The meaning behind “The Autopsy Garland” is in the text, but the personal nature of it adds another layer.

Track: “The Autopsy Garland”
Album: All Eternals Deck (2011) and All Survivors Pack (2011)

You don’t need to dig to find this, so I’ll spot you the explanation of “The Autopsy Garland.” It’s about Judy Garland and how she “never had a chance” given the sort of people in her life. John Darnielle once called it “intensely personal” and said that the version of it you hear on the album was complex and irregular for their style and it did not lend itself to live performance. It has, very possibly, only been played live one time, six days ago as of this writing, in Kentucky.

The song itself is a purposefully grotesque look at the people who harmed Judy Garland, but I am especially interested in that one live performance. It was either not recorded or isn’t uploaded yet, but I rather like that. I am obviously an obsessive, which I don’t need to admit to here in the 400+ range of this series, but I still do like the unknowable. John Darnielle has said before that he likes that some things get destroyed and that you can’t ever collect everything. That, plus the fact that he once said he didn’t want to try to place this live, makes it special to know that it did happen, but you can’t hear it. Some people did, which is great, but that hidden element has a wonder to it. It’s even better that it was played first, a spot John Darnielle has said he sometimes reserves for songs the crowd won’t know. Five years ago I saw the band open with an Ani DiFranco cover that had what I imagine to be a similar effect. Some things may never happen again.