“Tampa” didn’t make the album it was written for, but the mood it conveys is worth seeking out.

Track: “Tampa”
Album: Unreleased

“Tampa” didn’t make the cut for The Coroner’s Gambit, but it’s obviously part of those sessions given the topic. It’s an intense confrontation even among a series of similarly intense confrontations. Someone recorded a version of it at this show in Indiana in 1999. Immediately after playing it, John Darnielle asks for water. Immediately after that, someone requests “Grendel’s Mother” and we’re onto the next one.

It is a phenomenon to have this much “unreleased” material. When I started this project I assumed I’d never even talk about songs like these because there are just so many of them. “Tampa” demands it, though, as it’s one of those where you have enough details to know what the mood is but not enough to know what happened. These are among my favorites, because if I even say what I think happened people will insist I’m misreading it, and I genuinely love that. “Tampa” is a tip-of-the-iceberg song from an era where so many are like that, but it’ll stick with you for the way that last verse comes to a screaming, terrifying end.