The curious “Born Ready” describes someone on a mission that is having second thoughts.

Track: “Born Ready”
Album: Isopanisad Radio Hour (2000)

US 101 is a highway in California. It’s a beautiful part of the world and it’s one of the best drives in the country. Apparently northern California prefers to call it “101” and southern California calls it “the 101.” A minor difference, but regionalisms can be everything and it tells us we’re dealing with an outsider on a drive to San Jose.

The charm of “Born Ready” is the contrast. It’s a quiet song that’s beautiful at times with soft drums and almost whispered vocals. Even during the flourish at the end you still might miss what’s happening if you just passively listen to it the first few times. Closer listens reveal the story of someone who has been out east in the snow and now they’re here for a dark purpose.

It may be literal and it may not. It’s not unheard of for Mountain Goats characters to wish evil on each other and mean it emotionally rather than physically, but “I’m going to take you out for good // I’m going to take you down” is rather insistent. The emotional whine in John Darnielle’s voice over the third verse gives us our final clue about this relationship. There’s pain in his voice during “When I think about you, I feel so bad // it’s been a long, long, long, long time.” As so often happens in Mountain Goats songs, there isn’t enough information here for the whole story. All we know is that this person is headed into enemy territory and they feel a great purpose, but maybe they feel something entirely different at the same time. “Born Ready” can serve many moods that way, and that makes it a track worth coming back to again and again.