Chile de Árbol

234. Alphabetizing

Alex Russell Protein Source of the Future...Now! , , , , , , , , , ,

The Alpha Couple is caught in a memorable, beautiful moment in the days before in “Alphabetizing.”

Track: “Alphabetizing”
Album: Chile de Árbol (1993) and Protein Source of the Future…Now! (1999)

John Darnielle has played “Alphabetizing” live more often than he has most songs from 1993. “I will defend this song, from the earlier ones, I think it’s alright,” he said at a show at Pitzer College, his alma mater, in 2006. During several performances, he has commented about how it ends abruptly on Chile de Árbol and he thus makes an effort to end it that way even now at live shows. It shines in these performances in ways the early songs don’t always work. They’re working seeking out.

The title hints at it, but the man himself has confirmed at live shows that this is a song about the Alpha Couple. We start with one admiring another, in lyrics that foreshadow “Going to Georgia” in a way. “I love you especially // because I saw you // coming through // the screen door // up on the second floor // out on the balcony” is a mundane string of details, but it tells us this character is overcome. When you love someone above all else and, when pressed, say it’s because they came through a screen door, you aren’t in a place to behave rationally. That’s either pure love or the blinding hope that comes before what comes after that.

We’re in familiar territory in the second verse. “The air was thick with alcohol,” our narrator now says, and pleads for time to make them forget the good moments. “Let the years come and take away my memory // I will not forget the shock that ran though me,” they say, and tell us again about this beautiful moment they witnessed. This is still the good times, but a mist of booze and an understanding that good times don’t last are all we need to know where we’re headed.

 

233. Billy the Kid’s Dream of the Magic Shoes

Alex Russell Protein Source of the Future...Now! , , , , , , , ,

“Billy the Kid’s Dream of the Magic Shoes” is about Billy the Kid and some special shoes.

Track: “Billy the Kid’s Dream of the Magic Shoes”
Album: Chile de Árbol (1993) and Protein Source of the Future…Now! (1999)

At a show in Baltimore in 1996, John Darnielle told the audience “the old ones hurt my hands more.” He also called “Billy the Kid’s Dream of the Magic Shoes” very old. It was three years old at the time and is much, much older now.

The song details Billy the Kid, famous American Old West murderer, as he tells the audience that he does not care that he is going to be killed because he has special shoes. He has special shoes, you see, and he has them on. This repeats. It’s important to Billy the Kid that you know he has special shoes and that he does not fear what comes next.

For a song from 1993 about magic shoes, this has gotten a lot of play at live shows over the years. Most of the live performances follow one person asking for it, as one does, by yelling the absurd title from the crowd. In recent years, John Darnielle has commented and called it “sloppy.” He’s also commented on the fact that people yell for it, but it’s often only one person and it’s their fault if he plays it. It’s not productive to follow that thread too far, because he’s playing it because he wants to, but it’s interesting to think about the person that yells for the song about Billy the Kid’s magic shoes.

I don’t know why someone would love this song and call for it, specifically. Someone at a benefit show once paid a ton of money for “Pure Honey.” There is something about Mountain Goats fans that draws them to these strange tracks, so if you’re one of those people, here’s your song about special shoes.

199. Night of the Mules

Alex Russell Chile de Árbol, Protein Source of the Future...Now! , , , , , , ,

Vague religious references and a group of foreboding animals populate “Night of the Mules.”

Track: “Night of the Mules”
Album: Chile de Árbol (1993) and Protein Source of the Future…Now! (1999)

Chile de Árbol is a strange collection. One song is about the end of the world and the Easter Bunny, another is about Billy the Kid, and the other three are challenging to approach even at a basic level. “Night of the Mules” seems to be about generalized menace, with only the title to suggest where the source of said menace lies.

A few years ago John Darnielle opened a concert with “Night of the Mules.” He’s said recently that he likes to open shows with old or rare songs so few people in the crowd will know the first one. It’s a powerful effect, and it usually quiets the crowd as people try to figure out what they’re listening to or if they’ve heard it before. “Night of the Mules” doesn’t need much updating to fit in with a modern Mountain Goats show. It’s all fierce guitar and sneers, so it’s a perfect wake-the-crowd-up jam to hear up top.

The only commentary I can find is one quote where John Darnielle says the song is about an ending that will come for everyone. Kyle Barbour, author of The Annotated Mountain Goats, suggests that it’s a Biblical song because of the presence of kings, holly, and mistletoe, but he also hears “praying” in the second verse where I hear “braying.” That’s as good of an answer as anything I can come up with, but I’m more comfortable calling this a generalized view of an end times. The religious reading is backed up by the opening sample from Genesis about Abraham’s attempt to save the city of Sodom if ten good men exist there, but mules coming to destroy everything seems more like a John Darnielle original idea to me.

121. Going to Malibu

Alex Russell Chile de Árbol, Protein Source of the Future...Now! , , , , , , ,

The robotic drum beat and delivery on “Going to Malibu” turn an argument into a march to war.

Track: “Going to Malibu”
Album: Chile de Árbol (1993) and Protein Source of the Future…Now! (1999)

Chile de Árbol is not an easy listen two decades after release. The recording is scratchy and caries all of the “poor-quality-on-purpose” charm that the early releases do. Lyrically, it’s challenging and confusing. There are tons of Biblical references, a song about Billy the Kid’s magic shoes, and an extended discussion of the Easter Bunny that might be about the end of the world. We’re deep in the weeds in 1993, but there are treasures there.

“Going to Malibu” is the most “Mountain Goats” song on the album. All five songs have charm, but “Going to Malibu” is a direct address from one character to another about the state of their relationship. The relentless, mechanical rat-a-tat-tat marching drum sells a sense of unavoidable dread. These characters have to have this argument and it has to happen this way. John Darnielle’s delivery has a robotic quality to it that works alongside the drum. You can almost feel the fist pounding the table to punctuate each word in the chorus of “that’s not true // that’s a rotten thing to say // that’s a damnable lie.”

Your enjoyment of “Going to Malibu” may vary. It’s definitely a weird song, even for the early ones, and the delivery and backing drum do lack the raw emotion that makes much of the early catalog so passionate. For me, this song wouldn’t work any other way. It’s intended to be a battlefield by the use of “neutral ground” and the battle march aesthetic is a logical choice. Lines like “the thoughts that race around my mind // could fill a long unreadable book” are worth the sound quality, and if you can put yourself in the non-magic shoes of the narrator, you might appreciate why they feels like they’re going to war.

054. Fresh Berries for You

Alex Russell Protein Source of the Future...Now! , , , , , , , ,

 

On one of the strangest and best songs from the early years, John Darnielle invokes the Easter Bunny as a portent.

Track: “Fresh Berries for You”
Album: Chile de Árbol (1993) and Protein Source of the Future…Now! (1999)

At a show in 1999 in Bloomington, Indiana, a man called out for “the Easter Bunny song.” That night in Bloomington included “Cutter,” (which is about being born in Bloomington and is introduced as such) “Letter from a Motel,” “Tampa,” “You’re in Maya,” and “Poltergeist.” It’s one of those holy grail shows you dream of when you read a set list. It’s the kind of show that doesn’t happen anymore because it couldn’t happen anymore. You can still hear “the Easter Bunny song” though, or you could if you went to the show at the Old Town School of Folk Music in 2014 in Chicago.

Sometimes it’s obvious why a song from the early days persists. “Going to Alaska” is from the very first album, but it still gets play at solo John Darnielle shows because it’s fantastic. It’s a great song, but it’s also tonally appropriate alongside the more modern Mountain Goats songs. “Fresh Berries for You” is an entirely different beast. While certainly not common now, it’s the kind of “kinda funny” song that you’d expect to have been swallowed up by history. It’s good that it hasn’t been. It may be the best song on Chile de Árbol (depending on your ability to appreciate what “Going to Malibu” is going for, but that’s a conversation for another day) and it’s one of the most interesting songs from pre-1995.

John Darnielle’s narrator is insistent that the person they’re addressing is in for a treat. “The time is coming,” they repeat, and “it’s gonna be so nice // when the Easter Bunny comes.” Exactly what that means for everyone involved is left deliberately unclear, but it’s a testament to the other narrators of Goats songs that you can’t help but wonder how bad this is going to go.