Zopilote Machine

257. Orange Ball of Hate

Alex Russell Zopilote Machine , , , , , , , ,

We only get one side of the story in “Orange Ball of Hate,” but what we do see tells us enough.

Track: “Orange Ball of Hate”
Album: Zopilote Machine (1994)

There are four “Orange Ball” songs that aren’t connected beyond the title format. All four “fit” within the catalog, but “Orange Ball of Hate” is the closest one to other Mountain Goats songs from the early 90s. Our narrator is in love, in their way, but is also furious with their partner. “I sure do love you” has never felt so sarcastic.

It’s not the most interesting detail in the song, but “Orange Ball of Hate” is one of few Mountain Goats songs to gender either character explicitly. John Darnielle has said that people assume his narrators are male because he is male, but even aside from that detail, most songs don’t list enough detail within the text to assume gender of speaker or audience. Here the narrator reveals their audience through a joke, as they say “one of us, I’m not saying who, has got rocks in her head.” I mention it only because it happens so rarely, I don’t think there’s anything to it other than needing a gender for the joke to work.

The feeling here is less rare. So many narrators occupy this space of a mix of positive and negative feelings towards a partner. John Darnielle has said it’s about the moment that “you know it’s not going to get any better” and most discussions of the song mirror that sentiment. “I sure do love you,” the narrator snarls, again and again, and it cuts worse than being directly hateful. By the end of the third verse, our narrator feels the need to defiantly say that they do know the children’s song the other character is singing, they “just don’t feel like singing it.” This kind of sullen pettiness signals nothing good.

248. Alpha in Tauris

Alex Russell Zopilote Machine , , , , , , , , ,

The Alpha Couple, or people much like them, find themselves in the moments after the fact in “Alpha in Tauris.”

Track: “Alpha in Tauris”
Album: Zopilote Machine (1994)

“The moment’s sweet, but it’s all wrong” is as close to a thesis statement for the Alpha Couple as you’ll find. Prior to Tallahassee, the album entirely about this couple, you can look at song titles to identify a song about these specific characters. You also have to look past some conflicting details, but the alpha songs are really about the emotions that go into difficult relationships rather than two specific people. John Darnielle says “Alpha in Tauris” is about one character having an affair with a much older character, which doesn’t seem to fit the rest of the Alpha Couple story, but why let that matter?

Whether this is part of that saga or not, “Alpha in Tauris” is thematically similar. John Darnielle has played it a lot over the years, especially for a song from 1994, and at a show in Austin in 2003 he simply said “it’s a true story.” We can assume he means it’s true for someone, but you can make of that what you wish. Whoever these characters are, they are in a tense moment when we find them. “I’m the model of composure out there,” our narrator says, and John Darnielle’s voice cracks over “but you oughta see me shaking later on.”

Many of the portrayals of infidelity in Mountain Goats songs focus on the cheaters and how they feel about their illicit love. “Alpha in Tauris” holds the camera on the moment after the “good” part. “My brain gets flooded six hours later,” they say, twice, and we live briefly in the moment when someone considers their actions. It isn’t clear if this is regret or just general anguish, but it seems like they want this all to be simpler, but might not appreciate it as much if that were the case.

157. Young Caesar 2000

Alex Russell Zopilote Machine , , , , , , ,

A boy king ponders his defensive options and decides on violence in “Young Caesar 2000.”

Track: “Young Caesar 2000”
Album: Zopilote Machine (1994)

“Young Caesar 2000” is straightforward. A twelve-year-old boy becomes king and his kingdom is vast. He struggles with leadership and fails to establish the level of power and respect that he feels he is due. He establishes a plan which has been effective for as long as people have led other people, which is to say that he’s going to kill everyone who disagrees with him until there’s no one left.

It’s a short song that acts as a critique of blind leadership in both directions. You have to feel for the people who cause the narrator to say “now I’m thirteen and no one takes me seriously.” No thirteen-year-old generally should be taken seriously, and considering our king here ascended the throne at twelve, they likely have a year’s worth of example behavior to support removing him. You also have to feel for the narrator. If someone came to you at twelve and supported the natural solipsism of youth by making you the leader of all the world you knew to exist, wouldn’t part of you feel like it was about time?

The chugging guitar and raspy delivery give “Young Caesar 2000” a revenge song feel. Your first few listens you probably will grin and picture the boy king’s actions. We don’t get to see the actual deeds, but we can assume from history that either the king will succeed in silencing his doubters through violence or he will be usurped by them. Either way, especially with “Caesar” in the name, we know the stakes are high. We also can infer that neither side will win for long, since a society that found a way to crown a boy can find a way to explain a very short rule.

130. We Have Seen the Enemy

Alex Russell Zopilote Machine , , , , , , ,

Wild dogs spoil what might have been a peaceful moment in “We Have Seen the Enemy” as two people struggle to be honest.

Track: “We Have Seen the Enemy”
Album: Zopilote Machine (1994)

“We Have Seen the Enemy” opens with nearly 20 full seconds of peaceful guitar. There’s no indication of what kind of song this might be or how you’re supposed to feel. It’s soothing, in a way, and you don’t get a lot of that in the catalog. You begin to wonder if a character or two is about to get some relief.

John Darnielle’s first verse doesn’t break the spell. He describes a discussion where one person comes clean to another one. “I’ve told you everything,” they say, “even the parts I’d meant to leave out.” Given what we know about a Mountain Goats song, you could assume this is ominous. You could also see it as sweet. Darnielle speak-sings the entire verse. There’s a gentleness in his voice that suggests this is a moment of true honesty between these two.

Then wild dogs descend from the mountains and ruin the moment. The delivery of the final four lines is grating, no doubt, but it’s supposed to feel that way. It’s designed to be a pleasant moment spoiled by a rough image, and that’s exactly what happens. There are only 70 words in “We Have Seen the Enemy,” but the minimalism makes you wonder about what’s happening and will drive you to listen to it again and again.

The title is the only clue. Oliver Hazard Perry once said “we have met the enemy and they are ours” after a naval victory in the War of 1812 and the quote was parodied by the comic strip Pogo in the 50s as “we have met the enemy and he is us.” Many of John Darnielle’s couples start at the first emotion, but by the time the wild dogs show up they have to feel the second one is more appropriate.

117. Standard Bitter Love Song #7

Alex Russell Zopilote Machine , , , , , ,

“Standard Bitter Love Song #7” reminds us of a time we couldn’t leave a relationship without saying one last horrible thing.

Track: “Standard Bitter Love Song #7”
Album: Zopilote Machine (1994)

There are six songs with “Standard Bitter Love Song” in the title, so far as anyone seems to know. #4, #7, and #8 are on albums, #5 and #6 exist in the corners of the Internet, and #1 is a screaming, stomping fan-favorite that’s seen a revival in the last few years after John Darnielle played it at Farm Sanctuary in 2007. #2 and #3 likely exist, if for no other reason than it’s more likely that they’re real than not, but you never know. Maybe it’s better and stranger if they never turn up.

They’re angry, bitter songs sung from one lover to another. The Alpha Couple songs do a lot of the heavy lifting regarding “bitter” in the Goats catalog, but these seem more like a place for John Darnielle to try out a deeper anger. The title is so on-the-nose that he can get away with being direct. In most of them, the narrator either talks about violence and there’s lots of blood and gnashing of teeth. They’re songs for the specific set of emotions that boil up when you feel like a “standard bitter love song” is exactly what you need.

In #7 the narrator imagines themselves as a fly on the wall earlier, likely in the hopes of seeing what caused “that innocent look” the other lover displays. The love is totally gone here, and it’s summed up best with the most brutal lyric: “I know you’d kill me if you could stand the sight of blood.” The guitar behind it all feels tense and John Darnielle’s snarl persists through both verses. When you’ve made up your mind like this it’s time to leave a relationship, but the standard bitter love songs exist for those final jabs you can’t help but get in first.

086. Bad Priestess

Alex Russell Zopilote Machine , , , , , , ,

“Bad Priestess” is told in first person, but don’t mistake the hateful narrator for John Darnielle himself.

Track: “Bad Priestess”
Album: Zopilote Machine (1994)

At first glance, Zopilote Machine might seem to be the quintessential Mountain Goats album. It has (at least) three Alpha Couple songs, two Orange Ball songs, and three “Going to…” songs. With that many representations of “series” songs, it might serve as a crucial primary text in understanding the catalog.

The complication is that it features songs like “Going to Georgia” and “Bad Priestess,” songs that are by no means bad or not fun to listen to, but thematically dissimilar than the current Goats output. It’s difficult to have 500 songs that are largely told in first person because people will ascribe the narrator’s traits to you, but John Darnielle doesn’t identify with many of his early narrators. “Going to Georgia” is a fan favorite, but the narrator threatens someone they love with a gun. That’s not the kind of person you want to be.

The narrator in “Bad Priestess” may not be as violent, but they share a mindset with the person in Georgia with a gun. The titular “Bad Priestess” is a woman that is tempting someone, but they’re putting all of those qualities on her. She never speaks, she only lives in the way she is described. She is called a “fraud” for her “place among the poor” and that the sun across her face has had “the same effect on a thousand other guys.” There is a type of person that feels this way about the fairer sex, and it’s not a good type of person. It can still be a fun song even if the narrator is gross — Darnielle of the present calls him “insane” — but be sure you consider the context.

072. Alpha Sun Hat

Alex Russell Zopilote Machine , , , , , , , , ,

“Alpha Sun Hat” talks about human sacrifice of two different sorts as the Alpha Couple takes stock in Florida.

Track: “Alpha Sun Hat”
Album: Zopilote Machine (1994)

It’s natural to feel a certain affection for the songs the band loves best. John Darnielle has said “Alpha Sun Hat” is one of his favorite songs to play live and you can really hear that in the few recordings available online. The studio version is quick and driving while the live one slows down the opening verse. On the album the entire song has an intensity to it, but that first verse is deliberately delivered with a quieter tone live. He almost whispers some lines, which gives the poetry of “and I’d like to give in to your oboe-reed voice” a different meaning. When spoken quietly over light strumming and bass it sounds like the final moments of love where someone isn’t quite finished. It’s a familiar space for two lovers in a Goats song and it’s definitely where the Alpha Couple is during “Alpha Sun Hat.”

The album version is the same through both verses, but the reason to seek out a live one is for the build of second verse. The line works in both versions, but “that’s not music you hear, that’s the devil” really needs to be a tonal shift to work best. Darnielle yells it (though compared to some other songs, “yells” might be the wrong word) just as one Alpha character changes their mind about their lover. The Aztecs believed they had to remove the heart to send victorious warriors to eternal glory, and the heart-rending here is only slightly less literal. “If you’re planning your escape, you know I’m all for you” is a line that you can unpack any way you like, but the closing line’s reveal of Tallahassee as the setting means that it might be meant as an empty gesture, since neither of them have the will to leave.

 

062. Orange Ball of Love

Alex Russell Zopilote Machine , , , , , , , ,

In “Orange Ball of Love” one lover finally gives up and gets serious about the confrontation he’s been avoiding.

Track: “Orange Ball of Love”
Album: Zopilote Machine (1994)

There are four “Orange Ball” songs: Love, Hate, Peace, and Pain. “Peace” and “Hate” both have really solid jokes in them and they’re funny songs. “Pain” is, predictably, very sad. “Orange Ball of Love” is more difficult to diagnose. The four songs are tied together only by naming convention, and John Darnielle has said that they aren’t meant to be connected any other way. Rather than comparing it with the other three, it’s better to look at “Orange Ball of Love” as a part of the album Zopilote Machine. It’s a really angry album, which isn’t surprising given songs titles like “Standard Bitter Love Song #7” and “We Have Seen the Enemy,” but “Orange Ball of Love” is interesting beyond the anger.

It opens with some twangy guitar and John’s familiar snarl in the line “when I catch sight of your face.” By the end of the stanza the narrator is trying to find “a good place to hide.” He accuses his target of “wearing a wire.” It goes beyond figurative language to the point where you have to consider that this may be a person confronting an actual enemy. Lots of Goats songs are about lovers in their darkest moments, but the confrontation is rarely this dramatic.

Whether you think it’s figurative or not isn’t really important. The language is severe enough that either works. When the sun sets it sets into a “burial ground.” When it rises it “rears up” and “swallows” the couple. These are people in a standoff and the narrator has decided he’s going to come clean about how he feels about all this. You feel the corner he’s in, even if you’ve never had to accuse someone of giving you a fake name like this guy does.

037. Alpha Incipiens

Alex Russell Zopilote Machine , , , , , , , , ,

The first song about The Alpha Couple shows that the iconic lovers weren’t ever all that great for each other.

Track: “Alpha Incipiens”
Album: Zopilote Machine (1994)

Every song about The Alpha Couple is fascinating. The timeline is fun to try to figure out, but you can’t do it for certain. You can figure out that some have to happen before others based on geography — they start on the west coast and end in Florida — but beyond that it’s all conjecture. In that way The Alpha Couple is less a story to be uncovered and labelled and more the ultimate idea of two people crashing and burning when combined.

When you listen to the spite on “Oceanographer’s Choice” you feel like the hate is so bitter and so real that the love must have been some serious business. Anyone who learns to hate that hard has to have loved even harder, right? Well, the timeline may be up for debate, but The Alpha Series has a definite start and a definite end. Their final song (chronologically) is “Alpha Omega,” and by then they’re down to just one of them. Their first song is “Alpha Incipiens” from Zopilote Machine, and that’s been confirmed. That much, John Darnielle says, he’ll give you.

Are they in love in “Alpha Incipiens?” The fast-paced, screaming song tells the drunken tale of one of them trying to understand the other as the drinks begin to flow. They will get drunk and they will get desperate as their story unfolds, but it starts with simple, ice-cold vodka and “the only thing I know is that I love you // and I’m holding on.”

It really foretells Tallahassee and the oncoming trainwreck very well. Even on one of their first mornings — and in their first tale — the couple gets drunk and has trouble talking to each other. Communication will become the least of their problems.