mountain goats

162. Rain Song

Alex Russell Bitter Melon Farm , , , , , , , , ,

“Rain Song” sings the praises of one of John Darnielle’s peers and includes the unique rhyme of “hibachi” and “Callaci.”

Track: “Rain Song”
Album: Bitter Melon Farm (1999)

In 1994, a label called Union Pole Records released 700 copies of I Present This, a compilation album of eight songs. It features six bands I’m not aware of, “Rain Song” by the Mountain Goats, and “Waitress” by Refrigerator. You can buy a copy online. In the interest of disclosure, I haven’t, and I have found it impossible to otherwise hear “Waitress.”

Refrigerator matters in this context because it is Allen Callaci’s band. “Rain Song” exists solely to tell the listener that John Darnielle wishes he could sing like Allen Callaci. This is either funny because John Darnielle knew this would be on a compilation with the same guy or it’s funny because someone decided they had to go together. Either way works.

Allen Callaci comes up a few times through the liner notes and expanded universe of the Mountain Goats. He sings the final verses on “Lonesome Surprise.” He does have a unique voice. It’s worth looking up some Refrigerator albums, if for no other reason than to hear what John Darnielle heard in his voice.

“Rain Song” really is that simple. “Drop by drop // gallon by gallon // brother if I could sing // if I could sing like Allen” is as straightforward as John Darnielle gets. The liner notes on the reissue say as much again as John Darnielle says this song “takes it’s ball and goes home” after establishing that Allen Callaci is a great singer.

A full fourth of the song is John Darnielle’s intro. He describes either the morning or evening of January 24, 1994 and the lack of a title for “Rain Song.” The whole song is a reminder that John Darnielle has heroes and that small moments matter, so despite the straightforwardness of the message, it’s a worthy piece of the whole.

161. Werewolf Gimmick

Alex Russell Beat the Champ , , , , , , , , ,

A wrestler gives in to their baser instincts and goes primal in “Werewolf Gimmick.”

Track: “Werewolf Gimmick”
Album: Beat the Champ (2015)

The drums sell “Werewolf Gimmick.” Jon Wurster joined the Mountain Goats in 2007 and they haven’t been the same since. There are probably purists who think the Mountain Goats are only “real” with just John Darnielle and a bassist, but I can’t imagine that person could listen to “Werewolf Gimmick” and defend that position. There are plenty of songs that only work because they have a full band with horns and drums and everything, but “Werewolf Gimmick” is a 150-second explosion where the drums never let up for a second. It’ll wear you out just to listen to it once, in a good way.

Beat the Champ uses wrestling and wrestlers to talk about a variety of things, but “Werewolf Gimmick” is actually in the ring. It’s about a wrestler who portrays a werewolf and a heel determined to sell his act through intensity. Wrestling comes in many varieties. Sometimes it’s about the camp factor, but wrestlers like this werewolf think it’s about sincerity. Are these guys actually fighting for real, he wants us to wonder, and just maybe, only one of them knows that?

John Darnielle is at peak snarl here. He embodies his werewolf character when he describes the other wrestler as “some sniveling local baby face with an angle he can’t sell.” You can hear the twist in his mouth over “dial” in “get told to maybe dial it back, backstage later on” and if you like this brand of Goats song, this may be one of your favorites. John Darnielle sometimes says that the quiet ones are best, but if you like the rockers and screamers, you can’t do much better than “Werewolf Gimmick.”

160. I Will Grab You by the Ears

Alex Russell Nothing for Juice , , , , , , ,

We are left to wonder what having one’s ears grabbed means in “I Will Grab You by the Ears.”

Track: “I Will Grab You by the Ears”
Album: Nothing for Juice (1996)

At an average of 20 shows a year, the Mountain Goats have played somewhere around 500 live shows at the time of this writing. It’s really impossible to say for sure, though you can begin to put together a catalog. The fan base for a group like this is obsessive and given to cataloging, but you can never be sure you’ve caught everything. There will be some benefit show that John Darnielle played last minute for 18 people or something from the early days when no one was keeping meticulous records and it will stop you from being absolutely sure about your history.

It is with those caveats that I say that “I Will Grab You by the Ears” has never been played live. I obviously can’t be 100% sure, but everything seems to support my claim. It’s a short song buried in the middle of a long album from 1996, with songs like “It Froze Me,” “Going to Kansas,” and “Going to Scotland.” There are some songs that John Darnielle seems to put out in the world and never revisit. Given the vastness of his work, that’s not surprising.

The main point of contention around “I Will Grab You by the Ears” seems to be the title. A narrator walks around a lake and tells someone “I will grab you by the ears // and you will know something.” John Darnielle snarls the lines a little bit, and combined with the deliberate, slow strumming it seems somewhat like a threat. It sounds to me like an idiom that John Darnielle created, but it might also be a physical threat. Either way, the narrator seems determined to get their point across, though we don’t find out what it is.

159. Beach House

Alex Russell Hot Garden Stomp , , , , , , , ,

“Beach House” is about the danger of seals (yes, seals), but it’s also about how love clouds our judgement.

Track: “Beach House”
Album: Hot Garden Stomp (1993)

The typical Mountain Goats song is about a miserable and/or lonely person processing one or more events that have led them to their current state. This is an oversimplification, but the themes of loneliness, displacement, and fear about not making great use of time and relationships are consistent in the catalog.

It hasn’t always been that way. The early Mountain Goats albums have more “funny” songs, which is always the way John Darnielle describes them. He’s told a story several times on stage about playing songs at an open mic in his early days and hearing someone tell their friend that “this guy is funny.” Obviously present-day John Darnielle doesn’t want to be known that way, but the songs exist all the same. He appreciates the fans and understands the devotion to the “old stuff,” so every now and again he digs into the back catalog and plays something like “Beach House.”

“Beach House” is about seals. The beat is catchy, but really the song will stick with you because 11 of the 16 lines include the word “seal.” The narrator is insistent with someone that they need to respect the power and hatred that is innate in seals. That probably sounds ridiculous to you, but you really need to hear it to believe it. “Now when I say that the seal is vicious, I use the term advisedly,” is a truly inspired line.

John Darnielle says this narrator is “neurotic, but not psychotic” and that they want someone they love to not move away. Many early Goats narrators are in love and don’t know how to express it well, but I can’t think of a worse plan than “you can’t leave me, what if the seals get you?”

158. It’s All Here in Brownsville

Alex Russell Full Force Galesburg , , , , , , ,

Two people travel to the end of the road in “It’s All Here in Brownsville,” but no farther than that.

Track: “It’s All Here in Brownsville”
Album: Full Force Galesburg (1997)

Brownsville, Texas is home to 183,000 people and is the 131st largest city in the United States. It is directly on the United States-Mexico border. More than a third of its citizens live below the poverty line.

Full Force Galesburg is an album obsessed with location. One wonders if the extreme poverty in Brownsville informs the choice to use it for “It’s All Here in Brownsville” at all, or if that’s just a sad detail that changes the way the song comes across. It’s certainly relevant that it’s a border town as our couple wanders around in the heat and ponders the significance of the town in their lives.

“Why do we come down to Brownsville, year after year after year?” The couple from Galesburg wonders this out loud and seemingly finds no answer. This is the last track on the album, but the Mountain Goats often exit albums with their characters pondering rather than finding answers. Songs like “Pale Green Things” and “Alpha Rats Nest” are examples of this, where you would expect people to have figured everything out and yet, it ends up being more complex than that.

“It’s All Here in Brownsville” ends with a repetition of “it’s all coming apart again.” Destruction and destructive thought is rampant on Galesburg, so this ending is only fitting. It’s also a compelling place to leave the couple that’s wandered around the United States all over the album. It’s possible to read this as a love song despite the dark ending, but it seems more likely that they’re going to keep avoiding their doomed state. Warm scenery and extreme gestures like traveling to “where nothing starts” every year will keep you going even when you shouldn’t.

157. Young Caesar 2000

Alex Russell Zopilote Machine , , , , , , ,

A boy king ponders his defensive options and decides on violence in “Young Caesar 2000.”

Track: “Young Caesar 2000”
Album: Zopilote Machine (1994)

“Young Caesar 2000” is straightforward. A twelve-year-old boy becomes king and his kingdom is vast. He struggles with leadership and fails to establish the level of power and respect that he feels he is due. He establishes a plan which has been effective for as long as people have led other people, which is to say that he’s going to kill everyone who disagrees with him until there’s no one left.

It’s a short song that acts as a critique of blind leadership in both directions. You have to feel for the people who cause the narrator to say “now I’m thirteen and no one takes me seriously.” No thirteen-year-old generally should be taken seriously, and considering our king here ascended the throne at twelve, they likely have a year’s worth of example behavior to support removing him. You also have to feel for the narrator. If someone came to you at twelve and supported the natural solipsism of youth by making you the leader of all the world you knew to exist, wouldn’t part of you feel like it was about time?

The chugging guitar and raspy delivery give “Young Caesar 2000” a revenge song feel. Your first few listens you probably will grin and picture the boy king’s actions. We don’t get to see the actual deeds, but we can assume from history that either the king will succeed in silencing his doubters through violence or he will be usurped by them. Either way, especially with “Caesar” in the name, we know the stakes are high. We also can infer that neither side will win for long, since a society that found a way to crown a boy can find a way to explain a very short rule.

156. Pseudothyrum Song

Alex Russell Isopanisad Radio Hour , , , , , , ,

We only get one side of the story (and not the important side) in the troubling “Pseudothyrum Song.”

Track: “Pseudothyrum Song”
Album: Isopanisad Radio Hour (2000)

Pseudothyrum means “secret door” and is a word you will never hear in any other context for the rest of your life. John Darnielle opened with “Pseudothyrum Song” at a show in 1999. He walked on stage, introduced himself as Rumpelstiltskin, demanded the child that was promised to him, and said that he had no idea why this new song was called “Pseudothyrum Song.” After it ended, he explained that he was actually John, and hello, and then played other songs.

“Pseudothyrum Song” is one that you hope you’ll never identify with in your own life. One character tells another one that they need to get over some emotional baggage so they can move on in their relationship. They may be lovers or friends, but they keep running into problems because of this previous damage. “I think someone was mean to you, for a long, long time,” he says. It’s certainly “he” because this is one of the few songs where a narrator identifies their gender.

Maybe that’s a mistake and maybe it isn’t. John Darnielle says that he deliberately leaves gender ambiguous for his characters so that they can fit the mold you need. In this case, our narrator tells us “I am not that guy” as he describes the supposed aggressor in the other character’s past. We can infer much from this song and it’s up to you how you choose to take it. It’s uncomfortable no matter how you spin it. Sure, this is a different human being than the one that hurt the other character, but the more you listen to it the more you’ll sympathize with the other person.

155. Black Molly

Alex Russell Bitter Melon Farm , , , , , , ,

In the angry “Black Molly,” a narrator makes a dramatic statement about a former love.

Track: “Black Molly”
Album: Bitter Melon Farm (1999)

“Black Molly” was recorded live in Virginia, most likely in 1996. The liner notes on Bitter Melon Farm confirm it was at Tokyo Rose, which means it’s probably this show. Right after, John Darnielle played “Waving at You,” which he’s called one of the angriest Mountain Goats songs. Later in the night, he delivered a 1-2-3 of “Nine Black Poppies,” “Going to Georgia,” and “Raja Vocative.” He opened with “Alpha Omega” and closed with “Cubs in Five.”

There’s a lot that makes this show compelling. Every song he played came out on an official album, which is rarely true these days, but there’s also a through line to the set list. They’re all about pain in relationships. True, a significant chunk of the catalog is, but this show really stands out. Even the songs where he steps off the gas like “Minnesota” and “The Recognition Scene” have dark connections. It’s important to remember that most of the catalog isn’t autobiographical, but it’s clear that on this night in September of 1996, John Darnielle wanted to talk about how things can take a turn.

Every version of “Black Molly” is great, but the crowd here adds a sense that this is a shared experience. A black molly is either a vicious fighting fish or a slang term for speed, depending on usage. Either one works for the furious narrator in “Black Molly.” The character rends their garments and breaks their stuff when they realize someone is in town and coming to visit them. “You were dragging me down again,” they say, as they fire bullets into reminders of their former love like a ringing phone and photographs. This person is unhinged, to be sure, but they’re at home emotionally among the other narrators on that night in 1996.

154. Snakeheads

Alex Russell Palmcorder Yajna , , , , , ,

John Darnielle asks us to consider what we’d risk and what we’ll do no matter what in “Snakeheads.”

Track: “Snakeheads”
Album: Palmcorder Yajna (2003)

We Shall All Be Healed is anxious. It’s an album all about drug use and drug users, and it’s not pretty. John Darnielle spent time among the real versions of these characters and he’s not interested in romanticizing any of them. Some of them are colorful and almost funny, but you can’t walk away from the album with anything less than a deep fear and concern for this world.

We’re off the beaten path of addiction fear with “Snakeheads.” It’s one of the three songs on the Palmcorder Yajna single and it’s an odd duck in the catalog. It’s definitely still a Mountain Goats song, with named but unexplained characters and a destination but no way of knowing what that destination actually will mean. It’s just musically dissimilar to everything else. It shuffles around with a slow tempo and light percussion. It makes you feel the trudging pace of the characters as they head to unnamed islands through the northern part of the United States.

Snakeheads are smugglers who transport Chinese people wherever they want to go but cannot go legally. It’s a curious thing to talk about, since it seems to be something done willingly and for pay, but within a legal space where autonomy and results seem questionable. These characters are real Snakeheads, with cargo that’s hungry and stuck in the dark in Minnesota, but John Darnielle considers the addict’s life in comparison. They’re obviously different, but they’re all stuck outside the law and they are going to do what they’re going to do. A theme across We Shall All Be Healed is an unwillingness to change, consequences and reasoning be damned, and John Darnielle wants us to think about what we’d risk the back of that van for in our lives.

153. Keeping House

Alex Russell Get Lonely , , , , , ,

John Darnielle imagines a persistent memory that can’t be forgotten as a hungry ghost in “Keeping House.”

Track: “Keeping House”
Album: Get Lonely (2006)

Get Lonely is a breakup album to a lot of people, but it’s also an album about abstract loneliness. It’s both, fortunately, and either way it means that Get Lonely is difficult to approach.

Get Lonely has a tremendous amount of pain in it. If you ever get a chance to see John Darnielle sing “Wild Sage” at a live show where people will let the experience happen and no one is too drunk, you’ll see something you can’t see anywhere else. The rockers and the screamers are fun, to be sure, but “Wild Sage” will force you inward to places you may not want to go. Whether that’s attractive to you or not is debatable, but it’s certainly memorable.

Catharsis is really the point of the whole thing. You wallow around in songs like “Half Dead” and “In Corolla” and you come through the other side changed, hopefully for the better. It explains why “Keeping House” is a bonus track on the Japanese version and not an official song on Get Lonely. You need a slower tempo to wallow properly and compare to yourself, so the lively, bouncy “Keeping House” won’t fit.

It’s still thematically appropriate. Much like Get Lonely itself, “Keeping House” goes through the motions of trying to forget someone with no real intention of letting it happen. The character does all they can to stay busy and happy, but it isn’t enough. “So let all the lights blaze, keep your heart light // Play really loud music all hours of the night” reminds us of a time we tried to stave off a memory and failed. You should still try, but don’t be too upset when that someone pops up again in your head.