, that’s why you’re here, but not one where everyone knows each other. I have no idea what the average fan thinks of a song like “The Ballad of Bull Ramos,” which means I have no idea if it’s weird for me to say that I think it’s one of their 50 best songs. I’ve never tried to rank all of them or anything, but I just can’t get over how complete it feels. The drums are incredible and the tempo really works with what would otherwise be a sort of odd delivery from John Darnielle. I love the whine over a line like “lose a kidney, then go blind.” I can’t help but bob my head to it and I have to squint through the held note over “help the boys unload” every time.

On the surface, this is an A to B to C story, literally the ballad of a man who went by Apache Bull Ramos. But it feels so cleanly done, so complete a story, that I never even went deeper. For years I heard this song and felt like it had to be all of it and all of it true. If it isn’t, it hardly matters. The result speaks for itself.