Holy wow

[beautifulduckweed]

I heard "No Children" by The Mountain Goats for the first time today, and oh my God. So much delicious bitterness in two and a half minutes of song. It's hilarious, and he expresses pretty much every possible spiteful, hateful, self-destructive thing a person deep in the throes of a bad breakup possibly could.

The video isn't especially good--it's not an official video, it's some schmuck creating stop-motion collage animation that's only occasionally interesting. I recommend ignoring the video and instead listening to the song while reading the lyrics I've posted below.

I hope that our few remaining friends
Give up on trying to save us
I hope we come out with a fail-safe plot
To piss off the dumb few that forgave us

I hope the fences we mended
Fall down beneath their own weight
And I hope we hang on past the last exit
I hope it's already too late

And I hope the junkyard a few blocks from here
Someday burns down
And I hope the rising black smoke carries me far away
And I never come back to this town again in my life

I hope I lie
And tell everyone you were a good wife
And I hope you die
I hope we both die

I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow
I hope it bleeds all day long
Our friends say it's darkest before the sun rises
We're pretty sure they're all wrong

I hope it stays dark forever
I hope the worst isn't over
And I hope you blink before I do
And I hope I never get sober

And I hope when you think of me years down the line
You can't find one good thing to say
And I'd hope that if I found the strength to walk out
You'd stay the hell out of my way

I am drowning
There is no sign of land
You are coming down with me
Hand in unlovable hand

And I hope you die
I hope we both die

And to balance the bitterness: here, have "Come Back from San Francisco" by The Magnetic Fields.

The refrain is my favorite part:

You need me like the wind needs the trees
to blow in, like the moon needs poetry
You need me

Comments

[the-drifter.livejournal.com]

Oh man, you hadn't heard "No Children" before? Now I'm feeling the strong urge to sit down and review the Goats' older discography with you, fill in the gaps.

[misshepeshu.livejournal.com]

I have massive gaps in my Mountain Goats discography. I would be more than happy to sit down and have you fill them in.

That's right. I said: Fill all my gaps.

Baby.

[benefitz.livejournal.com]

Mmm...tasty gap filling...


Baby.

[misshepeshu.livejournal.com]

Flirt.

[the-drifter.livejournal.com]

Ooh, baby, you know I'm good for it. *leers*

Off the topic of gap-filling but continuing with the topic of music: I absolutely have to give you Shudder to Think's First Love, Last Rites soundtrack. For explanation of why, please see these two examples.

[misshepeshu.livejournal.com]

Dude! Yes! And I totally owe you a humongoriffic DVD of music humongorifficness.

[jes5199.livejournal.com]

those are some of my favorites

[misshepeshu.livejournal.com]

I am such a sucker for clever, and these two bands do clever really well.

[bonobo23.livejournal.com]

I like "sucker for clever" so much I might make it my new screen name somewhere. That describes me to a T.

[misshepeshu.livejournal.com]

Hee! Glad to be of service.

[jennekirby.livejournal.com]

I adore both of those.

And the first one was on our playlist of acceptable music for the wedding that we gave to Lyndsay.

[misshepeshu.livejournal.com]

HA! I remember noticing a whole lot of awesomely wrong love songs being played at your wedding. That's great.

POUNCHUGRAR (I miss you)

[the-drifter.livejournal.com]

Oh my god, you had Lyndsay d.j. your wedding? AAhahasdfhashasdfad oh man, I'm going to have to ask her about that later.

[jennekirby.livejournal.com]

She was AWESOME as a DJ. I mean, we knew she'd rock at it but she was better than any DJ ever. Made for a great party, which was the whole point.

[the-drifter.livejournal.com]

Nothing better in an amateur dj than someone with a playful musical sensibility. Plus, hot blondes behind the mixer: always a win.

[misshepeshu.livejournal.com]

Um. That was actually me. Replying using Lana's computer and forgetting to log her out before making the comment. Ha.

[piezocuttlefish.livejournal.com]

I had to pick up my jaw off the floor when I first heard the song. I've never been able to find the song anywhere close to funny, as it so clearly captured very much who I was at the darkest times of my life.

And to hear John Darnielle talk about it, you get the impression that he's never been depressed a day in his life—he just wanted to write an album about people going through a rough divorce. To create such music without having it in the soul . . . his craft is amazing.

[misshepeshu.livejournal.com]

That song encapsulates every awful, spiteful, self-destructive urge I've ever felt but would never have allowed myself to express, much less act on. It's gorgeously cathartic and blackly funny to me.

[viiviid.livejournal.com]

ooh yes. both of those songs are great. john darnielle WILL have my babies someday....i saw them play a couple weekends ago and he turned the chorus of that song into an "i hope we all die" audience singalong.

[misshepeshu.livejournal.com]

I almost went to that show! However, Circumstances Conspired Against Me and I ended up being too exhausted to go. Boooooooo.