June 20 - The Day The Aliens Came

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 recorded, but in some ways that was enough.

This is a song that feels foundational to a lot of other later Mountain Goats songs. The violent wish fulfilment fantasy at its core (of aliens coming to destroy everyone but you) feels like a precursor to much of Heretic Pride, especially the "and I will [verb]" formation that John uses when he's declaiming.

And, much like Heretic Pride, this is a sad song pretending to be a happy one. We'll get to Heretic Pride, but it's very much the dream of triumph of someone being defeated. The Day The Aliens Came is very much the dream of revenge of someone who has no earthly way to achieve it. There's a helplessness in its power.

But then, years later when it's written, and years after that when I'm listening to it, isn't there a power in its helplessness?