the life of the world in flux

480. Matthew 11:14-19

Alex Russell the life of the world in flux , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“Matthew 11:14-19” compares the reluctance of a crowd to believe in a savior with a more direct foe.

Track: “Matthew 11:14-19”
Album: The Life of the World in Flux (2009)

There are, as far as I know, only two versions of “Matthew 11:14-19.” There’s the one on The Life of the World in Flux and there’s this live version that John Darnielle opened a solo performance with in New York a few months ago as of this writing. The live version is nearly identical, with the only change being the number of degrees the character turns around. It’s the opening song for that live show, which Darnielle has said before he reserves for songs the audience doesn’t know or hasn’t heard often. It’s a fitting spot for it. He describes it at that show as a song that “maybe two people have ever heard” and says that he picked it specifically as a shocking choice for a solo show, which he does because from his early days performing solo he learned that people usually don’t listen to the first one unless you blow them away.

The verses in the title describe a generation that does not believe that Jesus was the chosen one and they do not believe his messengers. “It takes a crowd to drown a witch,” the song tells us, and the verses similarly show crowds that combine to form a full generation of nonbelievers.

The rest is a little more esoteric. The Claude Rains mention and the bandages are references to The Invisible Man, but the bleeding eyes are something else. Rains played a literally invisible man in that movie, but here we have more of a standard Darnielle character as a monster that’s a stand-in for general opposition.

479. Enoch 18:14

Alex Russell the life of the world in flux, The Life of the World to Come , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

There are two source materials for “Enoch 18:14,” but it seems to be more about getting lost in general than either one.

Track: “Enoch 18:14”
Album: The Life of the World to Come (2009) and The Life of the World in Flux (2009)

The Book of Enoch is not part of the biblical canon, though it is supposedly written by Enoch, a man who possibly entered heaven alive and certainly, in the text of the Book of Genesis, lived among other characters you might know. We lack the space and I lack the expertise to get into the story of the Apocrypha, but it is unsurprising and fantastic that John Darnielle included what he calls “a bonus track” from the Bible on this album.

The Book of Enoch is apocalyptic, but it’s specifically about the possibility of evil “watcher” angels. The text of the song “Enoch 18:14” also borrows direct text from the video game Odin Sphere, a role-playing game published by Atlus, and Darnielle has told the story about using these lines at a few live shows. I watched him explain this in person once, in great detail, but even there it felt more important that it was important to him than the source material’s actual importance. It feels a little like the Ozzy songs, in that way, where you don’t need to know anything about Odin Sphere, or Enoch, really, you just need to know that it matters to the band. The comparison between this part of Odin Sphere and Enoch is all about the depth of emotion and the desire to embrace darkness. The song comes from there, but it also comes from the ability to get so deeply lost in other worlds when running from that same desire.

478. Deuteronomy 2:10

Alex Russell the life of the world in flux, The Life of the World to Come , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

We hear from three narrators who are gone in “Deuteronomy 2:10,” but we are reminded there are more.

Track: “Deuteronomy 2:10”
Album: The Life of the World to Come (2009) and The Life of the World in Flux (2009)

When confronting all of the songs on The Life of the World to Come, I try to remember how they sounded in 2009. “Deuteronomy 2:10” is a crushing, impossible song now. I suppose it was then, too, but I don’t remember it hitting me as hard at the time. There are other songs on the album that are more directly about human loss, pain, and memory, and I think it’s only natural that those feel more immediate and more memorable to us.

“Deuteronomy 2:10” is the story of three animals who are now extinct. It’s sung from their perspective, as we hear the last tiger of its kind accept that it will die in captivity, a flightless bird smell the burning of timber that signals the end of a forest, and a toad ribbit by itself in moonlight. Extinction as a concept is huge to confront, almost impossibly big to imagine. There are so many songs about death and loss that it is surprising, somewhat, to find a deeper kind of end that asks even more of you, emotionally.

The verse in Deuteronomy is a simple one, a brief reference to a people, the Emites, who no longer live in a place. It is about a kind of extinction, but the final part of the verse says the Emites were “as tall as the Anakites.” The Anakites were supposedly giants and were the ancestors to Goliath, who David slew. What’s interesting is that even a verse about an extinct people briefly references yet another group that’s gone, reminding us of the multitudes more beyond these three narrators.

477. Matthew 25:21

Alex Russell the life of the world in flux, The Life of the World to Come , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The verse offers hope where the lyrics do not in “Matthew 25:21.”

Track: “Matthew 25:21”
Album: The Life of the World to Come (2009) and The Life of the World in Flux (2009)

Early in his career, John Darnielle wrote few songs about himself. That didn’t stop people from assuming he was the narrator in every song, but most of those characters were fictional. The narrator in “Matthew 25:21” is John Darnielle, visiting his mother-in-law as she deals, directly in the third verse, with treatment for cancer. Darnielle has said that he had to cancel a show to make the trip he describes in the lyrics and the song came out of the feelings that followed the events as described. It is literal, but it does not suffer for being so. I still find it difficult to listen to, even after hearing it likely hundreds of times.

The title comes from a verse, as does every song on this album, which describes a servant left with a sum of money over a long period of time. The servant doubles the money and is rewarded for diligence, which we can extrapolate into a statement about faith and works. This is contrasted with another servant who does not work and thus does not further their master’s goals. There are a few lessons here, but the one I take is that it is better to work than to be idle, but also that this work will be rewarded. The song is a crushing tale of loss told during and after the events, but the title holds a hope that something that comes next will mitigate how you feel right now. It’s a nice thought, for the servant, but the song reminds us to keep that in mind as we find no respite for ourselves.

476. Romans 10:9

Alex Russell the life of the world in flux, The Life of the World to Come , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The contrasts of the verses and the chorus are important in “Romans 10:9.”

Track: “Romans 10:9”
Album: The Life of the World to Come (2009) and The Life of the World in Flux (2009)

It’s not unique to the Mountain Goats, but people seem to take the opposite intention from songs sometimes. It’s one thing not to “get” a song, I think just about all of them are open to some form of interpretation and it’s not fair to tell anyone they are “wrong” about any song. That said, Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” is not the full-on patriotic tune everyone misunderstands it as and people do the same thing with Mountain Goats songs.

One such song is “Romans 10:9,” with a prayer for a chorus, bright vocals, and a a jaunty tune. Darnielle’s mentioned this directly before and it’s somewhat expected given it’s on The Life of the World to Come. But just like every song on Beat the Champ is about wrestling and also something else, the same thing applies here. You’ll get something out of it as a song about faith, but it’s also about the limitations of faith.

The narrator says they can’t sleep. They say they are terrified to truly take in their surroundings. They say they’ll go to the pharmacy, but they won’t take the drugs. I love the phrasing of that part, “won’t take the medication, but it’s good to have around” and it pairs nicely with the hopeful, but not certain, prayer of “a kind and loving God won’t let my small ship run aground.” Faith might aid you, but you have to do some of this work yourself.

475. Psalms 40:2

Alex Russell the life of the world in flux, The Life of the World to Come , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The characters in “Psalms 40:2” may be low right now, but they know that’s where you start your climb.

Track: “Psalms 40:2”
Album: The Life of the World to Come (2009) and The Life of the World in Flux (2009)

“Psalms 40:2” builds as it goes. John Darnielle’s voice vibrates over the very first line and he bares his teeth over even simple turns of phrase like “checked into a Red Roof Inn.” He almost speaks, more than sings, some of the lines in the opening verses, but you can feel the tension through words like “shrapnel.” It escalates so slightly, line by line, until the explosion at the end with the exultation that “he has raised me from the pit and he will set me high.”

The delivery, and the drums, especially, tell you this is getting worse and worse. It’s directly about some people, young people, who are driving around and destroying things. They feel bad, but not too bad, and that’s something most of us can relate to at that point in our lives. Darnielle has said before it’s about a specific chapel in Missouri. I haven’t been there and you probably haven’t either, but you’ve been to the one in your mind. When you’re young you feel extreme. You feel like everything matters, and it kinda does.

The verse is about that ending line, but there’s a lot going on there. Darnielle once gave an interview where he mentioned that this one is about an idea of closeness to God through opposition. It is when you are at your lowest — when you’re in that pit — that you can be raised the highest. It doesn’t feel that way in the moment, but it’s a nice thing to keep in mind if you can.