http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWMaarpJbig

In “Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace,” two people drive through the desert in their final real moments.

Track: “Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace”
Album: The Life of the World to Come (2009)

Sometimes you have to listen to dozens of live performances of a song to find out how John Darnielle views it, but sometimes you just have to look at his Tumblr. He’s been very forthcoming with his reasoning for why he won’t play “Going to Georgia” anymore: it’s a song that romanticizes stalking and emotional violence towards someone you love. Recently a fan asked him why he wouldn’t play that song but would play “Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace,” a song about a man kidnapping and torturing another man. Darnielle says he doesn’t see the connection and that the point of “Ezekiel 7” is that it’s nakedly about a bad event. “Going to Georgia” can be interpreted as “sweet” if you have a black enough heart, and he doesn’t want anyone to get that out of it.

“Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace” closes out The Life of the World to Come on a really dark moment. The events in the song are straightforward and it ends with an eerie heartbeat, suggesting that the victim is still alive for now but won’t be for long. The background effects on the album really amplify the terrifying scene, but Darnielle’s live piano version has just as much pain. It’s not a traditional Goats song, but the message is one they preach a lot: dark behavior meets with dark ends.

The source material of Ezekiel 7 is the story of the end of the world through God’s wrath. The song is the literal end of one person, but also the figurative end of the other as they die to themselves through their choices. Like “Going to Georgia,” the main character is the one doing literal damage, but the worst violence that happens is internal.