music

367. Blueberry Frost

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

“Blueberry Frost” is a short song with a simple chorus, but it really goes to a sincere place as a love song.

Track: “Blueberry Frost”
Album: Nothing for Juice (1996)

Just before playing “Blueberry Frost” in Chicago in 2006, John Darnielle said it “is a love song that I don’t think [we’ve] played together before.” He had played it solo, though fewer times than other similar songs. It’s just one of those straightforward-style love songs that can be extra beautiful on the right night where you can see yourself there, down by the water where so many Mountain Goats narrators find themselves. It’s 103 seconds long, over and done before you have a chance to think about anything more than that.

“Full moon // deep grass // cold water” is an odd chorus, even among other odd choruses at the time for the band. Contrasted with lines like “when I said your name out loud // something broke inside me,” it stands out even more. It really forces you to imagine this setting. I joked earlier about the ubiquity of water, and John Darnielle has made the same joke about his early songs, but here it occupies even more of the lyrics than usual. We aren’t just asked to picture it, we’re made to by the lack of other details. That phrasing really is the standout part, too, especially if you allow yourself to take it somewhat literally. Obviously the “broke inside me” isn’t right, but picture the mere act of saying a lover’s name out loud really knocking you emotionally down. It’s a level of seriousness and sincerity we don’t often allow ourselves outside of songs like these.

366. Heights

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

With sinister strumming and some choice words, we get a dark vibe in “Heights.”

Track: “Heights”
Album: Nothing for Juice (1996)

If you want to hear “Heights” live, you have a single option of hearing it at this show in 2015. At another show they opened with it, but I can’t find a recording of that one. John Darnielle has said he likes to open sets with a song the audience might not know, and this definitely fits the bill. At that live show you can hear John Darnielle say he’s picking up a sheet with the lyrics on it. He says something close to “ah, right, seashells.” When you write this many songs and title them things that may or may not be in the songs themselves, sometimes you need to remember if this is the one about seashells.

“Heights” sounds like it could be a potential love song, maybe, but the delivery is so sinister. That doesn’t invalidate the “love song” descriptor, not for a Mountain Goats song, but this one is especially dark. John Darnielle almost snarls the “you were giving the game away” line one character says to the other. It always feels a little like you’re intruding on characters in songs like this, but here you feel like you really ought to be going.

Nothing for Juice ends with one of my favorite Mountain Goats songs, “Going to Scotland.” That’s another song that could be a love song but has some other things going on. You could say this about so many songs, but I like to imagine these are the same people, just a lot younger. A lot can change over time.

365. The Bad Doctor

Alex Russell Bitter Melon Farm, Songs for Petronius , , , , , , , ,

“The Bad Doctor” is not about that doctor, but it’s about a doctor, and it’ll force you to sit up and take notice.

Track: “The Bad Doctor”
Album: Songs for Petronius (1992) and Bitter Melon Farm (1999)

If you played “The Bad Doctor” for ten random people you would probably have ten confused people, but if you insisted they listen to it a few times and explain what they thought it was about, they would probably say “Jack Kevorkian.” When you say a phrase like “death-dealing physician” you run into a kind of “facial tissues” vs. “Kleenex” problem. There is only one of this thing, so people call it that thing.

John Darnielle has said a few times that it’s not about that, but it reminds me of the discussion about “Down to the Ark” which talks about political posters that are Obama’s colors during the Obama years but is not about Obama. If John Darnielle says you’re wrong you are wrong, but it’s really easy to see how people came to the conclusion they did. He specifically said “The Bad Doctor” is “about a malevolent force that runs around dispensing death in the guise of medicine — actual widespread death, not the merciful death of Jack Kevorkian.” That’s more than you’ll usually get, which he seems to have only said because he had to be insistent that it is not about what you think.

It’s a very long song, for the time, and it’s a pretty vivid story. The chorus of increasingly insistent “oh yeah” repetition further makes this a strange one, though I always remember how an old friend of mine really, really loved this one. It’s these kinds of songs that worm into your brain and why older Mountain Goats songs are so special. It’s about a magic doctor that murders people, but if that’s not enough, it’s catchy, too.

364. Alpha Double Negative: Going to Catalina

Alex Russell Bitter Melon Farm, Nothing for Juice, Songs for Petronius , , , , , , , , , , ,

From the perspective of the woman in the Alpha Couple, we see someone shut down in “Alpha Double Negative: Going to Catalina.”

Track: “Alpha Double Negative: Going to Catalina”
Album: Songs for Petronius (1992) and Nothing for Juice (1996) and Bitter Melon Farm (1999)

“No, I Can’t” is on three albums. Since it’s on one album with an alternate version as well as the original, it is, I believe, the “most” released Mountain Goats song. Second place goes to one of two songs that are going “Going to” somewhere and in the Alpha series, “Alpha Double Negative: Going to Catalina.” I’m sure all of that math is wrong, but what fun, huh?

There are two standard versions. The original is on Songs for Petronius and the re-release with Bitter Melon Farm seven years later. It’s a little slower and much more deliberate than the version on Nothing for Juice, and I think it’s not quite as good. The Nothing for Juice version has backing vocals and the character sounds less unsure. By the rising “and I see a stranger in your eyes” there’s a mix of fear and fury that really sets this version apart. The guitar, and, obviously, bass, are more in the style of the time, but I think even without those differences it’s just the better take.

In 1998, John Darnielle told a crowd in Tallahassee, years before the album named for the city, that it is unique because it is from the position of the woman in the Alpha Couple. Most of the time we don’t know, and you are reminded as always to not take one comment at one concert as gospel, even coming from John Darnielle himself. I’m most interested in the way he chose to say it, asking the crowd if they spotted it during the performance. I like imagining this as a mystery that he hoped you were able to solve.

363. Song for John Davis

Alex Russell Ghana, Songs About Fire , , , , , , , ,

“Song for John Davis” is a quick story but it will leave you wondering what these people are leaving or headed towards.

Track: “Song for John Davis”
Album: Songs About Fire (1995) and Ghana (1999)

There are a lot of things to love about “Song for John Davis.” I love the vocal delivery of “England” and “when we landed” and the final lines with the absurd stretches. I love the unexplained, unexpected quotation of 1 Corinthians 13:11. I love the title which is both very clear but also doesn’t really tell you anything. This is a song for John Davis, you see, but how, and who is that?

John Davis is a musician and an activist who was part of the Shrimper scene when John Darnielle was there. He reviewed Transcendental Youth on his website with an insightful review that talks about what Jon Wurster brings to the Mountain Goats. Why is this short song about leaving a snowy New Hampshire to head to England by boat dedicated to him? That I don’t think anyone can say.

As far as I can tell, John Darnielle hasn’t ever played “Song for John Davis” live and there really isn’t anything that’s been said about it. It exists just as this two-minute story with a repeated line for a chorus. It’s always been a little difficult to unpack for me, but it’s for John Davis, so maybe that’s why. I do love the tone, with a longing and a sadness that you can’t quite explain but can definitely hear.

362. Papagallo

Alex Russell Ghana, Songs About Fire , , , , , , , ,

“Papagallo” showcases some specifics from John Darnielle’s writing style and ultimately drills in on a beautiful moment.

Track: “Papagallo”
Album: Songs About Fire (1995) and Ghana (1999)

I have grown fascinated over the course of this project by the songs that no one ever mentions. “Papagallo” has never been played live, as far as I can tell, though it’s pretty difficult to prove a negative. It’s not available anywhere, at least, and even the seven-inch it was originally released on, Songs About Fire, may run you close to a hundred dollars if you want to buy your own. The entire single is a little longer than eight minutes long even with four songs on it. It’s just a really small thing and all four songs on it are small parts. The one that sticks with you is “Pure Gold,” for the fun sing-along phrases about a door burning.

You can miss “Papagallo” in that way, but you shouldn’t. In this era John Darnielle was amazingly productive, so it doesn’t mean anything that a song just got released and not revisited. This is still a time where John Darnielle thought he might hang it up eventually. There’s a confidence to this one, though. “It’s hard to grab ahold of some things sometimes // like you need me to remind you” is excellent phrasing, especially with the delivery on the second line to sell it as a joke or a weary reminder of a million shared experiences. One can even forgive the second verse’s triple rhyme of “water,” extreme even for John Darnielle, as that’s clearly a similar joke. The repetition also really sells the image. These are just two people in a singular moment, but if you listen to this one a few times, you can see it, can’t you?

361. Raja Vocative

Alex Russell Ghana, Orange Raja, Blood Royal , , , , , , , ,

The true meaning of “Raja Vocative” is available for an audience of one, but the feeling is for everyone.

Track: “Raja Vocative”
Album: Orange Raja, Blood Royal (1995) and Ghana (1999)

John Darnielle said of “Raja Vocative” that it is “a heavily-coded response to some personal pain” and that “there is maybe one person alive who would be able to do the decoding necessary to get at the truth of the matter, and she isn’t talking.” It’s possible that you could figure this out further, but why would you want to?

Part of the exercise of looking at every single Mountain Goats song is answering questions and finding answers. There are mysterious songs I’ve always wondered about, but also pretty clear songs that I’ve always wanted to put some more thought into. There is something to consider for all of them, even the ones that are seemingly cut and dried. However, even within that exercise some mystery is important. John Darnielle wants you to get close enough to “Raja Vocative” to know there is an answer, but not one he wants you to access. We must respect this.

That said, the violin is beautiful and there’s a reason this one persists in live shows. The studio version adds the violin, but the live versions add through subtraction. This is one you might hear during the solo John Darnielle part of a show now, which lets him really hammer home the delivery. We must also spend a moment on one of the truly great turns of phrase in the catalog: “in the unstoppable camera of my mind’s eye.”

360. Going to Georgia

Alex Russell Zopilote Machine , , , , , , ,

One of the most requested songs but also a song with some baggage, “Going to Georgia” asks you to really think about the narrator’s bias.

Track: “Going to Georgia”
Album: Zopilote Machine (1994)

There is no denying “Going to Georgia.” It’s the first song from the “old days” that clicks with a lot of people and it really carries the emotion of what those days were like. You have songs like “Family Happiness” and “Baboon” that show people in difficult situations with fury behind their eyes, but it is never as clear and never as direct as the sad narrator of “Going to Georgia.” The thing is, it requires you to not really be paying that much attention to love it that way. I heard it hundreds, maybe thousands, of times before John Darnielle started talking about how he was phasing it out.

The delivery is exceptional and the “most remarkable thing about you standing in the doorway is that it’s you // and that you’re standing in the doorway” lines are perfect for the moment, but the moment is a cruel one. When you’re young, it’s easy to romanticize big gestures. I’m a huge fan of “Korean Bird Paintings” because it’s always seemed to have the same idea but with less violence. Both songs are about a lover making a big show of what they think is love but really is a misguided idea. In “Korean Bird Paintings” they just waste their money on worthless things, but here they show up with a gun. It’s a huge moment, sure, and John Darnielle sells it and that’s why you love it, but it’s not a character to praise. John Darnielle is right, of course, and it’s worth reckoning with why you like this song. If you still listen to it, which I think you can, you just need to be sure you’re processing it correctly.

359. Song for Tura Satana

Alex Russell Zopilote Machine , , , , , , ,

“Song for Tura Satana” introduces us to the kind of life Tura Satana led and what happened when you crossed her.

Track: “Song for Tura Satana”
Album: Zopilote Machine (1994)

John Darnielle says “Song for Tura Satana” is a true story. He also says not to look too closely into that or to share that too widely, but I have to mention that part because we have to talk about it. Tura Satana was an actress and a dancer and about a million other things. She had a really crazy life and a knack for great storytelling. I’ll call specific attention to this retrospective which attempts to fact check a story about her relationship with Elvis. The magazine says that her story can’t be 100% true because Elvis wasn’t where she says he was, but this kinda misses the point of Tura Satana.

She is most remembered for cult action films, including one that John Waters said was the best movie of all time and would be the best movie to ever be made. She taught herself martial arts and did her own stunts. We don’t have nearly enough space to cover it all, but she was shot later in life by an ex-lover. I can’t find any mention of the story in this second verse, where Satana shoots someone for sleeping with her own lover. But just like it doesn’t matter if Elvis was really there that night or if you can just believe he could have been, it doesn’t matter who had the gun or why. “Coming home early // is always a mistake” is ominous even for John Darnielle and even for 1994 for the Mountain Goats, so true story or just slightly true, we’re in dark waters and we know what’s coming.

358. Going to Bristol

Alex Russell Zopilote Machine , , , , , , ,

Sweet language can only distract from the darkness underneath for so long in “Going to Bristol.”

Track: “Going to Bristol”
Album: Zopilote Machine (1994)

Owen Pallett, also often known as Final Fantasy, played violin on a live tour with the Mountain Goats in 2009. For whatever reason, even for shows where no one uploaded a live recording, someone nearly always took video of his performance with John Darnielle for duo performances of “Going to Bristol.” Video isn’t the most uncommon thing for a live show, but I really do have to call out how consistently this is available. You can watch a half dozen of them on the wiki. But of all those shows, I call attention to the solo set in 2018 in Toronto. John Darnielle says the three solo songs of the night have a theme. The theme turns out to be that Owen Pallett has covered all of them in the past, but it could just as easily be that “Pure Heat,” “Going to Bristol,” and “Alpha Omega” all allude to or include people leaving. That show is also where John Darnielle confirms that the first song he ever played live at the first Mountain Goats show was “Alpha Omega,” which must have been quite a sight.

“Going to Bristol” can be read a few ways, but one character definitely smashes a coffee cup and breaks a key in a lock during a tense exit. The narrator’s “I liked everything I saw” and the guitar suggest a love song, but it’s anything but by the end. “Why don’t you just sit still // it’s gonna be okay” is not something you say in a relationship where everyone is getting their needs met. The delivery is beautiful, but the narrator is not to be trusted.