music

170. Genesis 3:23

Alex Russell The Life of the World to Come , , , , , , , , ,

John Darnielle considers his old homes and what going back to Eden feels like in “Genesis 3:23.”

Track: “Genesis 3:23”
Album: The Life of the World to Come (2009)

Genesis 3:23, in the Bible, is about being cast out of Eden. Adam is banished and the Lord tells him to “cultivate the ground from which he was taken.” It’s short, but there’s a lot going on in that idea. Adam isn’t just forced to leave Eden, he’s given specific instructions about what to do elsewhere. The point is not purely punishment, it’s about gaining purpose from an unfamiliar set of tasks.

“Genesis 3:23,” the Mountain Goats song, is about John Darnielle returning to places in Oregon and California that brought him pain at the time. The character breaks into their old home to see how the current residents live. “Hope that they’re better at it than I was,” they say, in one of the best lines of the last few years of the Goats catalog.

Adam’s removal from Eden is fairly straightforward. In the Bible, it represents the fall of man from grace and the start of mankind’s time as simpler, less holy creatures. Genesis 3:23 specifically suggests something somewhat less total of a destruction by laying out a plan, but it’s still the loss of Eden. John Darnielle frames his own escapes from much worse places around this because there is complexity even in something you hated at the time.

Some people can leave their past entirely behind them and some people can’t. It’s not a secret which kind John Darnielle is, but the perspective he offers sets “Genesis 3:23” apart from nostalgia. It’s not purely bad (even when it was) and it’s not purely good (even when you want it to feel that way in your memory). For your Eden or your North Broadway apartment, John Darnielle offers you the chance to go home again and see how it makes you feel now.

169. Short Song for Justin Bieber and His Paparazzi

Alex Russell Unreleased , , , , , , ,

John Darnielle conveys a powerful message in what initially seems like a joke.

Track: “Short Song for Justin Bieber and His Paparazzi”
Album: Unreleased (Uploaded online by John Darnielle in 2013)

If you’re going to consider every song from the band that wrote “Dance Music,” “This Year,” and “No Children” then you have a lot of work to do. As you go, you may wonder if a short song released potentially as a joke should be on a list of “official songs.” I draw the distinction at anything John Darnielle has released or considers a release, which can be murky and if you disagree then I totally get it.

“Short Song for Justin Bieber and His Paparazzi” is a response to an incident where Justin Bieber got in a fight with some people who were following him around for a story. John Darnielle isn’t Justin Bieber, but you can imagine him seeing both sides and wanting to briefly explore the perspective of being dogged by people who want nothing more than a disaster.

“It’s hard to feel sorry for the very rich,” John Darnielle says, “but even a rich guy needs some space.” The song quickly gets to the point as he says “don’t be an asshole” and ultimately concludes with “try not to be an asshole.”

It’s just a silly song, or would be without the final message. “Are there bigger problems in the world, yes // abortion’s legal, but not everybody has access” is a powerful set of lines. John Darnielle’s public political views focus on equal rights, reproductive rights, and animal rights passionately, and it’s interesting that he’d use a joke song to remind us to think about what actually matters. But then, at the end, he ties it all back to the thesis: be it Bieber or something more important, just don’t be an asshole.

168. The Big Unit

Alex Russell Unreleased , , , , , , , ,

The unreleased “The Big Unit” reinforces the idea of looking on the bright side, even when it’s someone else’s.

Track: “The Big Unit”
Album: Unreleased (Uploaded to the forums by John Darnielle in 2009)

Randy Johnson was one of the greatest pitchers in baseball. He was huge at 6’10” and when he ran into a teammate by accident the teammate called him a “big unit.” That’s not really how people talk, but you can see how it would stick. There are worse nicknames.

In 2009, John Darnielle uploaded “The Big Unit” to the Mountain Goats forums and asked people who listened to it to donate to p:ear, an organization in Portland that supports homeless youth. We Shall All Be Healed gives you all the context you need about why John Darnielle feels passionately about an organization like that, so after they reached out to him it’s easy to see why he wanted to offer up an old cassette outtake to spur his fans to donate.

The song doesn’t need to tie directly back to homeless youths, but it’s easy to see some connection. Our narrator expresses financial woes in grand terms like the bond market and Swiss gold, but these are likely stand-ins for other risks. As the character reflects on watching the “hypodermic needles come in with the tide” we get another glimpse into their Portland (or California, but let’s say Portland). They’re worried about loan sharks from Chicago, too, and you tend to wonder if they’ve made smaller, more short-term purchases than Swiss gold.

Either way, there’s a charming neutrality to “but Randy Johnson throws a baseball 97 miles an hour // and I’m gonna be all right.” These thoughts are disconnected, which makes the word choice of “and” rather than “so” deliberate. Randy Johnson’s baseball acumen isn’t going to save this person, but you cling to anyone’s success and hope it inspires your own when you’re down and out.

167. Alibi

Alex Russell Babylon Springs EP , , , , , , ,

John Darnielle presents a simple case of infidelity as a love song in “Alibi.”

Track: “Alibi”
Album: Babylon Springs EP (2006)

There are so many songs about cheating in the Mountain Goats catalog. I haven’t done the math, but it seems like they even out when you consider the different perspectives. Most songs about infidelity are songs of pain from the perspective of the wronged, but John Darnielle is equally interested in the cheated-on and the cheaters.

“Alibi” focuses on the fun part. One character leaves work late and drives to someone’s house to sleep with them. This is identifiable behavior, and the repetition of “I had been waiting all day” feels earnest. You might even recall a time you did something similar and smile at the memory.

You might feel differently about “and I was like a patient on a table // headed for the light.” The mood here is all explosive joy and anticipation, but there’s also some fear that the narrator won’t face. The chorus reveals that they have “an almost airtight alibi” which is also the first suggestion that this isn’t something purely wonderful. It’s a love song, but this character also relates their behavior to giving in to the power of death, so it’s not all sunshine for these folks.

After the first chorus, our character hides their car, creeps around, and likens themselves to “a men prepared to jump beneath a train.” These are less relatable emotions. The couple talks about shutting the window in favor of a fan and it’s clear that they accept how secretive and wrong this is.

“Your boyfriend’s out of town until Tuesday,” the narrator says, and excitedly repeats “and nobody saw me come in” twice. Wrong as it may be, it carries the feeling of a pure love song until you remember the absent third character.

166. Sun Song

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

A frustrated narrator speaks about their relationship in gardening terms in “Sun Song.”

Track: “Sun Song”
Album: Hot Garden Stomp (1993)

The early recordings can be tough on the ears. The production on Hot Garden Stomp is poor, no doubt, but it’s still the same John Darnielle. He once went through every song on the album and described the likelihood of him playing any of them ever again at a live show, and while you aren’t going to hear “Sun Song” on the summer tour this year, you can hear the seeds of every song that followed it.

The narrator yells at a partner about their shortcomings through an extended gardening metaphor. It starts easy, but as John Darnielle tortures the metaphor we begin to feel the pain of the speaker. “There are certain gardening skills that you don’t have yet,” they bark, and we know this is about something very important to them. “There are certain gardening secrets you don’t know,” they conclude, with a finality that no one else could deliver.

I’d understand any fan that had difficulty getting into the early stuff, but “Sun Song” features a set of lines that explains John Darnielle’s humor and writing technique better than most:

“You said the soil looked nitrogen poor
Well, don’t you worry about the soil looking nitrogen poor
I think that’s my problem if the soil is nitrogen poor
But for myself it looks kind of nitrogen rich”

The extended use of “poor” drills the point home. It’s repetitive to the point of being almost silly, but that reinforces how insistent this narrator is about what they feel. They will not be swayed and, in fact, are entrenched in an opposite position. They’re talking about something bigger than mulch and plants, but we’ve all had this argument. It looks funny when you’re outside looking in, but if you’re the one defending the plants, then dammit, they’re fine.

165. Used to Haunt

Alex Russell All Eternals Deck , , , , , , , ,

The sorrowful “Used to Haunt” reflects on someone long gone and how we remember each other.

Track: “Used to Haunt”
Album: All Eternals Deck (2011)

“…People who get what we do feel passionately about it and want others to hear what they hear, but people who don’t groove to it really don’t dig it.” – John Darnielle

“Used to Haunt” plays over the credits of the movie Paper Towns, adapted from the John Green novel of the same name. John Green’s Twitter icon features him wearing the “I only listen to the Mountain Goats” shirt. He has 5.31 million followers and Paper Towns made 85 million dollars. On the day of this writing, Lin-Manuel Miranda posted a playlist on his Twitter called “Stay Alive” that ends with the Mountain Goats’ “Spent Gladiator 2.”

These two guys are two of the biggest people in American culture today, especially to younger people. In both cases, there’s a very good chance their audience hasn’t heard of the Mountain Goats. That’s why John Darnielle’s quote about “Used to Haunt” being the credits song for a major movie is so interesting. He then elaborates about the risks of using a band not everyone will connect with and how that can be alienating. It may not be strictly true that no one just “likes” the Mountain Goats, but it can definitely feel that way.

“Used to Haunt” is about memory. John Darnielle says it’s about “the sweet and the sad parts together.” You can feel the absence as the narrator says “long while since I felt this way // stand by the window, wait for day.” It reminds me of the (much) earlier “Cao Dai Blowout” as a narrator frets over the memory of their father. In “Used to Haunt” the narrator seems more welcoming of the memory, but in both cases it’s surprising and consuming.

164. The Only Thing I Know

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

Amid strumming and breezy harmonica, “The Only Thing I Know” confronts the totality of the end.

Track: “The Only Thing I Know”
Album: Orange Raja, Blood Royal (1995) and Ghana (1999)

The Orange Raja, Blood Royal songs are unique because of the accompaniment. Alastair Galbraith heard John Darnielle play live and thought he was so honest and inspiring that he wanted to work with him. It turned into four songs and a friendship. He shows up on other Mountain Goats songs, but he’s most recognizable here.

In an interview about the collaboration, John Darnielle says that these four songs were written in “a very particular time he knew lots of details about.” One of the beautiful things about John Darnielle is that a statement like that is extremely specific in origin, but extremely malleable to your own purposes. He means it one way, for sure, but it’s vague enough that these four songs can be confirmed to, yes, for sure, be about what you need them to be about.

The harmonica on “The Only Thing I Know” gives the feeling of a breeze. It weaves in and out and creates an almost lazy vibe through this very serious conversation. One character tells another that they know they’re leaving and that’s just reality. “That is just about the only thing I know about you,” they say, which is the kind of heartbreaking thought we use to wound others. You can imagine the pain in both directions as a lover admits that not only the closeness required for love is gone, but so is the familiarity required for even friendship.

John Darnielle’s delivery across Orange Raja, Blood Royal is almost haunting. He gives these narrators such a miserable view of their situations and he wants it to be inescapable. “How much do I love you,” he asks in “The Only Thing I Know,” but it feels more like a useless plea to get someone to stay than an actual admission of love.

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.