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Alex Russell Uncategorized

This blog was started in 2014. I loved the Mountain Goats, as I still do, and I wanted to write 300 words about each song as a sort of “starter” for writing every day. I would write one post and then jumpstart into writing other things. I figured I’d do a dozen or so and move on.

As of August 20, 2024, I have “completed” this project. This contains 300 words (or slightly fewer, each post is maxed at 300) words and a <140 character title about 644 songs by the Mountain Goats. At the time, that was a valuable count of characters. Nowadays, who knows?

I hope you enjoy this series. I wanted to write at least a little bit about every single Goats song. There are some deliberately excluded (songs for a child, covers, songs the band requested no one talk about) but, otherwise, this is every song the band ever wrote. There are some missing, for sure, but I think this list is as complete as it is possible to be with a band like the Mountain Goats.

See the FAQ for more details, or, as always, leave a comment and say hey.

544. Getting Into Knives

Alex Russell Getting Into Knives, Uncategorized , , , , , ,

The title track “Getting Into Knives” looks into what happens when you do just that.

Track: “Getting Into Knives”
Album: Getting Into Knives (2020)

“Getting Into Knives” is the best song on Getting Into Knives by a really significant margin. You may disagree and I welcome that, but I really am just blown away by it even after a few years. When I think about the album Getting Into Knives and how I think it’s one of the less complete ones, I picture myself many years ago at a party where a guy told me he “didn’t prefer” the Mountain Goats. It’s such a specific thing to say and I remember it still. At the time that was sacrilege and unthinkable to me. I’m less ardent these days and I accept that people’s tastes are what they are, but when I sit with the title track here I really go back to that mode.

“You can’t give me back what you’ve taken // but you can give me something that’s almost as good” is as close to perfect as you can get. There is room to imagine the world of what getting into knives could mean for a person, enough that some people hear the main character from John Darnielle’s book Wolf in White Van in this one, but the vibe is undeniable. The more you listen to it the more each line supports the others but also works alone. It’s such a dense song for such a simple instrumentation, but that combination really forces you to focus on what is being said.

After revisiting the whole album I do feel it’s much better than I initially thought, but it requires more effort for me personally to connect with than the others. That’s not true of the title track. This one works right away.

537. Harbor Me

Alex Russell Getting Into Knives, Uncategorized , , , , , , ,

Our narrator in “Harbor Me” is in a delicate place and needs help to navigate it.

Track: “Harbor Me”
Album: Getting Into Knives (2020)

You cannot speak in absolutes for the Mountain Goats (though I know I tend to; sorry) but as much as one can find easily, it seems like “Harbor Me” has never been played live. There aren’t many other songs you can say that about that aren’t already obscure for other reasons. The only commentary the usual sources make about “Harbor Me” is John Darnielle saying he doesn’t expect it to be something people yell for and that the vocal performance “never really rises above a conversational tone.” I tend to flipflop on if things like that matter for a band like this, but I find it interesting that a song like that makes the cut.

I like “Harbor Me” but it bounced off me the first few times I listened to it. It feels in conversation with a lot of early Mountain Goats narrators who were scared, worried, paranoid, or some combination thereof and sought comfort. What seems different to me is this person shows signs of trying. This person is beset by anxiety or some form of it by another name but still out there at the Exxon riffling through racks looking for something to help. So many people we met in songs decades before were lashing out or resisting help. It’s not the kind of thing that jumps off the page, but it is a difference in how we treat people we’re asking for help. It’s a gentler song as a result, but it’s a person more likely (we hope) to make it out.