submissions
| The Mountain Goats – Commandante Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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Brenden Behan was a drunk playwright, for starters. I think what the song means is sometimes you have to fight for love to work - like a dictator or freedom fighter. It may result in propelled satisfaction, even were the bottle rockets you've become to be explosive. |
submissions
| The Mountain Goats – Going to Marrakesh Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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Every Mountain Goats' song is about dying love. Every single one. I'd like to think these are all different women and not the same abusive relationship, a la the Alpha couple. |
submissions
| The Mountain Goats – Alpha Omega Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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I can only assume the series ends in Tallahassee, where it's migrated, from the location of the peanuts. Unless the Alpha Male brought some cases with him. Not unlikely. They sound pretty foul. |
submissions
| The Mountain Goats – Family Happiness Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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This song is typical Mountain Goats "Loved turned cold turned violent" fare, but somehow more refined and beautiful and soft, despite the audio quality being lo-fi and unrefined and harsh. |
submissions
| The Mountain Goats – No Children Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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The Mountain Goats' greatest commonality is dying love either rekindled or turned into hatred. Family Happiness, Baboon, Nine Black Poppies, these are all great examples. No Children is likely the best. |
submissions
| The Mountain Goats – Baboon Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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This is very Mountain Goats, if by definition that means "a song of dying love." Also my favorite MG song for some time, prob'ly 'til Tallahassee's release. |
submissions
| The Mountain Goats – Soft Targets Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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The song title is the US military's classification of "soft targets." Hard targets being military installations, streets, buildings. Soft targets being people. |
submissions
| The Mountain Goats – You're in Maya Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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This song was one of Darnielle's first autobiographical songs. I suspect if not the whole inspiration for Sunset Tree, it was in heavy candidacy to appear on the record. |
submissions
| The Mountain Goats – The Day the Aliens Came (Hawaiian Feeling) Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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I wasn't specific on which couplet, the lyric he repeats is "in it / minute." In Yajna, "If anybody comes to see me / Tell 'em they just missed me by a minute / If anybody comes into our room while we're asleep / I hope they incinerate everybody in it." Here its usage is cheaper, not as integral to any intensity. |
submissions
| The Mountain Goats – Dinu Lipatti's Bones Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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Dinu Lipatti was a pianist, yes. But she also died of leukemia at the age of 33. Where does leukemia reside? Bone marrow. Hence, this song may be about one's Kryptonite. Or perhaps the uselessness of an object. Or perhaps it's just a dark reference for "dark dreams." Or, likelier still, Darnielle owns Dinu Lipatti's bones and intends to build a broadcasting tower. Literally. |
submissions
| The Mountain Goats – Scavenger Babies Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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One thing I really enjoy about this song is how nebulous the City of Norwalk reference is. There is a Norwalk, Ohio, Norwalk, CT, and Norwalk, CA. Taken logically, Darnielle's Norwalk is likely his native California. However I'd like to think that the Atlantian reference is more tailor-fit for the entire US to appreciate. Each Norwalk is close to its nearest body of water, accounting for its rising therefrom, be it the Atlantic (CT), Pacific (CA), or Lake Eerie (OH). This can be appreciated by east coasters, west coasters, and central-dwellers of the US. |
submissions
| The Mountain Goats – Tollund Man Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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This song is about an article Darnielle read about scientists having found a 4,000 year old corpse and piecing togethers its final meal. Apparently the corpse was a candidate for sacrifice, chosen randomly. Prior to that, a healthy male. He empathizes with the selected and sings of what he must have gone through before submitting to fate. |
submissions
| The Mountain Goats – Have to Explode Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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This song is exactly the liner notes' story.
"We drank store-brand gin with fresh lime juice out of plastic cups or straight from the bottle and we spread ourselves out face-up on the wooden floors. An aerial view of us might have suggested that we'd been knocked out, but what we were doing was staking our claim. Establishing our territories. Making good. Not on the vows we'd made but on the ones we'd really meant." |
submissions
| The Mountain Goats – Your Belgian Things Lyrics
| 18 years ago
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I definitely agree that this song seems to be about loss, though I'm not sure the loss of a life. The album was written about Darnielle & Co. using drugs in Belgium, but everything's gotta come to an end. I'd like to think this song is quite simply the removal of their possessions and transport into an airplane hangar - where they would be shipped elsewhere. The mess left up in the east bedroom may be the continuation of bad behaviors, instead of packing someone was strung out. Live, however, this song's culimating lines state "Tracy I can see you in my sleep," and that makes the death angle more probable. Especially given Darnielle's (?) camera "groaning beneath the weight it bears." This is conjecture. The song is still tear-elicitingly beautiful. |
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