The Mountain Goats ask us to return to Billy the Kid and his magical, special shoes in “Catherine Antrim’s Kid.”

Track: “Catherine Antrim’s Kid”
Album: All Survivors Pack (2011)

I think it’s a legitimate question to ask why there are two songs that reference Billy the Kid’s “special shoes” in the Mountain Goats catalog, but you probably already have an idea of your own. He’s a tragic figure, in a way, but also what a weird detail to focus on. An old friend of mine was obsessed with the original “Billy the Kid’s Dream of the Magic Shoes,” a song from 1993 that is exclusively about Billy the Kid and his magic shoes. I am wary of making a statement like this, but I think that song is nonsense. I don’t mean that in a negative way, but I don’t necessarily think there’s something to unlock here. I think “Catherine Antrim’s Kid,” titled after Billy the Kid’s mother, is largely a reference to that song and a mild attempt to double down on something that never really referenced anything in the first place. Billy the Kid, near as I can tell, did not believe he had magic shoes. But who are we to say?

Picture yourself as John Darnielle, nearly twenty years later in 2011. I love that the “follow up” references Paul Westerberg. I don’t have to tell you that Billy the Kid wouldn’t know who that is and that’s the point, but this isn’t just a funny detail. It’s the clearest way to explain the difference between the two versions of Darnielle as a songwriter. “Catherine Antrim’s Kid” is a little bit beautiful, when you can forget it’s about the myth of a murderous outlaw, and it’s got a charm the original just doesn’t have. For all the folks who long for the old days, this one asks you to put that aside.