I don't have much to say about this one. It's musically beautiful, deeply sad, and something about it feels like listening to it is hearing something I'm not supposed to

I don't have much to say about this one. It's musically beautiful, deeply sad, and something about it feels like listening to it is hearing something I'm not supposed to hear. The unexpected deaths of the famous are often uncomfortable because of how the press treats them. The unexpected deaths

A small and occasionally visited microgenre of The Mountain Goats is that of songs of the last moments. Early in this year we had Jimi Hendrix. Later on we'll have

A small and occasionally visited microgenre of The Mountain Goats is that of songs of the last moments. Early in this year we had Jimi Hendrix. Later on we'll have artists and bluesmen. Here it's a reggae singer whose influence outstrips his fame. But this is also not a sing

This is a suitable song for a day when the heat and the humidity are causing the air to act like water, and I'm rising and falling on every wave.

This is a suitable song for a day when the heat and the humidity are causing the air to act like water, and I'm rising and falling on every wave. This is a temperate country and it's currently not behaving in a temperate manner. So what better than a sleepy

This is a barely recorded song that seems to only exist online as a live taping complete with audience sound. It's like listening at a bedroom door to someone playing

This is a barely recorded song that seems to only exist online as a live taping complete with audience sound. It's like listening at a bedroom door to someone playing for themselves. When writing the book, John apparently thought there was no live version of this. I'm glad there is.

The way this year of songs moves from demos to much more produced material is part of its charm as each day is either a treat you know or a

The way this year of songs moves from demos to much more produced material is part of its charm as each day is either a treat you know or a curiosity to discover. This song is fascinating because it feels like one that needed to be written, needed to be

There's a sense in which this is a strange song to be on The Sunset Tree. It takes place a long time later, and while the your in the first

There's a sense in which this is a strange song to be on The Sunset Tree. It takes place a long time later, and while the your in the first verse is clearly the person who The Sunset Tree is about, everything about this song feels... later. A different person

A blast from the even further past, this song feels like an ancestor of the Sunset Tree but simultaneously sung by an older narrator, one who could get the perspective

A blast from the even further past, this song feels like an ancestor of the Sunset Tree but simultaneously sung by an older narrator, one who could get the perspective that The Sunset Tree deliberately eschews in favour of immediacy. It's a song about sadness regarding cruelty, and feels like

The thing about pain is that sometimes its temporary absence feels blissful. It's how a lot of people I've known with addiction issues have explained it to me. Just not

The thing about pain is that sometimes its temporary absence feels blissful. It's how a lot of people I've known with addiction issues have explained it to me. Just not being in pain. Up The Wolves is not without pain, it's a song about emotional and physical neglect and abandonment,

Happy This Year day, everyone. You made it. If the Mountain Goats are remembered for one song, it's likely to be this one. And if not this one then No

Happy This Year day, everyone. You made it. If the Mountain Goats are remembered for one song, it's likely to be this one. And if not this one then No Children. I don't know if that was true ten years ago, but post-pandemic this song kept so many people alive

A remarkably simple song that connects in the simplest way to its emotions. I think of this as a cousin to Song for my Stepfather, albeit a cousin in a

A remarkably simple song that connects in the simplest way to its emotions. I think of this as a cousin to Song for my Stepfather, albeit a cousin in a healthier place. It's also very strongly linked in my head to Amy AKA Spent Gladiator. It's often odd for me

John's ephemera (and this sat in a notebook for twenty years before being recorded) are often the places where he is at his most playful. And by playful I definitely

John's ephemera (and this sat in a notebook for twenty years before being recorded) are often the places where he is at his most playful. And by playful I definitely don't mean unserious or lighthearted. Often the sweetest smallest song is the most direct route to the darkest and most

This is an anthem of helplessness. Not despair, at least not overt despair, but a song about the impossibility of changing what is happening without changing who you are, and

This is an anthem of helplessness. Not despair, at least not overt despair, but a song about the impossibility of changing what is happening without changing who you are, and how the attempt to keep things together can just mean destroying them more slowly. Depression is exhausting. You feel all

Everything about listening to this makes me tense in the best way. The staccato strings and the urgent nature of the lyrics add up to the feeling of something constrained,

Everything about listening to this makes me tense in the best way. The staccato strings and the urgent nature of the lyrics add up to the feeling of something constrained, desperate, vulnerable, and passionate. This song has some of John's best lyrical content, moving effortlessly from the urgent paranoia of

It's never not going to be a good time when you have a rolling guitar, John in trembling voice, and a list of things to do. A good John List

It's never not going to be a good time when you have a rolling guitar, John in trembling voice, and a list of things to do. A good John List Song feels like a properly conducted ritual. These are the things that make you good or pure or proper or

I mean, shit. I have coherent things to say about this song, but friends who don't have a clue, well meaning teachers is a fucking novel in a line. Solace

I mean, shit. I have coherent things to say about this song, but friends who don't have a clue, well meaning teachers is a fucking novel in a line. Solace in a chaotic life, beauty in the wild and the cold, rage and despair turning into power through pressure and

If Song For My Stepfather is John's pain at its most naked, this is perhaps John's pain at its most transubstantiated. Both songs describe blunt and unforgivable violence upon a

If Song For My Stepfather is John's pain at its most naked, this is perhaps John's pain at its most transubstantiated. Both songs describe blunt and unforgivable violence upon a child, but the points of view and the way the reality of it are processed couldn't be more different. This

The most consciously folksy song on a not-very-folksy album, and one of the only ones to fit the Mountain Goats trope of list of things you must do which is

The most consciously folksy song on a not-very-folksy album, and one of the only ones to fit the Mountain Goats trope of list of things you must do which is one of my favourite tropes. Remember what we had here when there was something left to save is the kind

This small beautiful song, a simple chard structure, a voice and a guitar, is the purest distillation of everything that John elaborates and explores in The Sunset Tree. It's quite

This small beautiful song, a simple chard structure, a voice and a guitar, is the purest distillation of everything that John elaborates and explores in The Sunset Tree. It's quite shockingly painful, a story of smallness, helplessness, and the places people go in their heads when bad things happen. It's

This gorgeous song is two vignettes of two different types of trauma. Both told in the same stream of consciousness moment-of life style, as if jumping straight into a memory

This gorgeous song is two vignettes of two different types of trauma. Both told in the same stream of consciousness moment-of life style, as if jumping straight into a memory already in progress. The first and simplest is about the fear of physical harm: harm to the self, harm to

This is, as John says, when it starts, a sad one. It's about people who have no choice and the choices that get made for them. It's about things that

This is, as John says, when it starts, a sad one. It's about people who have no choice and the choices that get made for them. It's about things that are presented as opportunities and are actually just mitigations. It's about sandboxes in parking lots and the ever present silent