orange ball

257. Orange Ball of Hate

Alex Russell Zopilote Machine , , , , , , , ,

We only get one side of the story in “Orange Ball of Hate,” but what we do see tells us enough.

Track: “Orange Ball of Hate”
Album: Zopilote Machine (1994)

There are four “Orange Ball” songs that aren’t connected beyond the title format. All four “fit” within the catalog, but “Orange Ball of Hate” is the closest one to other Mountain Goats songs from the early 90s. Our narrator is in love, in their way, but is also furious with their partner. “I sure do love you” has never felt so sarcastic.

It’s not the most interesting detail in the song, but “Orange Ball of Hate” is one of few Mountain Goats songs to gender either character explicitly. John Darnielle has said that people assume his narrators are male because he is male, but even aside from that detail, most songs don’t list enough detail within the text to assume gender of speaker or audience. Here the narrator reveals their audience through a joke, as they say “one of us, I’m not saying who, has got rocks in her head.” I mention it only because it happens so rarely, I don’t think there’s anything to it other than needing a gender for the joke to work.

The feeling here is less rare. So many narrators occupy this space of a mix of positive and negative feelings towards a partner. John Darnielle has said it’s about the moment that “you know it’s not going to get any better” and most discussions of the song mirror that sentiment. “I sure do love you,” the narrator snarls, again and again, and it cuts worse than being directly hateful. By the end of the third verse, our narrator feels the need to defiantly say that they do know the children’s song the other character is singing, they “just don’t feel like singing it.” This kind of sullen pettiness signals nothing good.

193. Orange Ball of Peace

Alex Russell Ghana, Taking the Dative , , , , , , , , ,

“Orange Ball of Peace” lets us inside the mind of someone we wouldn’t normally want to visit.

Track: “Orange Ball of Peace”
Album: Taking the Dative (1994), Ghana (1999)

In June of 2014, John Darnielle played the entirety of Taking the Dative at a show in San Francisco. If you listen to it, you’ll hear the glee in people’s voices as they realize that he’s just playing it all the way through. Every now and again (and mostly in California), the band revisits a very old album and surprises a crowd. Some bands do this with “classic” albums where the audience knows every song, but John Darnielle likely has other motivations. At the 20-year anniversary of Taking the Dative, it’s as likely as anything else that he just wanted to see if he could still play all six songs.

This is the only chance to hear certain songs. Songs like “Wrong!” aren’t live show staples. The same is true for “Orange Ball of Peace,” though it is more recognizable overall as one of the four “Orange Ball” songs. It’s the standout of those, too, if for no other reason than the chorus: “I’m a fireman // I’m a fireman.”

Our narrator had expectations placed upon them as a young person. “They wanted me to be a lawyer,” they tell us, but no dice. They throw off all expectations and become a “fireman.” The second verse clears up that they mean they’re setting fires as they “watch the flames climb higher” and feel smoke get in their eyes.

“Orange Ball of Peace” may just be a short song about an arsonist, but it’s an interesting demonstration of economy of language. We don’t know why this person does what they do, but the first verse makes us sympathetic. That reversal of first to second verse allows us to find a dark situation fun, which you can hear over the crowd as they scream “I’m a fireman // I’m a fireman!”

179. Orange Ball of Pain

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

 

Two characters consider a delicious treat and ignore the encroaching world in “Orange Ball of Pain.”

Track: “Orange Ball of Pain”
Album: Nothing for Juice (1996)

The four “Orange Ball” songs may not be connected by anything more than their names, but it’s hard not to think about them together. They cover the emotions of the early Mountain Goats well, with two “lighter” songs, one “angry” one, and the predictably sad “Orange Ball of Pain.”

John Darnielle almost whispers the song, similar to his delivery on other Nothing for Juice tracks “Waving at You” and “It Froze Me.” Thematically, they’re not connected (the former is about divorce and the latter is a love song, so, not too connected) but the style is unmistakable. Nothing for Juice rises and falls repeatedly, with explosions like “Full Flower” and “Going to Kansas” interrupting quiet ruminations on when it all went wrong and the times it didn’t, before those other times.

In contrast with the whisper and quiet guitar, “Orange Ball of Pain” opens with some hope. The narrator brings home an unspecified baked good and offers some to another character. “And then the cold sorrow gripped me by the throat” breaks the mood, before some closing lines about the unrelenting nature of snow in the characters’ lives.

John Darnielle specifically mentions sorrow and sadness and the song is called “Orange Ball of Pain.” It’s somber, but it’s largely about eating a delicious dessert. So many Mountain Goats songs stop and relish a delicious fruit or a pleasant burst of natural beauty amid other disaster, but few spend this much time there. Given the other material on Nothing for Juice, it seems likely that even though the diversion is lengthy it may not be enough to carry them through. You should still eat the cake, even if it won’t save you.

062. Orange Ball of Love

Alex Russell Zopilote Machine , , , , , , , ,

In “Orange Ball of Love” one lover finally gives up and gets serious about the confrontation he’s been avoiding.

Track: “Orange Ball of Love”
Album: Zopilote Machine (1994)

There are four “Orange Ball” songs: Love, Hate, Peace, and Pain. “Peace” and “Hate” both have really solid jokes in them and they’re funny songs. “Pain” is, predictably, very sad. “Orange Ball of Love” is more difficult to diagnose. The four songs are tied together only by naming convention, and John Darnielle has said that they aren’t meant to be connected any other way. Rather than comparing it with the other three, it’s better to look at “Orange Ball of Love” as a part of the album Zopilote Machine. It’s a really angry album, which isn’t surprising given songs titles like “Standard Bitter Love Song #7” and “We Have Seen the Enemy,” but “Orange Ball of Love” is interesting beyond the anger.

It opens with some twangy guitar and John’s familiar snarl in the line “when I catch sight of your face.” By the end of the stanza the narrator is trying to find “a good place to hide.” He accuses his target of “wearing a wire.” It goes beyond figurative language to the point where you have to consider that this may be a person confronting an actual enemy. Lots of Goats songs are about lovers in their darkest moments, but the confrontation is rarely this dramatic.

Whether you think it’s figurative or not isn’t really important. The language is severe enough that either works. When the sun sets it sets into a “burial ground.” When it rises it “rears up” and “swallows” the couple. These are people in a standoff and the narrator has decided he’s going to come clean about how he feels about all this. You feel the corner he’s in, even if you’ve never had to accuse someone of giving you a fake name like this guy does.