John Darnielle mentions actual mountain goats for the first and last time in “Solomon Revisited.”

Track: “Solomon Revisited”
Album: Taboo VI: The Homecoming (1992)

John Darnielle has been consistent when he’s talked about his first album. He knows that people are fascinated by what they can’t find and the origin point of their favorite artists, but he still hopes you won’t look too hard for Taboo VI: The Homecoming.

Many of the early Mountain Goats albums are grating, but mostly in a way that serves their harsh content. The lo-fi recording reads as on purpose in a DIY sense and it gives the music a certain sound. The first album is too much in a lot of places, but Darnielle would tell you that he warned you. He’s said that he does stand by a few songs (“Going to Alaska” is the standout and he typically says so) and it’s still worth examining the album as a piece of Goats history.

The title of “Solomon Revisited” is a curious biblical reference, but the content is much more interesting. Darnielle’s narrator insists “I’ve got a radio” over and over to the point that Darnielle has said that what the song “lacks in subtlety it makes up for in radio.” This narrator introduces the listener to a type of speaker that shows up over and over again: an insistent person who doesn’t want help from outside sources. What they’re furious about is left up to debate, but they’re really set in their ways.

Nearly 30 years later, “Solomon Revisited” is not strictly required listening. It does serve as a bit of trivia as the only song in the catalog to mention actual mountain goats. The narrator says in response to a discussion of dangerous rocks “how long has it been since you’ve seen my feet?” because mountain goat feet are designed specifically for steep rocks. Educational!