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The Mountain Goats

@unstablebloodandfoam

This is where I put Mountain Goats stuff. Follow if you are down for that, I guess.
JENNY USED TO LET ABSOLUTELY ANYBODY CRASH AT HER PLACE. IT WAS LIKE A YEAR-ROUND CHRISTMAS MIRACLE. IF YOU HAD ANY SECRETS, SHE DIDN'T WANT TO KNOW, AND THE ONES SHE HAD SHE KEPT TO HERSELF. THERE WAS A WALL HEATER DOWN AT ONE END OF THE HALLWAY AND A BIG, DARK LIVING ROOM AT THE OTHER. ONE ELECTRIC LAMP BY THE COUCH IF YOU NEEDED IT, ALL EXITS VISIBLE TO THE EYE FROM THERE. SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAD NEED OF JENNY'S PLACE WERE ALL RIGHT AND SOME WEREN'T EVER GOING TO GET RIGHT, AND SHE'D ALREADY GOTTEN SEVERAL LETTERS FROM THE CITY ADVISING HER TO KEEP A LOWER PROFILE UNLESS SHE WANTED TROUBLE BUT THEN I ENTERED THE PICTURE. BAD LUCK. LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE WHO CAME THROUGH I WAS TRYING TO FIND A BETTER DIRECTION BUT IT DIDN'T WORK OUT THAT WAY. PRYING EYES SHOULD HAVE TENDED TO THEIR OWN BUSINESS. PEOPLE DON'T THINK TOWNS LIKE OURS CAN TURN INTO BATTLEGROUNDS BUT WE HAD A WAR HERE. THERE. I DON'T LIVE THERE ANY MORE EITHER. I LEFT WHEN JENNY LEFT. IT'S JUST A SPOT ON THE MAP NOW. WE RODE TOGETHER FOR A WHILE BUT THEN WE LOST EACH OTHER. SOMETIMES I THINK I HEAR FROM HER BUT OTHER TIMES I THINK I'M JUST DREAMING. NOBODY KNOWS WHERE ANYBODY LANDED. YOU DON'T KEEP IN TOUCH WHEN THE WAR DOESN'T GO YOUR WAY.

the thing is. jenny as a function of memory. i want to tape a big paper to the wall and draw a flowchart to describe the connections i'm thinking about

jenny + source decay + straight six + night light.

last place i saw you alive + the overlap between tlotwtc & wsabh + in the shadow of the western hills + tribe of the horned heart + themes of aging and perspective as present in the discography from beat the champ onward, especially well in focus in ilwd + vehicle/road/travel motifs - i lump this together under locomotion.

jenny as a function of memory.

Hey mutuals friendly reminder that

• I am drowning

• there is no sign of land

• you are coming down with me

• hand in unlovable hand

I can't continue the bit I've decided I want to be loved now

in 2018 i saw the mountain goats in a concert venue that used to be a church and still had stained glass windows and i went with someone i do not speak to anymore but i still think back on being in that audience and the ways our voices echoed off of the ceilings of a sacred place when singing about survival and how we would survive while a barefoot man in a suit played his guitar on the altar and i honestly believe that was the closest i have ever felt to being a part of something holy. anyways how’s everyone else doing

Had a dream that John Darnielle of Mountain Goats fame was my pacient at the physical rehabilitation clinic where I had an internship, and I was trying to convince my colleagues that he was famous while they looked at me like I was insane

sometimes listening to the mountain goats feels like going to a shitty diner and seeing your own heart on the plate and sometimes it feels like you are a small delicate animal who has been held up to a mirror as if to say, “look, that’s you,” and you don’t know which one it will be

I think there is an instinct within music spaces to assume you don’t know enough about what you’re talking about to discuss the music (maybe a consequence of the “name 5 songs” phenomenon) but I want to assure any fans, no matter how long you’ve listened to tmg or how many songs you know, that your thoughts and opinions matter, and you won’t be judged for not knowing literally every note John Darnielle has ever sung.

It’s not knowing all the lore of every song that makes you a “true fan,” you just need to enjoy the music, and that is enough.