If ever there was a platonic ideal of a Mountain Goats song it's this one. There are others that I go to first, but this has everything you need from

If ever there was a platonic ideal of a Mountain Goats song it's this one. There are others that I go to first, but this has everything you need from a Mountain Goats song in its purest form. Absolutely flawless musicianship, a completely soaring vocal. Astonishingly clever lyrics. An absolute

Sometimes a song hits you from an unexpected direction. This one is a song about, basically, losing it, letting the emotions out in ways that feel evilm, trying to come

Sometimes a song hits you from an unexpected direction. This one is a song about, basically, losing it, letting the emotions out in ways that feel evilm, trying to come back together, not really managing it, but with only hald an hear on the lyrics it sounds like a song

This song is a bit of a time traveller. When I was listening to songs from We Shall All Be Healed, I kept waiting for this song as thematically it

This song is a bit of a time traveller. When I was listening to songs from We Shall All Be Healed, I kept waiting for this song as thematically it is such a song from that era. But actually it fits in just as well with these retrospective songs about

This isn't the album about loneliness, but this is very much a song about being alone in the sense of not wanting to subject other people to yourself. I've had

This isn't the album about loneliness, but this is very much a song about being alone in the sense of not wanting to subject other people to yourself. I've had that moment. When I first moved to Cambridge I was apart from my wife for several months, and I urgently

God, this song is an engine. From the jangly guitar to the description of the city, to the rapid pressing motion of the narrative and the lyrics. And god, what

God, this song is an engine. From the jangly guitar to the description of the city, to the rapid pressing motion of the narrative and the lyrics. And god, what lyrics. The loneliest people in the whole wide world are the ones you're never going to see again. This to

It's Sunday night, I'm tired, I've felt vaguely ill all weekend, and now I have to contend with one of the most enormous sounds Mountain Goats ever did. I first

It's Sunday night, I'm tired, I've felt vaguely ill all weekend, and now I have to contend with one of the most enormous sounds Mountain Goats ever did. I first heard this song 3 or 4 years ago and it's been a guiding force in my life since then. On

One of the hardest things in the world to fully accept, and one that's simultaneously deeply reassuring and deeply disturbing: we were always like this. And that's for a very

One of the hardest things in the world to fully accept, and one that's simultaneously deeply reassuring and deeply disturbing: we were always like this. And that's for a very broad definition of we and an only moderately broad definition of this. We like to think of people too far

One of the best things about Mountain Goats songs is sometimes you will come across a line so perfect you have to wonder if it came from somewhere else and

One of the best things about Mountain Goats songs is sometimes you will come across a line so perfect you have to wonder if it came from somewhere else and then conclude that it's original. A young man dwelling inside his body like an uninvited guest is a perfect way

There's something old school and epic and pulpy about this song. It's nostalgic and hopeful and sad and sweeping. I think it's the way it uses strings. They make it

There's something old school and epic and pulpy about this song. It's nostalgic and hopeful and sad and sweeping. I think it's the way it uses strings. They make it sound like we're watching a horizon while the silhouettes a caravan of furtive adventurers move towards destiny. I think Peter

I'm unfamiliar with Hollywood and LA in general except as a place to visit, and even there I didn't do the classic Hollywood shit. I've spent more time in convenience

I'm unfamiliar with Hollywood and LA in general except as a place to visit, and even there I didn't do the classic Hollywood shit. I've spent more time in convenience stores in Hermosa Beach than within a mile of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. And yet there is something in

This song is, interestingly, much more of what I think of as a 90s song than anything Mountain Goats released in the 1990s. It has a lot of the instrumental

This song is, interestingly, much more of what I think of as a 90s song than anything Mountain Goats released in the 1990s. It has a lot of the instrumental tics that I think of as being true of the kind of bands who would be opening for REM or

Another rich vein of Mountain Goats songs: songs about Guys. This is a haunting and oppressive piece of music, one that sounds like night, the kind of night with something

Another rich vein of Mountain Goats songs: songs about Guys. This is a haunting and oppressive piece of music, one that sounds like night, the kind of night with something in it. There's a darkness in it, and some themes dealt with much more directly than in most Mountain Goats

I love a good Mountain Goats biographical, almost as much as I love a good Mountain Goats instruction song where each line is something that the song's subject should or

I love a good Mountain Goats biographical, almost as much as I love a good Mountain Goats instruction song where each line is something that the song's subject should or must do. I was in the wrong generation for Charles Bronson. I was born after his great performances (Dirty Dozen,

This is a fragment of a story turned it not a different story. An inspiration from the culmination of an old film where Lon Chaney Jr's part was rewritten to

This is a fragment of a story turned it not a different story. An inspiration from the culmination of an old film where Lon Chaney Jr's part was rewritten to contain almost no dialogue, apparently due to his recovery from surgery, with this song's title being part of his only

A couple of neat mini-genres coming together here. Mountain Goats demo tapes and extras, and Mountain Goats biographicals. This is the story - apocryphal and purposefully anachronistic - of Billy

A couple of neat mini-genres coming together here. Mountain Goats demo tapes and extras, and Mountain Goats biographicals. This is the story - apocryphal and purposefully anachronistic - of Billy The Kid, a person who is these days almost entirely fiction. There's one photo, a handful of records and accounts,

This is a ghost story. And so obviously it's beautiful. The sort of warm piano that makes you feel like you're on a show on network television that's too sentimental

This is a ghost story. And so obviously it's beautiful. The sort of warm piano that makes you feel like you're on a show on network television that's too sentimental to be a comedy and too funny to be a drama. This is a ghost story. And so it's actually

Moving away from The Life Yet To Come but staying with God, this is a small but delightful devotional. It's about loving something greater in trying times, and finding ways

Moving away from The Life Yet To Come but staying with God, this is a small but delightful devotional. It's about loving something greater in trying times, and finding ways to feel and express that love in times where the world feels loveless. While this isn't my favourite Mountain Goats

Now this is interesting. The book of Enoch is not a book of the bible. Or rather not a book of most bibles. It's not within the Old Testament as

Now this is interesting. The book of Enoch is not a book of the bible. Or rather not a book of most bibles. It's not within the Old Testament as it appears in most versions of the Christian bible, nor within the canon of Rabbinic Judaism, outside of certain faith

The unreleased demo of a song intended for an album based on bible verses is even for the Mountain Goats a fairly obscure corner, and one that this song scuttles

The unreleased demo of a song intended for an album based on bible verses is even for the Mountain Goats a fairly obscure corner, and one that this song scuttles into still further with an allegorical narrative that I don't think I have the brain to fully unpack. I feel

To my knowledge, I have only been in a room while someone died there once. It was predictably enough a hospital room, and it was not unexpected. My wife's grandfather.

To my knowledge, I have only been in a room while someone died there once. It was predictably enough a hospital room, and it was not unexpected. My wife's grandfather. Basically my grandfather. He was older, had lived a long and eventful life, and had his granddaughters by his side,