We are left to wonder what these characters have done and might do next in “Going to Hungary.”

Track: “Going to Hungary”
Album: Tropical Depression EP (w/ Furniture Huschle) (1997)

At the time of this writing, the Wikipedia page for “Lincoln Continental” is nearly 15,000 words long. It’s longer than the page about Jupiter. A tremendous amount of effort went into writing details about all 10 generations of the car and all of the specific details about how the body and chassis have changed over the years. Even with all of this information, I cannot unlock what John Darnielle wants the audience to know as he ends “Going to Hungary” with “we were heading straight to hell // in a Lincoln Continental.”

By my estimation, the purpose of this degree of specificity is the same as it is elsewhere in Mountain Goats songs. Very specific locations and details help a song feel real. These are two actual people and they actually are doing something, John Darnielle wants us to know. They sleep in a hotel room after not sleeping for several days. They put on extremely specific clothing. They leave. This could just be a snapshot of two lives that we see, and it definitely is that, but it’s so specific.

There are fewer than 100 words in “Going to Hungary.” It will likely take you a few listens to lock into, but once you do, there are a lot of questions to answer. What are these folks doing staying up for so long? We can find that answer in the type of people John Darnielle likes to talk about, but let’s not speculate. There’s never been anything said about this song and it’s never been played again, as far as I can tell, but even if there might be more to know, I think the joy is in the mystery for this one.