What is this?

This is “A Few Things, Maybe Several Things,” a blog about songs by the Mountain Goats. We’re going to break down every single song in their catalog.

Wait, why?

Because the Mountain Goats are incredible.

Sure, okay, but every song? Don’t they have a lot?

They do. Some estimates put the total between 500 to 700 individual songs, and it’s muddied a bit because frontman John Darnielle has been a part of multiple projects that aren’t officially “the Mountain Goats,” even though in some ways any group he’s in is “the Mountain Goats.” That adds to difficulty of making a complete list of songs written by a guy who has been making music since 1991.

Who are you?

I’m Alex Russell. I wrote every day for a year once and I write about movies on my other blog, but lately I’ve had trouble keeping up with my writing. I love writing, and the best way to stick to it is to create a project that will keep you writing every day. I also love the Mountain Goats, and I really want to walk through their entire career. This seems like a great way to do it.

So you want to break down 700 songs… wait, break down?

Yep! Stick around, you’ll see. Listen to some great music. Read along. You’re gonna love it. My only rule is that every title has to be one line and every post is capped at 300 words, max. Gotta reign it in somehow. Otherwise this would be 700 books, which would be slightly more insane.

What songs are included?

Everything “officially” released as a song by the Mountain Goats, the Extra Glenns, the Extra Lens, or John Darnielle as a solo musician is included. I’ve chosen to include the “unreleased” albums that are prominently available online and well known. I’ve also chosen to include some select live-only and unreleased songs that are part of the Mountain Goats experience. I have specifically excluded covers, as they weren’t written by the band, and songs that the band specifically asks not be spoken about outside of live shows. For example, lately the band has performed some songs John Darnielle sings to his children. Songs like those are not included, purposefully.

What does the title mean?

It’s part of a line from “Up the Wolves” from The Sunset Tree. The full selection is “There’ll always be a few things, maybe several things // that you’re gonna find really difficult to forgive.”

Anything else?

I’m deeply indebted to the people who are doing the big work about the Goats online. The Mountain Goats Wiki is an amazing resource to find which songs were played at which shows. Richard O’Brien writes a retrospective of the entire band’s career and his own life called Now Here We Are Thirty Years Later that I highly recommend if you want to go much deeper than this site. Kyle Barbour’s The Annotated Mountain Goats is a far more ambitious look at the band than I could ever dream of, and is awesome for some of the deeper hidden references. It’s currently unavailable, but I am leaving the reference up given the criticality of it to this work. The official Mountain Goats Forum is instrumental for researching the deepest of the deep cuts. Archive.org has basically every live show of all time, and you should search your favorite song and find the version that connects with you. Lastly, thanks to the YouTube folks that uploaded the songs linked to here. Use the videos to discover some songs, but you should totally buy everything the Goats have ever made.