August 9th: Matthew 11:14-19

And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows,

And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.

The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.

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 like I can see both why John wrote this and why it didn't make the album. It's undeniably pleasant to listen to (probably because it's using the same four chords john uses most of the etc etc) but it's an earlier way of approaching a concept.

The song does a lot, arguably too much, and the narrative feels more like an attempt to render biblical concepts into more modern forms. It departs from the very raw way the rest of the album takes its subject matter. It feels - in that way - oddly shy.