October 10th - Clemency for the Wizard King

fuckin' wizards again

This song is a delight. A chorus number, both in performance and in action depicted, it's got the wonderful tension of the title and seeming action (the acolytes of the Wizard King come to beg for his release) and the actual acknowledged action (a large group of assassins come to free their master). Both work, and indeed both work together.

Mountain Goats songs are sometimes at their best when their sound triggers elaborate colourful visuals, as they do in this case. I cannot help but see the acolytes in this song, moving as one unit, purple robes against a yellow sky, short but deadly swords at their waists, cathode ray tube televisions for heads under their hoods.

Almost none of those details are in the song, but that's definitely where they come from.