May 10 - No Children

It's tough now to think of how this song made me feel the first time I heard it. it's become an old friend who has been there for me in all sorts of times, good and bad. The way the backing vocals burst in on "in my life". The way "I hope I never get sober" is said as an aside. It's tough to get an objective view on something you can hear whether or not it's playing.

So instead I'll talk about why I think this song has engrained so deeply in people. For one thing it's musically beautiful. The roll of the guitar matches the piano perfectly. For another it's another perfect example of the Mountain Goats creating musical dissonance by the contrast between how the song sounds and what the song says.

But it's not just that. Because the lyrics are about the beauty of doomed, poisoned love. Someone can be terrible for you, and you for them, and you cling to them tighter for it. When you're a bit misanthropic, misanthropy can become what you bond over. You might suck, but neither of us are them. And of course there's the joy of masquerading as these people when you know you're not them.

Chris Onstad once said that sometimes love is wondering whether you trapped an innocent person. There are no innocents here. And that's beautiful.

Oh, and for something that's about as different as it gets, here's Julien Baker's take on the song