Tropical Depression EP

225. Earth Air Water Trees

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A simple moment with sausage and cheese provides a view into two characters in “Earth Air Water Trees.”

Track: “Earth Air Water Trees”
Album: Tropical Depression EP (w/ Furniture Huschle) (1997)

One of the first songs John Darnielle ever wrote was “In the Cane Fields.” The folks who record when songs were played live can confirm it was played a few times in 1992, once in 2009 in Indiana, and once in 2019. At the 2019 show, John Darnielle talked about the origins of that song and his learning to play guitar after late shifts when he was tired.

I say all that as a way of introducing that 2009 show. For a certain type of fan, this show at Earlham College on the eastern border of Indiana is a kind of holy grail. You have the Indiana staple “Cutter,” the aforementioned “In the Cane Fields,” two songs from Moon Colony Bloodbath, and, as far as I can tell, the only confirmed performance of “Earth Air Water Trees.”

It’s a pretty song, which feels like an odd way to describe any Mountain Goats song. “I love you // I love you because // you gave me sausage and cheese // when I was hungry” is a simple comment, something an animal or a person could feel towards an animal or a person. The first verse tells us that this relationship isn’t perfect, as one character holds their love “like a bone on a string,” but our narrator feels a primal love and expresses it through this simple chorus.

I’m especially drawn to the phrasing of “I had a thousand guesses and some of them were good” in response to being asked to guess what’s in someone’s hands. This character really is invested in this small gesture and blows it into a larger love, though they know that it’s tenuous. We can only hope that it ends better than other songs suggest that it might.

224. Going to Hungary

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We are left to wonder what these characters have done and might do next in “Going to Hungary.”

Track: “Going to Hungary”
Album: Tropical Depression EP (w/ Furniture Huschle) (1997)

At the time of this writing, the Wikipedia page for “Lincoln Continental” is nearly 15,000 words long. It’s longer than the page about Jupiter. A tremendous amount of effort went into writing details about all 10 generations of the car and all of the specific details about how the body and chassis have changed over the years. Even with all of this information, I cannot unlock what John Darnielle wants the audience to know as he ends “Going to Hungary” with “we were heading straight to hell // in a Lincoln Continental.”

By my estimation, the purpose of this degree of specificity is the same as it is elsewhere in Mountain Goats songs. Very specific locations and details help a song feel real. These are two actual people and they actually are doing something, John Darnielle wants us to know. They sleep in a hotel room after not sleeping for several days. They put on extremely specific clothing. They leave. This could just be a snapshot of two lives that we see, and it definitely is that, but it’s so specific.

There are fewer than 100 words in “Going to Hungary.” It will likely take you a few listens to lock into, but once you do, there are a lot of questions to answer. What are these folks doing staying up for so long? We can find that answer in the type of people John Darnielle likes to talk about, but let’s not speculate. There’s never been anything said about this song and it’s never been played again, as far as I can tell, but even if there might be more to know, I think the joy is in the mystery for this one.

223. Anti-Music Song

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“Anti-Music Song” may not represent John Darnielle’s current musical views, but it’s still a fun curiosity.

Track: “Anti-Music Song”
Album: Tropical Depression EP (w/ Furniture Huschle) (1997)

“Anti-Music Song” is about a minute and a half long. It’s a “joke” song from the era where there were “joke” songs. You could call modern Mountain Goats songs like “Foreign Object” jokes, but the older albums and EPs have songs that are shorter and typically solely about the central joke of the thing.

It is hard to approach a song like this because there isn’t that much below the surface. John Darnielle won’t play “Anti-Music Song” live now and says he doesn’t agree with most of the goofs. You can do some digging and find commentary about who the “bad imitation” of Morrissey is or who the “imitation of an imitation of Jimi Hendrix” is, but what does it matter? John Darnielle has said most of these aren’t even his opinions anymore, thus the song is dead, thus it doesn’t matter beyond a footnote for what it meant at the time.

The most enduring element of “Anti-Music Song” is the final line. After slamming a half dozen people, directly or indirectly, the character says “and I don’t like you // I don’t like you.” It’s straightforward to the point of being notable. So many songs in the early days are about the world ending to signify how two people feel about each other or cooking as a representation for the final day of one’s life or a million other things that you really notice when someone just yells at another person. John Darnielle built on this all the way to the apotheosis of the idea on Tallahassee, and it’s fun to see the early, furious efforts in songs like this and “Cubs in Five.”