The Mountain Goats – Dance Music

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  General Comment:"Okay so i'm seventeen years old
  you're the last best thing i got going
  but then the special secret sickness
  starts to eat through you
  what am i supposed to do?
  no way of knowing
  so i follow you down your twisting alleyways
  find a few cul-de-sacs of my own
  there's only one place this road ever ends up
  and i don't wanna die alone
  let me down, let me down, let me down gently" Reminds me a lot of "Paper Towns" by John Music

  Flag Gorillaz98on February 02, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:I think the interpretations coming with this are a bit more complicated than they need to be. But maybe since I am from an abusive home, that might make the song a lot simpler for myself.
  
  The last bit of the song was, to me, about a girl he found that he really connected with. I always assumed this was Cathy, since he references her in the same album during This Year. I took the "special secret sickness" as her knowing about his fathers abusive behavior due to alcoholism, mainly because I told a boyfriend of mine about my own step-dads abuse when I was younger, and the urge to act and tell someone can be strong for those who have not been raised that way vs. us, who don't quite grasp that it is wrong/ that it can be different.
  
  It could mirror maybe her own hankering for alcohol, I hadn't thought of that until reading these comments. But I thought that he regretted letting his secret out, she might tell, but since he had already told her why reverse himself and miss out on something that could be good? He finds comfort in her, whether they were hard to find or were naturally there because she is a strong person.
  
  I always interpreted the "when the police come to get me", to her having informed the police of the abuse, and them coming to take him to a safer place, seeing as that is how my abuse ended.
  
  The peppy beat creates a release for me. There is the inability to NOT dance to this song, despite all the sadness and memories it brings for me, and dancing it out with such straight-forward lyrics is a way of expressing, "you couldn't destroy me, I am loud". This song means a lot to me.
  
  But it's all about personal experience when it comes to art, I guess.

  Flag soadrocksk8er4lifeon December 31, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:I must have listened to this song a hundred times and just now really heard the last verse. Did he stalk and kill a girl with cancer in the middle of the street and then listen to music until the cops showed up?
  
  wtf? that's frikkin dark!

  Flag PiGGmalionon December 26, 2011   Link

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    I don't think he means cancer (although I could be wrong, haven't read all the comments).
    I always thought of it as mental illness, like depression. And I really don't think it means literal streets. I think it's more like "all the dark twisted corners of a mind"
    The police line did always confuse me though, but there are some good opinions on here about that.

    Flag flippedon November 15, 2012  
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  General Comment:I always thought the "special secret sickness" was that his female friend was getting abused at home as well. She turns to booze and drugs and sex for the release and John follows her. And I think when the police come to get him, he's about to commit suicide.

  Flag discordian555on June 01, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:If I lived on Johnson Avenue, I'd probably have to spend all of my time listening to music too.

  Flag JohnnyLurgon November 16, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:dance music to cover the dysfunctional shit going on
  
  MAKES ME WANNA DANCE AND HATE LIFE AT THE SAME TIME I LOVE IT

  Flag ireallylikebagelson November 09, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:I'd say that the second verse is about an alcoholic girlfriend who in turns causes him to turn to alcoholism (Maybe Kathy that was mentioned in "this year", he says they exchange swigs from a bottle), I'd say he followed her down the alcoholic road and the "let me down" bit is maybe a police intervention or an arrest or something?

  Flag TheSamPrioron October 31, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:Special Secret Sickness is alcoholism but I wouldn't say it was based around his mum, I'd say it was a girlfriend that he followed into drink (maybe Kathy from "this year"? he mentions drinking whiskey in that song when he was seventeen). Either way he begins to drink with this girlfriend and gets caught up in the general alcoholism lifestyle and the "let me down" bit is maybe a police intervention or something? That's what I'm thinking

  Flag TheSamPrioron October 31, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:I think the Special Secret Sickness is deffinately something more drastic or fatal than drug use or alcholism. I think quite possibly that it is Cancer or maybe another terminal illness. But the Narator isn't aware of the sickness because it mentions it's "Secret". you have to remember that this song is like a flash back. what he knew when he wrote it might not be the same as what he knew when it was happening, if you follow. So I think his Girlfriend is really sick, but he doesn't know she is. "no way of knowing" so he sticks with her down this "alleyway" of life and he runs into a few dead end of his own. his own problems and obstacles. when he says there is only one place this road ever ends up, I think he is referring to life in general. Everybody dies, but he doesn't want to die alone.
  When he gets to the "let me down gently" part, I think the girlfriend is breaking up with him, because she is sick and want's to let him down gently before she passes away rather than let it be a (nasty) shock to him. And when the cops come to get him, I don't think its for anything he has done wrong, I think they are coming to tell him that she has passed away. And he is listening to Dance Music.
  For those of you who were talking about the whole Cathy, Jackie thing, I think when he wrote the song, it was about the same girl, Cathy, who he mentions in "This Year". I am going to Hazard a guess and say that he says Jackie in live performances because she is his current girlfriend and it's like his own, private little shout out to his Girlfriend. Many singers do this.
  
  The only thing that I find odd about this song, is that he says he is watching the Watergate hearings when he is 5 years old (or 6 maybe). I just find this odd because it's not something that would strike me as interesting to a 5 year old. Just a thought though.

  Flag BobbyBSeeon June 14, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:i always thought it was the Special Secret sickness, as in knowing the secret is what makes you ill. i took it to mean his girlfriend, (who is the "the last best thing" hes got going), cant take the pressure of knowing and keeping his 'special secret' anymore, that fact that he is abused by his stepdad, so wants to end things?
  "let me down gently", he knows she wants out of the relationship and situation
  

  Flag winabagelon April 07, 2010   Link

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