Goths
Liner Notes and Ephemera
sending this album out to Kim & Quinn & Lanny & Devon & Wes, forever perfect in the strobe’s embrace
NO COMPED VOCALS
NO PITCH CORRECTION
NO GUITARS1
The theme this time around is goth, a subject closer to my heart perhaps than that of any Mountain Goats album previous. And while John writes the songs, as he always has, it feels more than ever like he’s speaking for all of us in the band, erstwhile goths (raises hand) or otherwise, for these are songs that approach an identity most often associated with youth from a perspective that is inescapably adult. Anyone old enough to have had the experience of finding oneself at sea in a cultural landscape that’s suddenly indecipherable will empathize with Pat Travers showing up to a Bauhaus show looking to jam, for example.
But underneath the outward humor, there is evident throughout a real tenderness toward, and solidarity with, our former fellow travelers—the friends whose bands never made it out of Fender’s Ballroom, the Gene Loves Jezebels of the world—the ones whose gothic paths were overtaken by the realities of life, or of its opposite. It’s something we talk about a lot, how fortunate and grateful we are to share this work, a career that’s become something more rewarding and fulfilling than I think any of us could have imagined. We all know how easily it could’ve gone the other way, and indeed for a long time did.
[Peter Hughes](https://web.archive.org/web/20171108043134/https://www.mergerecords.com/goths)
Vinyl etchings
Side A: SENSATIONS ET SOUVENIRS[2](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g2)
Side B: WHALE, BROWNING, MAMOULIAN[3](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g3)
Side C: HE PRAYETH BEST WHO LOVETH BEST[4](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g4)
Side D: THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO[5](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g5)
Rain in Soho6 7
No one knows where the lone wolf[8](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g8) sleeps
No one sees the hidden treasure in the castle keep
No one learns the secret name[9](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g9)
No one burns in the absent flame
No one broke D.B. Cooper’s fall[10](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g10)
No one hopes to hear the bagman[11](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g11) call
Children piping in the main square
But no one’s dancing
No one’s dancing down there[12](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g12)
The river goes where the water flows[13](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g13)
But no one knows when the Batcave closed[14](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g14)
The river goes where the water flows
But no one knows when the Batcave closed
No promise sweeter than a blood pact
Nothing harder to go through with than a vanishing act
No morning colder than the first frost
No friends closer than the ones we’ve lost
Nothing sharper than a serpent’s tooth[15](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g15)
Nothing harder than the gospel truth
Though you repent and don sackcloth[16](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g16) [17](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g17) and try to make nice
You can’t cross the same river twice[18](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g18)
The river goes where the water flows
But no one knows when the Batcave closed
The river goes where the water flows
But no one knows when the Batcave closed
There’s a club where you’d like to go[19](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g19)
You could meet someone who’s lost like you
Revel in the darkness like a pair of open graves
Fumble through the fog for a season or two
No town more barren than our town
No haven safer than the one they tore down[20](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g20)
No greater love than to lay my life down for a friend[21](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g21)
No sweeter pleasure than to see the credits clear through to the end
No one knows where the lone wolf’s gone[22](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g22)
No one sees him camped out right there on the front lawn
We played for you but you would not sing[12](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g12)
No one was gonna get away with anything
The river goes where the water flows
But no one knows when the Batcave closed
The river goes where the water flows
But no one knows when the Batcave closed
Andrew Eldritch is Moving Back to Leeds23
There's indifference on the wind
But a faint gust of hope
At a club nobody goes to
With a musty velvet rope
Guys in Motorhead[24](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g24) jackets
Who knew him way back when
Haven't raised a drink in years
But now meet up again
To remember how it was when they all thought they'd move away
Ridin' Lotus Sevens[25](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g25) through the London streets one day
Nobody ever gets away
Even the best of us come back someday
To the unmarked rooms where the dry dust breeds
Andrew Eldritch is moving back to Leeds[26](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g26)
There's a rusted fog machine[27](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g27)
In a concrete storage space
Letter-number combinations
With no meaning on its face
They won't make these anymore
It's a wooden coach-and-four[28](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g28)
No one will even steal it if you leave it by the door
With no sign to mark its going, no tombstone for its grave
There will be goodbyes by dozens, so practice being brave
No one anticipates the rush
The breezy feeling of the faceless crush
At the end of things where the selvage[29](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g29) bleeds
Andrew Eldritch is moving back to Leeds
They don't throw him a parade
He just comes in on a train
One suitcase in his hand
And an old army backpack
From the second World War
From a Leipzig second-hand store[30](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g30)
Pick the keys up from the agent
Everything's been taken care of
No big changes in the roadways
Since you left, that I'm aware of
A few old buildings gone to dust
And some new ones in the way
They'll look just like the old ones when the winds have had their say
See the children bound for London[31](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g31)
You'll all be back too
Everybody tests the membrane
But no one pushes through
Come on boys, that'll be enough
You'd think your old friends wouldn't play so tough
Like a basket by the Nile hiding down among the reeds[32](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g32)
Andrew Eldritch is moving back to Leeds
The Grey King and the Silver Flame Attunement
In the secret caverns underneath West Covina[33](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g33)
Half desperate for peace
With the surface dwellers
But coming to no conclusions
And now we emerge
Sky grey and misty
The Grey King in his new Pontiac[34](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g34)
Some of us sworn to the effort
Trying to get our shapes back
Teeth filed down to fine points[35](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g35)
Framework too tight
Strain at the joints
And I'm hardcore but I'm not that hardcore
I'm hardcore but I'm not that hardcore
I'm hardcore but I'm not that hardcore
I'm pretty hardcore but I'm not that hardcore
Load into the Grand Am[36](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g36)
Doomed sailors
Borne high by the waves
Wild with wonder
Leather and lace and good friends
Most of them good
Most of them friendly
The Grey King at the rail, sparks flying
Three of us in the car with him
Scared of dying
All eyes on the front seat
Assuming his form
Reborn in the heat[37](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g37)
And I'm hardcore but I'm not that hardcore
I'm hardcore but I'm not that hardcore
I'm hardcore but I'm not that hardcore
I'm pretty hardcore but I'm not that hardcore
The papers write about it back in England
It's practically a lifestyle in Berlin
There's probably some pockets in Ohio
Almost always something happening in Ohio[38](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g38)
I heard some bad reports about Long Island
I don't trust what people say about Long Island
I heard some good things from some friends about Chicago
I gotta see with my own eyes about Chicago
We do it different on the west coast
We do it different on the west coast
We do it different on the west coast
We do it different on the west coast
I heard they had a problem with some skinheads[39](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g39)[40](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g40)
At a show in a machine shop in Pomona[41](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g41)
I feel like half my friends have moved to San Francisco
I think I'm gonna bleach my hair this weekend
And Dave went to New York -- I don't care[42](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g42)
You can't shut people up once they get back from their Christmas out there
Skim through such magazines as I can get my hands on
Glue circuit boards to plywood on the weekend43
Trellis modulation44 for the children
There's a whole new world just up around the corner
We do it different on the west coast
We do it different on the west coast
We do it different on the west coast
We do it different on the west coast
Unicorn Tolerance45
Drawn to the dark
Covered by the blood[46](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g46) when possible
Called to the corners[47](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g47)
To any open crucible
Easy to reach
Bearing every mark unmissably[48](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g48)
Want to leave behind some token of what I carried with me
Search in the storm drains
Sleep in the underpasses
Try hard to look hard
Behind my blackout sunglasses[49](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g49)
But I have high unicorn tolerance
I have high unicorn tolerance
I have high unicorn tolerance
I have high unicorn tolerance
Swim with real sharks
Those who never speak when spoken to
Hard limits fade into memory
Once broken through
Scaling the well[50](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g50)
Every single day instinctively
Feel shame, real shame
For what my friends must think of me
Dig through the graveyard
Rub the bones against my face
It gets real nice around the graveyard
Once you've acquired the taste
And when the clouds do clear away
Get a momentary chance to see
The thing I've been trying to beat to death
The soft creature that I used to be
The better animal I used to be
Draw where I'm drawn
Seldom wonder why, just follow you
Never blame the rags that swaddled me[51](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g51)
For the place the river took me to
Long life to the spiders!
Safe travels to the crow!
Love to the ghosts
Who taught me everything I know
But I have high unicorn tolerance
I have high unicorn tolerance
But I have high unicorn tolerance
I have high unicorn tolerance
Incoherent but functional
Speeding like a dead comet[52](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g52)
Purple crushed-velvet waistcoat
Flecked with Maalox[53](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g53) and bits of dried vomit
Say what you will for the effort
You can't fault the technique
Still conscious at sunrise
For the third time this week
But when the blue lights flash
I know we're going to crash
And outside it's 92 degrees[54](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g54)
And KROQ[55](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g55) is playing Siouxsie and the Banshees[56](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g56)
Blaupunkt[57](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g57) in the dashboard
Cracks in the cylinder block[58](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g58)
Heading up the Golden State Freeway[59](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g59)
Toward Eagle Rock[60](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g60)
Ice chest full of Corona[61](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g61)
And Pineapple Crush[62](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g62)
It'll take 20 years
For the toxins to flush[63](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g63)
And when the sirens wail[64](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g64)
I know we're going to jail
And outside it's 92 degrees
And KROQ is playing Siouxsie and the Banshees
Follow the flame to freedom
The flickering lights of armageddon
Find the foot of the ladder way down in the pit
Keep climbing forever
Try to keep the torch lit
And outside it's 92 degrees
And KROQ, the Roq of the 80s[65](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g65), is playing Siouxsie and the Banshees
Rain every day
Fog all night
Wind in the evergreen cypresses[67](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g67)
See me, Lord of Wind and Rain[68](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g68)
See me, guardian of the nderpasses
Wear black when it's light outside
Wear black when there's no light
Wear black following the left hand path[69](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g69)
Wear black when I get right
Waves at night
Hard waves at dawn
All this coast is vanishing[70](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g70)
Check me out, I can't blend in
Check me out, I'm young and ravishing
Wear black on your forgotten radar
Wear black in the present tense
Wear black when you come around
Wear black in your[71](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g71) absence
Wear black high as a kite (wear black)
Wear black dead sober (wear black)
Wear black when the trouble starts (wear black)
Wear black when it's over (wear black)
Sun through the trees
Head for the sun
Can't find the path back to the main road
See me, Lord of The Thomas Guide[72](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g72)
See me, Keeper of the Source Code[73](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g73)
Wear black to the intervention
Wear black back to the car
Wear black wherever I go
Wear black wherever you are
#### Paid In Cocaine[74](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g74)
Crusty boots in the corner of the closet by the tackle box
Once-proud shining silver buckles safe behind the normalcy locks
Baubles and bangles
A lost age[75](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g75)
Still all aglow with the radiance of the stage
That's who I was
This is who I am
Work to pay down the interest on the mortgage
Used to get paid by the gram
Long Beach
Long Beach, can you hear me?
Can you hear me, Long Beach?
Long Beach
Long Beach, can you hear me?
Can you hear me, Long Beach?
Master tape from the show we did at Fender's[76](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g76) back in '85
Dark paisley from Retail Slut[77](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g77)
All four of us still fresh and alive
Flashes and phosphenes[78](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g78)
It's hard to believe that's me
Strapped in, visibly sweating
As happy as I'm ever gonna be
You're by my side
Five years left on your card
You're cashing out, all dressed up
For your date with the emergency ward
Long Beach
Long Beach, can you hear me?
Can you hear me, Long Beach?
Long Beach
Long Beach, can you hear me?
Can you hear me, Long Beach?
Close the balcony at the Rainbow[80](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g80)
Because the promoter says so
Aviators and a buckskin frontier hat
How come they dress like that?
They break the news to me so gentle
But I start to feel sentimental
This used to be the place to go
Still draw pretty good in Ontario
Nobody wants to hear the twelve bar blues[81](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g81)
From a guy in platform shoes
Let's just have a good time when the show's done
Ask where the good clubs are and go find one
Roll up to the curb
Spill out of the car
Everyone's dressed up like corpses
I brought my guitar
Set it down by the stage
The singer's locked up in a steel cage[82](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g82)
Shaking the bars
Eyes wild with fear
I don't belong here
Nobody wants to hear the twelve-bar blues
From a guy in platform shoes
I wanna ride the hydraulics
Lit up like the North Star
I wanna wallow in the spoils before the crowd
I wanna play my guitar[84](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g84)
Not gonna sit up and beg
Not gonna do tricks
Not gonna stand here on a sound stage
Tethered to a crucifix
The ride's over, I know
But I'm not ready to go
I wanna flash my pastel colors by the rail85
On a windy day at Pimlico86
Don't want to write songs with this clown they set me up with in a Los Angeles
rehearsal studio
Not gonna tour with Trent Reznor87
Third of three, bottom of the bill88
You can't pay me to make that kind of music
Not gonna swallow that pill89
The ride's over, I know
But I'm not ready to go90
Maybe Dad is right
I'm still young
And I can write C++91 just as good as anyone
I know this guy at LucasArts92
He says they're looking for hands
In fifteen years I'll be puttin' back beers
With my feet in the sand93
For the Portuguese Goth Metal Bands
Set the spectrum for the greyscale, that's better
Favor bold fonts in blackletter[94](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g94)
Star-crossed lovers[95](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g95) and their tragic fates
And that one Celtic Frost record[96](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g96)
Almost everybody hates
Candlelight playing its tricks on the walls of the cave[97](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g97)
Hauling these songs to the night from the mouth of the grave
Mark the map out for the treasure don't say where
Find the octave in the shadow and stay there
Sleep till sunset, stay up late
Bleed bile all night[98](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g98)
Into an SM58[99](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g99)
Candlelight playing its tricks on the walls of the cave
Hauling these songs to the night from the mouth of the grave
Finally head west, but it's a dead end
Come home dead broke but still among friends
Keep what's precious, drop what's not
Without a second thought
There's not so many of us
But you don't know any of us
Work like a gravedigger, let the blood spill
Headline really big festivals
Every other summer in Brazil
Candlelight playing its tricks on the walls of the cave
Hauling these songs to the night from the mouth of the grave
Robert Smith[100](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g100) is secure at his villa in France[101](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g101)
Any child knows how to do the spiderweb dance[102](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g102)
Siouxsie[103](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g103) has enough hits to keep the bills paid
Every New Year's in Los Angeles, you can still see Richard Blade[104](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g104)
But the world forgot about Gene Loves Jezebel[105](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g105)
Yes the world forgot about Gene Loves Jezebel
They charted once or twice[106](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g106)
They were on a major label[107](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g107)
When the singer went solo
He left money on the table
The two main guys are related[108](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g108)
They're at war with each other
Now there's two Genes loving Jezebel[109](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g109)
One for each brother
But the world came to agree
What you see is what you get and what you get is what you see[110](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g110)
Whether you're The March Violets[111](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g111) or The Bolshoi[112](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g112)
Bands who had to leave the darkness for the sun
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry[113](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g113) were on Cherry Red I think[114](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g114)
They've been playing clubs since 1981
To be fair to Gene Loves Jezebel
Billy Corgan[115](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g115) brought them onstage
It was in 2011
It's on their Wikipedia page[116](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g116)
But for the most part
However big that chorused bass may throb[117](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g117)
You and me and all of us
Are going to have to find a job
Because the world will never know or understand
The suffocated splendor
Of the once and future[118](http://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/goths#g118) goth band
Footnotes
1. Geoff Sanborn suggests this is a sort of pastiche of something Queen used to do: "[the Mountain Goats] ended up putting a “NO GUITARS” notice on the back of the album, inverting the no-synths statements on the back of every Queen album up until The Game."
2. The title of a book by Jean Lorrain, an extremely gay and decadent writer from France at the turn of the 20th century.
3. Directors of, respectively, the horror 1931 movies Frankenstein, Dracula, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. All three are formative for the genre and considered hugely important in the history of cinema. Dracula specifically has been [mentioned](https://johndarnielle.tumblr.com/post/165948736866/what-movie-would-you-say-is-the-closest-to-the) as an influence on Goths.
4. From Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”.
5. Title of an extremely goth (but not Gothic) novel by Ann Radcliffe, published 1794
6. Soho is the entertainment district in London, England and the location of the Batcave.
7. The song premiered on NPR and features the Nashville Symphony Chorus. See [here](https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2017/04/25/525383835/the-mountain-goats-on-growing-up-and-growing-older-in-goth) for the relevant interview.
8. Not, as noted in an interview, a reference to any other wolves in the Mountain Goats canon. JD just likes wolves. Which is fair, they’re cool.
9. Possibly the Tetragrammaton - the secret name of God that has been lost to time.
10. DB Cooper is a famous plane hijacker who, in 1971, stole $200,000 and jumped out of the plane, never to be found again. Cooper is the subject of many conspiracy theories and many potential identities have been put forward; he probably died due to jumping out of a plane into the wilderness.
11. A “bagman” is an archaic term for traveling salesman. Merriam Webster defines the term as “broadly, an intermediary in an illicit or unethical transaction”.
12. See Luke 7:32 (“They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept.”) A similar story is told in Matthew 11:17, which is referenced in “Matthew 11:14-19” on 'The Life of the World In Flux'.
13. See Ezekiel 47:9 (“And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.)
14. The Batcave, a club in Soho, London that hosted many goth bands mentioned in the album, closed in 1985. Presumably this lyric refers to the spiritual end of the goth era, not the exact date the Batcave closed. Also a very cool name in re the Batman comics.
15. As neat as this would be as a reference to the Star Trek animated series episode called “How Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth”, it is presumably a reference to King Lear Act 1 Scene 4, “"How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child!" JD is a [known](https://johndarnielle.tumblr.com/post/170455070681/do-you-have-a-favorite-shakespeare-play) fan of King Lear, and has unknown feelings about Star Trek: The Animated Series.
16. A symbol in the Old Testament of debasement and humbling oneself, see Jonah 3:5 (“The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.”) and Luke 10:13 (“”For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.”)
17. The Sisters of Mercy, who appear many times in this album, sang about donning sackcloth in their song “Flood I” ("In a flood of your tears, in sackclothAnd ashes and ashes and ashes and ashes/And ashes and ashes and lies....")
18. A reference to Heraclitus, “no man ever steps into the same river twice for it is not the same river and he is not the same man”.
19. An allusion (and possibly a riposte) to the Smiths song “How Soon Is Now”, where they sing “There’s a club if you’d like to go/You could meet somebody who really loves you”.
20. One of the shirts for the tour features a depiction of Alaric I (king of the Visigoths) sacking Rome in 410. This lyric could be parsed as a parallel to the Batcave and other goth clubs (a haven for outcasts) closing.
21. See John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
22. Again, as per JD’s interview, nothing to do with other wolves, they’re just cool and make good images.
23. The first single from the album; Andrew Eldritch was the main singer of Sisters of Mercy, a popular goth band referenced multiple times in the album. The Mountain Goats twice covered the song “Lucretia, My Reflection” on the Goths tour and in my humble opinion, it rules. See [here](https://soundcloud.com/nyctaper/lucretia-my-reflection-sisters?in=nyctaper/sets/mountain-goats-live-at-brooklyn-steel-nov-12-2017) and [here](https://archive.org/details/tmg2017-11-17/08+Lucretia+My+Reflection+(Sisters+of+Mercy).flac).
24. Motorhead was a band from the UK that formed in 1975 and was at the forefront of metal in the 80s.
25. A particular type of lightweight sports car with two seats, produced between 1957-72. I went for a ride in one once, restored by my dad’s mate, and thought I was going to die. At least, I think it was a Lotus Seven, I was pretty busy trying not to hurl.
26. Eldritch moved back to Leeds from Oxford and proceeded to form Sisters of Mercy.
27. Bring back fog machines!!
28. A coach drawn by four horses; i.e. obsolete.
29. Also spelled “selvedge”; the heavier edge of a fabric that is specially finished in order to keep it from unraveling.
30. Leipzig, Germany, formerly East Germany, home to many goth bands and goth related festivals.
31. A reference to the Smiths “London”.
32. See Exodus 2:3 - “But when she could hide him [Moses] no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.”
33. A city near LA in California with a reputation for being boring.
34. An American car maker, now defunct. Previously a part of GM. I don’t know much about cars and their relative coolness but Pontiacs aren’t on my short list of known “sexy” cars. Please correct me on critical Pontiac-related information.
35. The guy that inspired the song (see [Banter page](https://www.moreannotatedgoats.org/banter)) had filed his canines into fangs. 10 out of 10 dentists recommend that you don’t do this.
36. The Pontiac Trans-Am Firebird (sometimes just called a Firebird? Again, working off minimal car knowledge here) was a relatively cool car produced in the US between 1967-2002. It had seats for the main character of this song and his three women companions - if it weren’t a true story, I would suspect an allusion to the three women vampires in Dracula.
37. The phoenix is a mythological bird that bursts into flame at the end of its life and is reborn from the ashes. (This may also be an allusion to the guy’s AC being broken and California being hot. JD @ me with that authorial intent)
38. No disrespect to JD but there is fuck-all happening in Ohio
39. Goths and punks band together even today to beat up Nazis. It’s a beautiful thing, punching Nazis.
40. Sometimes sung as “a problem with the Manson Youth”, which is a pastiche of the Hitler Youth and Marilyn Manson
41. A city in California near where JD and PPH grew up, and not the location of any prisons. It is, however, the location of many of the very early Mountain Goats shows and referenced in “Palmcorder Yajna”, “Alibi”, and “Prominent Metaphysicians of South Pomona”.
42. Shut the fuck up, Dave.
43. Popular goth/DIY musician hobby of making one’s own amps/pedals/equipment from mail-order kits (e.g. PAIA)
44. Dial-up technology that enabled speeds sufficient for music-sharing and dramatically increased accessibility to subculture-specific music beyond local scenes. Became more widely available circa 1990-1991.
45. Unicorns in mythology are immune to poison and/or grant the person who drinks their blood/uses their parts somehow immunity to poison.
46. Evangelical phrase meaning one who is saved by Jesus; also the title of [a 1904 hymn](https://hymnary.org/text/once_in_sins_darkest_night_i_was_wanderi).
47. “Calling the corners” is a Wiccan ritual that invokes the cardinal directions to open a ritual or spellwork.
48. See Galatians 6:17 (“From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus”), which is apparently about circumcision - I don’t think this is about circumcision.
49. See banter from the Fillmore, 06/01/2017 and about Wear Black for further discussion of the allusions to JD’s style at the time.
50. Scaling is buildup of minerals in a well-pipe that eventually may make the well useless.
51. Another Exodus 2 reference - the river took baby Moses, swaddled in rags, to Pharaoh’s daughter.
52. Comets “die” when they no longer have a tail (formed by ice vaporising) and appear as a rocky asteroid, or when they are completely sublimated into nothing by the heat of the sun if their perihelion is low enough. The person making a Genius annotation for this song informs us that there was a goth as FUCK [skull-shaped dead comet](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/halloween-skies-to-include-dead-comet-flyby) that flew past earth a couple years ago. This is not exactly relevant but it’s very cool..
53. Maalox is an over the counter brand of liquid antacid that contains aluminum hydroxide and magnesium hydroxide, with the occasional addition of simethicone, an anti-gas compound. It clearly did not prevent the narrator from hurling.
54. The title of a song by Siouxsie and the Banshees, released in 1986. It’s a pretty cool song with sick synths and goth guitars but also some kind of symphonic-metal-ish vocals. I’m into it.
55. Radio station in Southern California that is known for playing alternative/subculture-specific music.
56. Extremely influential English goth band formed in 1976, known for the distinctive timbre of lead vocalist Siouxsie Sioux, who sang about themes considered pretty dark even for goth bands.
57. A German-made type of car radio.
58. My dad says this is a part of the car you don’t want to break. The internet tells me it’s the bit that holds the engine. This seems important to not crack.
59. Local name for I-5 in LA; I-5 is the main north-south corridor on the West Coast and stretches from Mexico to the Canadian border.
60. Part of LA that has a big rock shaped like an eagle, in the 80s a working-class neighborhood, now pretty rich but what’s new, gentrification
61. Relatively affordable beer.
62. Soda that is good but should not be mixed with beer, hopefully the narrator is making better choices than this. I do not have faith in this dude.
63. It takes about 15-20 years after quitting for the stroke/heart attack/etc risk incurred by smoking to go as close to normal as it’ll ever be.
64. Referencing the Sisters of Mercy “Vision Thing”, also a quality song you should check out.
65. The tagline of the station, apropos spelling and all
66. ““Wear Black" is partly about when I wore dark sunglasses, dark clothes and white oxfords and walked around looking like an undertaker. That's what I looked like in Portland.” JD in a [Willamette Week interview 2017/05/31](https://www.wweek.com/music/2017/05/31/mountain-goats-john-darnielle-on-chasing-death-and-dressing-goth-in-portland/)
67. Cypress is a symbol of grief in ancient Greece; this comes from the myth of Cyparissus as told in Ovid’s Metamorphosis, book 10. Cyparissus is turned into a cypress tree by his lover Apollo after accidentally killing his beloved stag.
68. Likely a reference to [“Here I Am, Lord”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4ATBaI7ycY), a popular Christian (originally Catholic?) hymn with a lyric that begins “I the Lord of sea and sky”. It goes pretty hard and was always a banger in my Protestant church as a kid, only outstripped by the one set to ‘’Finlandia’’.
69. The left hand path is a concept in occultism, typically associated with dark or malicious magic. See also Hindu/Tantric vāmācāra or vāmamārga.
70. “Vanishing coast” is a term in habitat ecology referring to erosion and loss of wetlands.
71. According to [this interview](https://observer.com/2017/05/mountain-goats-band-john-darnielle-interview/), the “you” in this verse is God
72. The Thomas Guide was a series of paper atlases of Southern California.
73. Source code is the underlying programming of a computer, that the user typically does not interact with or see.
74. Cocaine is a stimulant purified from the coca leaf, a plant native to the Andes and used to mitigate altitude sickness. In its pure form, it was originally popularized by Sigmund Freud as an ophthalmic anesthetic; he then decided it made him write really well (this was incorrect) when snorted and it was quickly popularized as a recreational stimulant. Today, it is snorted and injected for recreational use, and daubed on the nasal mucosa to stop bleeding in medical settings.
75. A phrase repeated from Age of Kings (“In the lost age/Where the jewels hide/And the sword sticks/In the waiting stone/Still warm”) and the close of Devil House (“Oh, for sure, he said, the lost age, the more books I write, the more I notice how almost everything takes place in the lost age, the window just shifts, it’s sort of disturbing at first but then it’s kind of liberating.")
76. Referenced throughout the banter for this album - a club in Long Beach that closed in 1989, known for paying bands in cocaine and/or other drugs.
77. A very good name for a store, specifically a goth/punk store on Melrose Ave in LA open 1983-2005.
78. Phosphene is the science name for the bursts of light you see when you rub your eyes really hard.
79. Presumably Pat Travers, a Canadian metal guitarist who enjoyed fame and success that waned significantly in the 80s.
80. Rainbow Bar and Grill in California or the Rainbow Theater in London - the former between two important venues and the latter an important goth venue in and of itself.
81. Classic chord progression underlying lots of rock music; platform shoes are a classic goth shoe style featuring obviously raised soles.
82. Referencing [the video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhJZrRV5YKo) for Bauhaus’s cover of David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust. It’s pretty freaky.
83. In the American definition (see banter page for the ‘’decidedly different’’ Australian definition), when a band’s album does not pass muster with the record company that contracted it, it remains unreleased i.e. “shelved”.
84. Do you, JD? You wrote a whole album without it.
85. Horse racing jockeys wear specific colors meant to be recognizable at a distance.
86. A racecourse that hosts the Preakness, one of the three most important (“triple crown”) purses in horse racing.
87. Lead singer of Nine Inch Nails, an industrial rock band that gained popularity in the 90s.
88. The ‘bottom of the bill’ is the least popular band listed on a billing, with the smallest text.
89. Occasionally sung as “not gonna peddle that swill”.
90. The bass switches here to a chorused bass, using a delay effect popularized by Joy Division/New Order bassist Peter Hook and the Cure bassist Simon Gallup. It’s referenced in the lyrics of Abandoned Flesh. It sounds extremely cool, and played high up on the neck of the instrument as Peter Hughes does here, is a clear nod to Hook’s playing in songs like Love Will Tear Us Apart, which is carried by a melodic bass in this style. This solo rules.
91. A workhorse general purpose programming language used in a wide variety of applications.
92. The production company behind Star Wars, making obscene money in the 80s and 90s.
93. This verse is sung & written by Peter Hughes and, as previously discussed earlier, it fucks; JD asked him to write a coda when he was uncertain of how to finish the song. According to season 2 of I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats it was written on a ferry in Europe (exact citation needed).
94. Blackletter is a Gothic font used in the first printing presses.
95. From the prologue of Romeo and Juliet, coined by Shakespeare (“From forth the fatal loins of these two foes/A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life;/Whose misadventured piteous overthrows/Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.)
96. Cold Lake. I listened to it specifically for the purpose of this annotation project and it’s actually not that bad, then again I’m not familiar with Celtic Frost’s back catalogue, so it may well be their worst album. But it’s got some kickass melodic guitar and I overall enjoyed listening to it and didn’t want to scoop my ears out with a grapefruit spoon. I will say it gets better after the first couple minutes (which sounds like the Cars fucking a dying cat) and sounds more like KISS. There’s also a bit where the guy just screams “THEY!!! LOVE!!! EAGLES!!!” which is a sentiment I can get behind.
97. Plato’s allegory of the cave, presented in The Republic.
98. Bile was part of the humoral system and associated with feelings of anger and discontent when in excess.
99. A professional microphone that JD does not hate. He hates the Shure SM-7 according to the I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats podcast and confirmed [on Twitter](https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1530252454918496257).
100. Lead singer of the Cure, recognized as one of the great songwriters of the 80s.
101. Currently he does not live in a villa in France (though he probably could afford one) There is a recording studio in a French castle the Cure worked at for half a year while making Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, the album that had “Just Like Heaven”, an absolute jam.
102. A reference to [the dance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWPyikU-gXY) Smith does when playing Lullaby live. It’s a bad dance. (Link from Genius annotator)
103. She of the Banshees
104. DJ of KROQ in the 80s, host of a New Years’ party featuring post-punk/goth/etc bands
105. Gene Loves Jezebel (well, one of them) apparently used this song as an opener, which is hysterical to me personally
106. Specifically, Desire and Heartache charted on KROQ; Jealous was a #1 hit on the US alternative chart. They had two charting songs in the US.
107. The label was called DGC, a subsidiary of Interscope.
108. .They are identical twins, basically the most related you can be.
109. Called “Jay Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel” and “Michael Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel”. There are no overlapping members.
110. Reference to “Desire” by the OG Gene Loves Jezebel
111. A goth band from Leeds, who released music on Andrew Eldritch’s label, then joined the same label as Sisters of Mercy (Beggars Banquet)
112. A proto-goth band that opened for the March Violets, less successful than the former
113. Another Leeds goth band; Leeds was an epicenter of the goth scene in England.
114. They were on the same label as the March Violets and the Bolshoi, Beggars Banquet. Cherry Red Records was another goth/indie label.
115. Lead singer of the Smashing Pumpkins.
116. Some Wikipedian (NOT ME) renamed the section about the split “Two Genes Loving Jezebel” after Goths came out. There is also a reference to this song‘s comment on Wikipedia. Meta - Wikipedians love omphaloskepsis.
117. A specific delay effect used all over music from this era, especially in Joy Division/New Order and the Cure. Peter Hughes uses the same effect in the second half of Shelved. As previously discussed, it kicks ass.
118. Reference to Arthur, the once and future king of England.