One Mountain Goats Song a Day

A Mountain Goats song posted every single day.

[onemountaingoatssongaday]

Pennsylvania Dutch Treat (Live 04-04-1998)

I had the bed sent in from the west coast

Watched the moving men carry in the old ghosts

And the purple-ink sky swelled up like a pregnant woman

Saw the lights go up in town

On the back porch it began to cool down

But in here, in here, in here it was hotter than an oven

And the way my blood began to froth and foam

Made it feel just like home

I've got a deep need to communicate

I want so badly to set things straight

But something tells me it's way too late

Deep in the heart of the Quaker state

Unreleased 

[onemountaingoatssongaday]

Ox Baker Triumphant

I will thank my ride and crawl my way back inside 

To the guts of the building where my enemies

Hide in the dark like roaches

And I will signal the camera crew 

And everyone will do what he's been trained how to do

Sweat dripping from my face as my moment approaches

Click your heels, count to three

I bet you never expected me

A little worse for wear

Practically walking on air

from Babylon Springs (2006)

"This song is my dream of Ox Baker being forced to leave town and then coming back to his normal arena to seek revenge on those who would wrong him." 

- 2012-06-27 - Swedish American Hall - San Francisco, CA

[onemountaingoatssongaday]

Xolo (Live 06-07-2013)

Looks like rain passed by again this year

Looks like the sky as far as the naked eye can see is completely clear

But the hairless chihuahua who found this place yesterday

Didn't even stick around anyway

Looks like you're gone for good

Looks like the steps leading up to the front porch are stained with blood

We stared up into the Mexican sky as though we were searching for gold

And it's vast and inscrutable and cold

Shame shame shame shame on you

Shame shame shame shame on you

Shame on you

Shame shame shame shame on you

from The Seneca Twins (1995)

[onemountaingoatssongaday]

Chinese House Flowers

You were lying in the moonlight 

Outside in the grass

When I heard an animal voice somewhere in the dark

And I saw a winged shadow pass

And just then the gleam in your eye 

Made my blood freeze

There was something up above us

Rustling in the branches of the trees

And I, I pressed up against you again

I could hear your heartbeat 

Steady and hard and pure

I used to love you so much that I was sure it would kill me

And I want you the way you were

from Full Force Galesburg (1997)

[onemountaingoatssongaday]

The Last Limit of Bhakti

Yeah, let me serve you 'til it's over

Let me serve you 'til it's all over

When the world is giving your secrets all away

Let me give you cover

Let me serve you with my body

Let me serve you with my body

Let me fight now until the end of time

The last limit

Yeah yeah

from Isopanisad Radio Hour (2000)

[onemountaingoatssongaday]

White Box

Well I did it now

Oh I did it now

The box said do not open under pain of death

It had my initials there where

I signed my initials on it

On that white box

I saw initials there

Do not open under pain of death

But I opened it anyway

I died anyway

I died anyway

So I come back to stay

Come back to stay

Lord knows I love you anyway

Lord knows I love you anyway

Hey

from Down in a Mirror (2005)

(ps I spent five minutes trying to fix the text in this post and I for the life of me cannot figure it out. How does Tumblr work.)

[onemountaingoatssongaday]

In the Cane Fields (Live 07-18-1992)

I tasted the wet sugar on your lips And it brought me alive Songs blended unsurely One another on the arms of the air We looked around the living room There was cool jazz on the stereo The sound was clean and clear I was ready to absorb you into myself My jaw was hanging open I got so hungry and I felt so drunk I felt your muscles tighten and relax And tighten and relax And tighten and relax And tighten And then relax

I knew a Cuban guy who worked cutting cane when he was young, can you imagine it He said that the tension that it bred in his back was enough to make you laugh Bending and rising sixteen hours a day We looked around the living room Your sweating skin pressed on me and we were drowning And I don't wanna hurt you anymore

Unreleased 

[onemountaingoatssongaday]

I Know You’ve Come to Take My Toys Away

Sun flashing red and then orange, then opting for secession On the day when you come to the door with your terrible confession And I know you've come to take my toys away And I know you've come to take my toys away

Skin flushing red and then glowing when you come inside And the moonlight watching all over you, I have got my mouth open wide And I know you've come to take my toys away And I know you've come to take my toys away Oh and when it drops you're gonna feel it Oh yeah Oh yeah

from Nine Black Poppies (1995)

[onemountaingoatssongaday]

Flower Song

Selling new flowers outrageously cheap Freshly cut daisies, twenty-five cents each You loved me when you could keep your losses down But winter's coming around now Now, now, now

The girl at the flower shop is kind and young She made accurate change for me I let the change come And you loved me when it was cheap to do so Can you feel the cold wind blow now Now, now, now

Unreleased 

[onemountaingoatssongaday]

Tyler Lambert’s Grave

Steal west across the country Under moonlight soft and wet And let the dead of night hide you From things you can't forget Spend daylight in dark tunnels Where the demons rave One day closer every day To Tyler Lambert's grave

Shoplift when you have to Keep your visor low And if your hunger shames you Never let them know Feel your sadness lifting Ride it like a wave That sets you gently down beside Tyler Lambert's grave

Fall into a pattern Never get unstuck Anyone who can't relate Should thank God for his luck

Young man in a yellow tie Hair gel in his hair No context for the picture Just kind of standing there Try to step outside the shadow Of your great catastrophe Dream all night of freedom Never wake up free

Unreleased 

"This song was written last summer, I recorded piano and voice and then sent it to the amazing Leanne Zacharias for strings. I am super fond of it but it does not really fit into the All Eternals Deck. Just a much different mood. Enjoy!" 

- Twitter: Part One, Part Two

[onemountaingoatssongaday]

Orange Ball of Peace 

They wanted me to be a lawyer They wanted me to work in a machine shop They wanted me to be a designer But I came out on top I'm a fireman I'm a fireman

Stand and watch the smoke See the flames rise to the sky I stand and watch the flames climb higher I feel the smoke get in my eyes I'm a fireman I'm a fireman

from Taking the Dative (1994)

[onemountaingoatssongaday]

The Doll Song (Live 12-13-1992)

I had seven little dolls In a bag And I tell them my troubles And the dolls say "Nag, nag, nag, nag" It's all you ever do Is that all you're capable of? And I said to the little dolls You have no compassion Baby, I'm talking to inanimate objects over you I'm talking to inanimate objects over you

I was reading the Bible I Corinthians 13 Where Paul talks all about love But I don't know what he means Because he says that love is kind That has not been my experience So I set the Bible on the kitchen table And yelled at the Bible until I was no longer able baby I'm talking to inanimate objects over you I'm talking to inanimate objects over you Yeah I'm talking to inanimate objects over you Yeah I'm talking to inanimate objects over you

Unreleased 

"Everyone here know what Guatemalan trouble dolls are? Those of you who don't, as we say in my rap band, you better ask somebody. I'll -I'll be throwin' down here this time next week. Anyway, this is a song from, like, the first month I was writing songs and I was just trying to get a punchline and get out for some of that attention that I was talking about earlier. Like all songs from that period, it's titled after its topic. It's called 'The Doll Song'." 

- 1998-10-10 - The Rocket Bar - St. Louis, MO

[onemountaingoatssongaday]

Birth of Serpents

Crawl through the tunnel and follow, follow the light northwest See that young man who dwells inside his body like an uninvited guest See the tunnel twist, clutch your birthright in your fist Let the camera do its dirty work down there in the dark

Sink low, rise high, bring back some blurry pictures to remember all your darker moments by Permanent bruises on our knees never forget what it felt like to live in rooms like these From the California coastline to the Iowa corn To the rooms with the heat lamps where the snakes get born

from All Eternals Deck (2011)

"I had this signal moment when I went to Portland at the end of touring The Life of the World to Come and I did what I always do, which is walk around where I used to live and look at things. I got my hair cut by this guy who lived in Portland when I lived in Portland, and I started asking him about people we used to know. He told me that somebody I knew was still working at the same place he'd worked, so I walked down there. But it turned out my hair dude's information wasn't current, and my guy had been hit by a car just a year before. It was weird. I had all these expectations about saying hello to my old friend who I haven't seen in 25 years. And, instead, he's dead. So I went to the hotel and slept. I woke up at 2 a.m. and wrote Birth of Serpents, which is this marriage of images and the personal stuff underneath them. It's one of the most personal things I've ever written." 

-Mountain Goats' John Darnielle Talks New Album (Pitchfork)

[onemountaingoatssongaday]

Agemo’s Hoops (Live 04-15-1995)

You were breathing against my throat Covering your laugh up with your long black overcoat All circuits warming up And you told me what you were going to do And I promised to do the same thing too And the air, the air in New England was pure Poison

The car was parked out back among the trees Your voice was getting higher by slow degrees You were giving me directions And you told me where I came from Well God bless us, every one And the air, the air in New England was pure Poison, poison, poison, poison

Unreleased

[onemountaingoatssongaday]

Sinaloan Milk Snake Song

Sun melts everything down, and the hills are reduced to nothing The whole house shakes, and you can see that the coach is coming You lean down and you pick up the small soft eggs in the dust outside my door I hold them in my hands, they are warm and the air is warming up now

I've got a message for you, if I could only remember I've got a message for you, but you're gonna have to come and get it La la la la la la la la, la la la la la la la la

Ever since I came here, all I could think about is water Last night they brought the fat lamb in from the fold But I couldn't bring myself to do anything about it I remember California, I remember Malibu I remember the states and the names of the cities but I don't remember you

and I've got a message for you, if I could only remember I've got a message for you, but you're gonna have to come and get it I've got a message for you, I’ve got a message for you, 2 3 4 La la la la la la la la, la la la la la la la la La la la la la la la la, la la la la la la la la Yeah! Whoo Huh-huh-huh huh huh

from Zopilote Machine (1994)

"There is an Egyptian snake out on the loose from the Bronx Zoo. [applause] Everyone is on the side of the snake. We, we animal rights people are making strides -- everybody is pro-snake. Somebody -- any band worth their salt, uh, who's coming through next week should, like, learn to play 'Union of the Snake' by Duran Duran and that will be [inaudible]. This is, uh, sort of like a love song from the Egyptian snake's brother, the Sinaloan milk snake." 

- 2011-03-29 - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY

[onemountaingoatssongaday]

The River Song

The little river is blue and long I sat by the side of it as everything went wrong I got a letter from the dry city's heart You say the water distribution system's come all apart And my place here's threatened But I had it in my mind And your face was on the skyline, so sweet and so kind Let them come Let 'em all come down Let them take a good long look around Let them see if my rivers won't suit them Let them drown

The fish that swim there in the current With their machine-like faces should be no deterrent They'll all come toward me But I won't move I know where I stand, I have nothing to prove

Because I had it in my heart that you were walking by And the little river's waters became our separate skies So let them come Let 'em all come down Let them take a good long look around Let them see if my rivers won't suit them Let them drown

Because I had it in my heart that you were walking by And the whole world dissolved leaving only you and I So let them come Let 'em all come down Let them take a good long look around Let them see if my rivers won't suit them Let them drown

from Martial Arts Weekend (2002)

[onemountaingoatssongaday]

Counting Song for Bitter Children

One, two, I don't love you Three, four, any more One, three, stay away from me Five, seven, good children get nothing

Na na na na na na na na Na na na na na na na na Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na

One, two, two-and-a-half, stick around here, don't make me laugh Two-and-a-half, three, four-point-five, the new day's dawning and my hour's arrived One, two, I got things to do One, three, I got people to see, I got people that want to see me

Na na na na na na na na Na na na na na na na na Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na

Na na na na na na na na Na na na na na na na na Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na

Unreleased