Fresh Tattoo

642. Jenny III

Alex Russell Jenny From Thebes , , , , , , ,

“Jenny III” is a ballad for a person who represents hope, escape, and the future.

Track: “Jenny III”
Album: Jenny From Thebes

It is a stretch, but I view “Jenny III” as a piece of magical realism. This is John Darnielle, of the Mountain Goats, talking to Jenny. It’s her hero story as much as her pirate ballad. She’s to be feared, loved, respected, and doubted, all at once. Was there ever even a Jenny? Probably not, if you never saw her, that’s just some bullshit those dudes talk about around the way.

It could just as easily be her old compatriot from any of the half-dozen songs not on Jenny From Thebes about her, but it doesn’t really matter. Jenny left this place, once, and in so doing she created a model that you can follow. I think that’s the ultimate legacy of Jenny, as a sort of monster that you can fear if you’re trying to fight against the marginalized and a hope you can believe in if you’re within it. You can’t crash at Jenny’s place anymore by “Jenny III” but you know those places exist. You know there’s a way to get out of this. Jenny got out. Follow the tracks.

636. Fresh Tattoo

Alex Russell Jenny From Thebes , , , , , ,

In one of the best songs they have ever written, the Mountain Goats demand that the moment matters with “Fresh Tattoo.”

Track: “Fresh Tattoo”
Album: Jenny From Thebes

I’ll never forget the day I first heard “Fresh Tattoo.” It blew me away. It still does. I think it’s one of the ten best Mountain Goats songs and a powerful, and, yes, important, message for people who need it. The best Goats songs are part of that category of songs that might be what you need when you need something. This is one of those.

Jenny, the hero of our story and the centerpiece of Mountain Goats lore, decides she can’t keep saving people and decides she has to take action. She has saved people, and that matters, but sometimes you need to stop saving people. But you can save one more.

I love the character towards the end of “Fresh Tattoo” that asks, probably not all that interested, what her tattoo means. She fobs him off. It’s this point where the whole damn thing explodes and we get the mission statement, the declaration, the exclamation, the everything of the whole damn album. This moment will not pass you by, because you have made a choice and that choice will be validated. Remember it by this tattoo.