all survivors pack

452. Rotten Stinking Mouthpiece

Alex Russell all survivors pack , , , , , , ,

“Rotten Stinking Mouthpiece” is both a reference to a 1956 film and a journey removed from it entirely.

Track: “Rotten Stinking Mouthpiece”
Album: All Survivors Pack (2011)

I think I might have said this before I started, but several hundred songs in, I have to say the most important element in a Mountain Goats song is specificity. I do not have the same interests as John Darnielle, but I don’t need to in order to appreciate his lyrics. I have virtually no background in the kind of music he listens to, but the sort of greater Ozzy Osbourne universe he’s created and the world of Goths both feel very real because of how much he loves them. Do you need to see the movie The Lady from Shanghai to appreciate the song “The Lady from Shanghai?” Not really, no, but it’s there if you want to go deeper.

“Rotten Stinking Mouthpiece” is a reference to the Lon Chaney, Jr. film Indestructible Man, and I’ll confess it’s one of the pieces of ephemera that I’m not familiar with across the world of things that made John Darnielle who he is today. Someday, sure, but life is short, and I’ve been feeling the effects lately of trying to be a completist about things. One must make compromises, and mine on this afternoon is accepting that John Darnielle loves this thing and wants to share a piece of it as a song. The resulting song is a little haunting and a little insistent, as a Mountain Goats song tends to be, but I want to highlight the joy of slight understanding. Before I saw The Lady from Shanghai, the song about it felt mysterious. After seeing it, there wasn’t a lightbulb of recognition. It’s not a password that opens a door, it’s just another lens. It’s your decision if you want to add to your experience.

451. Catherine Antrim’s Kid

Alex Russell all survivors pack , , , , , , ,

The Mountain Goats ask us to return to Billy the Kid and his magical, special shoes in “Catherine Antrim’s Kid.”

Track: “Catherine Antrim’s Kid”
Album: All Survivors Pack (2011)

I think it’s a legitimate question to ask why there are two songs that reference Billy the Kid’s “special shoes” in the Mountain Goats catalog, but you probably already have an idea of your own. He’s a tragic figure, in a way, but also what a weird detail to focus on. An old friend of mine was obsessed with the original “Billy the Kid’s Dream of the Magic Shoes,” a song from 1993 that is exclusively about Billy the Kid and his magic shoes. I am wary of making a statement like this, but I think that song is nonsense. I don’t mean that in a negative way, but I don’t necessarily think there’s something to unlock here. I think “Catherine Antrim’s Kid,” titled after Billy the Kid’s mother, is largely a reference to that song and a mild attempt to double down on something that never really referenced anything in the first place. Billy the Kid, near as I can tell, did not believe he had magic shoes. But who are we to say?

Picture yourself as John Darnielle, nearly twenty years later in 2011. I love that the “follow up” references Paul Westerberg. I don’t have to tell you that Billy the Kid wouldn’t know who that is and that’s the point, but this isn’t just a funny detail. It’s the clearest way to explain the difference between the two versions of Darnielle as a songwriter. “Catherine Antrim’s Kid” is a little bit beautiful, when you can forget it’s about the myth of a murderous outlaw, and it’s got a charm the original just doesn’t have. For all the folks who long for the old days, this one asks you to put that aside.

450. Never Quite Free

Alex Russell All Eternals Deck, all survivors pack , , , , , , ,

Some might say “Never Quite Free” is misunderstood, but it serves a greater purpose when read a different way.

Track: “Never Quite Free”
Album: All Eternals Deck (2011) and All Survivors Pack (2011)

I have a set list from a show I saw a few years ago where “Never Quite Free” was the final song before the mid-show solo break that John Darnielle does. It’s listed as “NQF” with a full-page line after it to show the delineation. I remember that performance, with John Darnielle smiling and beaming as he belted the lyrics. He’s spoken about it a lot, often saying that fans think it’s a liberating, positive experience, but it’s about not being able to ever escape something. It’s right in the title, right there, clearly, that you will never get free. The contrast between the message and how people seem to receive it is something we’ve talked about a lot in this series, but this is an interesting one because I don’t think it’s as purely opposite as the others.

You can’t get free of your past, but the freedom comes from acknowledging that. Watching John Darnielle close his eyes and tell a few hundred people in a dark club that they are not going to escape whatever they hope will eventually fade away should be a kind of terrifying experience, but it’s liberating to own whatever you cannot cast off. “Wish me well where I go,” Darnielle says, “but when you see me, you’ll know.” He’s not literally talking about himself, but that’s often how I hear it in this context. The Mountain Goats are a different thing to everyone, but if you really love songs like “Never Quite Free,” part of it is that even the infinite fear in yourself can be contextualized. What a gift that is.

449. The Autopsy Garland

Alex Russell All Eternals Deck, all survivors pack , , , , , , ,

The meaning behind “The Autopsy Garland” is in the text, but the personal nature of it adds another layer.

Track: “The Autopsy Garland”
Album: All Eternals Deck (2011) and All Survivors Pack (2011)

You don’t need to dig to find this, so I’ll spot you the explanation of “The Autopsy Garland.” It’s about Judy Garland and how she “never had a chance” given the sort of people in her life. John Darnielle once called it “intensely personal” and said that the version of it you hear on the album was complex and irregular for their style and it did not lend itself to live performance. It has, very possibly, only been played live one time, six days ago as of this writing, in Kentucky.

The song itself is a purposefully grotesque look at the people who harmed Judy Garland, but I am especially interested in that one live performance. It was either not recorded or isn’t uploaded yet, but I rather like that. I am obviously an obsessive, which I don’t need to admit to here in the 400+ range of this series, but I still do like the unknowable. John Darnielle has said before that he likes that some things get destroyed and that you can’t ever collect everything. That, plus the fact that he once said he didn’t want to try to place this live, makes it special to know that it did happen, but you can’t hear it. Some people did, which is great, but that hidden element has a wonder to it. It’s even better that it was played first, a spot John Darnielle has said he sometimes reserves for songs the crowd won’t know. Five years ago I saw the band open with an Ani DiFranco cover that had what I imagine to be a similar effect. Some things may never happen again.