Now Here We Are Thirty Years Later

Sin as hard as you can. Today's episode is about Shane MacGowan, growing up Catholic in England in the 90s, knocking a few teacups off the shelves, and 'the life of the spirit' in John Darnielle's work from 'Stable Boy Song' to 'Satanic Messiah.' It's 2009, and the song is 'Psalms 40:2.'

Well, they come and pull me from my house. Today’s episode is about ‘Heretic Pride,’ monsters, pagans, ghost cowboys, how a comprehensive knowledge of unreleased Mountain Goats lyrics might come in handy when you least expect it, and a ‘large, eclectic crowd of gay people’ at the City Nightclub in 1986, enjoying ‘the best sound system in Portland & possibly the entire PNW.’Show notesA lot of today’s episode is about what life was like for queer teenagers experiencing homelessness on the streets of Portland in the 1980s - an organisation that serves this community today which Darnielle himself has recommended is p:ear, which stands for Project Education, Art and Recreation. While I was in town, programme director Tony Martinez was kind enough to give me a tour of the building and told me about the amazing work they do, helping young people to get anything from socks and basic hygiene products to food service qualifications and opportunities to sell their own artwork. It all starts with looking at ‘youth as youth, intentionally developing relationships’ as the basis for mentorship, rather than a model centered on transactions or case management. If you enjoy the episode, I don’t charge for any of my work on this project, but you might like to donate to p:ear - you can do so at pearmentor.org/donate. Or if you’re listening in the UK and want to give locally, the charity AKT works for ‘safe homes and better futures for lgbtq+ young people’: you can donate to them on https://www.akt.org.uk/Appeal/donate. If you make a donation to either organisation, tag me on social media - notrockyhorror on Twitter or Bluesky, thirty_years_later on Instagram - to let me know, and I’ll send you a photo. In Portland I didn’t quite manage to ‘shoot a roll of 32 exposures’ - disposable cameras these days seem mostly to come with rolls of 28 - but I do have spare copies of a good few pictures from my trip which I’d be happy to post out in exchange for your generosity if you get in touch. References: It turns out my hosting platform doesn't allow me to post as long a list of references as I need to here, given the amount of archival material I used in the episode. You can find the normal list of interviews, live shows, etc on this link instead, including persistent links and page number to all the historical newspaper sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRxvAze26mD0l7oh_P-TeAohyXmL_S7Evk9ZVasio4xrqrC2OIPmx7V4tekBdMbHsic8TwmMMI85Ska/pub

Max Brod Hate Club. Today’s episode is about ‘From TG&Y,’ 2007, writer’s archives, the Mountain Goats fan forums, copying mean lyrics onto your school planner, and how to move a craftsman bungalow down the Santa Fe railroad in the dead of night.Show notesInterviews:Bill Meyer, ‘Goat Ease,’ Puncture, 1994: http://web.archive.org/web/19990427042719/http://mb1.musicblvd.com/cgi-bin/tw/288145857327820_105_4973‘The Mountain Goats Can’t Buy A Thrill,’ Puberty, 1993/4: https://web.archive.org/web/20140603113938/http://marcopolio.blogspot.com/ Richard O’Brien, ‘The Sound and the Fury: An Interview With John Darnielle,’ 3:am, 2007: https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/the-sound-and-the-fury-an-interview-with-john-darnielle/ Reese Higgins, ‘The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle on Internet Addiction, Metal, and the Lifetime Movie Network.’ Washington City Paper, 2013: https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/412154/the-mountain-goats-john-darnielle-on-internet-addiction-metal-and-the-lifetime-movie-network/ Christian Hoard, ‘The Slow Climb: How the Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle Became the Best Storyteller in Rock,’ Rolling Stone, 2015 [paywalled]: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-slow-climb-how-the-mountain-goats-john-darnielle-became-the-best-storyteller-in-rock-227793/Tom Breihan, ‘We Took The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle To His First Pro Wrestling Show In 35 Years,’ Stereogum, 2015: https://www.stereogum.com/1788418/we-took-the-mountain-goats-john-darnielle-to-his-first-pro-wrestling-show-in-35-years/interviews/ Craig Jenkins, ‘Genuinely John Darnielle The Mountain Goats’ frontman on keeping the faith, loving the occult, and sad songwriting.’ Vulture, 2022 [paywalled]:https://www.vulture.com/2022/08/john-darnielle-the-mountain-goats-bleed-out.htmlTom Breihan, ‘We’ve Got A File On You: John Darnielle,’ Stereogum, 2022: https://www.stereogum.com/2195715/john-darnielle-mountain-goats-bleed-out/interviews/weve-got-a-file-on-you/ Songwriters on Process: ‘Julien Baker and Matt Nathanson,’ February 2022: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2XHol51wmCjMdUZyzHldMU?si=0aec21182d0140a0&nd=1Live shows:Live at the Gold Student Center, Pitzer College, Claremont, CA, on 2006-12-02, taped by Chris Bellew: https://archive.org/details/tmg2006-12-02/ Live at The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, on 2006-09-20, taped by drworm01: https://archive.org/details/tmg2006-09-20.flacf/Live at Herbst Theater, San Francisco, CA, on 2009-05-29, taped by rainingvodka: https://archive.org/details/tmg2009-02-24.schoeps_cmc34_16bit/Live at VPRO on 1996-11-07: https://archive.org/details/tmg1996-11-07.aud.128mp3/Web resources:Japanese liner notes to Get Lonely, featuring Akao Mika interview and translated by Andrew Fazzari, on the Annotated Mountain Goats: https://annotatedtmg.org/mirror/gl-japanese-liner.html Barry Sanders, ‘Grove House: A California Bungalow Goes to College.’ Pitzer College, https://www.pitzer.edu/archives/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2014/09/Grove-House-History-Barry-Sanders1.pdf Anna Griffin, ‘Oregon Book Award Finalist Barry Sanders: The purposeful rambler.’ Oregon Live, 2011: https://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/anna_griffin/2011/04/oregon_book_award_finalist_bar.htmlJason Koebler, ‘It’s September, Forever.’ VICE, 2015: https://www.vice.com/en/article/nze8nb/its-september-forever. John’s tweets about Matt Nathanson: https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1471985074178596865 https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1043621458214309888And about Kafka/Emily Dickinson in this thread:https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/562732001464434689And on destroying your archive: https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1428104276417474562 John’s stated position on bootlegging, 2004: https://archive.org/details/MountainGoats?tab=about tMG forum discussion of Hail and Farewell Gothenburg, archived on the Annotated Mountain Goats: https://annotatedtmg.org/hafg.html tMG forum post about ‘From TG&Y’ studio version: https://web.archive.org/web/20071211211949/http://www.mountain-goats.com/forums/read.php?2,11195 Jake Brown, ‘Obsession, Insanity and Fanaticism,’ Glorious Noise, 2001 - featuring Last Plane to Jakarta material on Syd Barrett: https://gloriousnoise.com/2001/obsession_insanity_and_fanatic Kafka on books and reading, The Marginalian: https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/06/06/kafka-on-books-and-reading/YouTube videos:‘The Mountain Goats @ Simplon, Groningen, Netherlands 1995-04-12,’ taped by Gregor and uploaded by notasfarwest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28e-WerYzJM&t=962s The Mountain Goats - Dance Music, live in London, uploaded by vikramj86: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5B4UVUHeWwMountain Goats, Eddie Argos at the Union Chapel, uploaded by Keith TOTP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpO0e5nEvIE The Mountain Goats - From TG&Y - at Rock for Roe at Pinhook on 1/20/13, uploaded by Ash Crowe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxUv9Qxi7WQ

The loneliest people in the whole wide world. Today's episode is about ‘Maybe Sprout Wings,’ Frankie Lymon, the ‘high lonesome sound’ of Appalachian folk music, and a depressive episode at the Trinity LABAN Centre. Show notesInterviews:Tom Lynch, ‘Only the Lonely: Mountain Goats man John Darnielle sings a sad story,’ New City Music, 2006: https://music.newcity.com/2006/09/14/only-the-lonely-mountain-goats-man-john-darnielle-sings-a-sad-story/Andy Downing, ‘Mountain Goats' Darnielle opens up in `Get Lonely.'’ Chicago Tribune, 2006 [paywalled]:https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2006-09-08-0609080026-story.htmlCraig Wright, ‘Mountain Goats' John Darnielle on Chasing Death and Dressing Goth in Portland,’ Willamette Week, 2017: https://www.wweek.com/music/2017/05/31/mountain-goats-john-darnielle-on-chasing-death-and-dressing-goth-in-portland/Steven Hyden, ‘Celebration Rock.’ ‘20th Century Boss, Part 7: “Tunnel of Love” with John Darnielle.’ Spotify podcast, 2018: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0g1WGiwnjKKcGaYRnKPOuG?si=2b751fe1b0f84e03&nd=1Craig Jenkins, ‘Genuinely John Darnielle The Mountain Goats’ frontman on keeping the faith, loving the occult, and sad songwriting.’ Vulture, 2022 [paywalled]:https://www.vulture.com/2022/08/john-darnielle-the-mountain-goats-bleed-out.htmlLive shows:Live at Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, on 2005-06-20, taped by Peter Sohriakoff: https://archive.org/details/tmg2005-06-20Live at Club Europa, Brooklyn, on 2006-09-29, taped by Peter Sohriakoff: https://archive.org/details/tmg2006-09-29/Live at the Gothic Theater in Englewood, Colorado on 2017-09-16, taped by LMGB Tapes: https://archive.org/details/tmg2017-09-16/ Live at Boulder Theater, Colorado on 2018-09-13, taped by Lance Stack, feat. ‘Duane Allman Slept Here’: https://archive.org/details/tmg2018-09-13.mk4.flac24Live at Aladdin Theater, Portland, on 2019-09-10, taped by Liz Hamilton: https://archive.org/details/tmg2019-09-10Web resources:Japanese liner notes to Get Lonely, featuring Akao Mika interview and translated by Andrew Fazzari, on the Annotated Mountain Goats: https://annotatedtmg.org/mirror/gl-japanese-liner.html Witchsong, ‘I Don’t Wanna Die In Here: The Mountain Goats in Chicago,’ 2015: https://medium.com/witchsong/i-dont-wanna-die-in-here-the-mountain-goats-in-chicago-df8f1044c75dAmanda Petrusich, ‘The Discovery of Roscoe Holcomb and the “High Lonesome Sound.” The New Yorker, 2015 [paywalled]: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-discovery-of-roscoe-holcomb-and-the-high-lonesome-sound Kara Kundert, ‘50 STATES OF FOLK: The Enduring Power of Kentucky’s High Lonesome Sound.’ No Depression, 2020: https://www.nodepression.com/50-states-of-folk-the-enduring-power-of-kentuckys-high-lonesome-sound/Sandra Brennan, Rovi artist biography for Buell Kazee: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6tcyQ0ycaAsYbjhoDOt1jd?si=hwcOOaKKQ9WHHyWuJTv6lg&nd=1Pretty Panicks Press postcard, from an art project by Sara Wintz, featuring the first draft of Moon Over Goldsboro: https://annotatedtmg.org/mirror/moon-postcard.pdf Henry David Thoreau on Solitude, from ‘Walden’: https://commons.digitalthoreau.org/walden/solitude/ Stuart Heritage, ‘This Country: perfect, horrifying TV for anyone who grew up in a village.’ The Guardian, 2017: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/feb/22/this-country-bbc-perfect-horrifying-tv-for-anyone-who-grew-up-in-a-villageYouTube videos:‘Seabreeze,’ by Frankie Lymon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yo4UE-p864‘Brilliant Disguise,’ by The Extra Glenns on 1995-09-21 at the Empty Bottle in Chicago, IL. Uploaded by notasfarwest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2qMQJaRHak ‘Sickbed Blues,’ by Skip James: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgcpuhvjNuw ‘The Song Colloquially referred to as "Nikki oh Nikki" by the Mountain Goats,’ uploaded by Proud Heretic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMAhXEopqHwBooks:Franklin Bruno, Elvis Costello’s Armed Forces (Bloomsbury, 2005).

Deep in the dream chamber. Today's episode is about 2005, the year I discovered The Sunset Tree: an album that changed my life. It also takes in Keats, Walter Benjamin, amateur Shakespeare productions in Rutland, and the Venerable Bede.Show notesInterviews:Puncture interview with Bill Meyer, 1994: http://web.archive.org/web/19990427042719/http://mb1.musicblvd.com/cgi-bin/tw/288145857327820_105_4973 Washington Post interview with Ivan Kreilkamp, 2004: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2004/02/04/sure-footed-mountain-goats/534c6689-1848-4538-936a-e6da5230e961/ NPR interview with Linda Wertheimer, 2005: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/4651778Interview with No Depression, 2005: https://www.nodepression.com/john-darnielle-where-the-truth-lies/2/ The Sound of Young America podcast interview with Jesse Thorn, 2011: https://maximumfun.org/episodes/bullseye-with-jesse-thorn/john-darnielle-mountain-goats-interview-sound-young-america/MTV interview with Eric Spitznagel, discussing piracy, 2011: http://www.mtv.com/news/2693865/interview-the-mountain-goats-john-darnielle/SPIN interview with Joe Gross, 2011: https://www.spin.com/2011/04/spin-interview-john-darnielle/ VICE interview with Cam Lindsay, 2011: https://www.vice.com/en/article/bmw7m4/john-darnielle-lived-the-teenage-goth-life-i-never-did I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats, ‘218: In League With Dragons,’ with Darnielle and Joseph Fink, 2019:https://open.spotify.com/episode/4cORAS6IHaVredgdNx8FjS?si=33ed8ee10d224894 Interview with Helena Fitzgerald for her Substack, Griefbacon, 2021: https://griefbacon.substack.com/p/dont-write-songs-chatting-with-johnGuardian interview with Oscar Rickett, 2022: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/31/john-darnielle-being-an-american-is-like-living-in-a-terry-gilliam-world BOMB magazine interview with Carmen Maria Machado, 2022: https://bombmagazine.org/articles/john-darnielle/ Web resources:Holly Hazlewood’s review of Dark in Here for Spectrum Culture, quoting the press kit: https://spectrumculture.com/2021/06/24/the-mountain-goats-dark-in-here-review/ Bleed Out Bandcamp page with liner notes: https://themountaingoats.bandcamp.com/album/bleed-out Carl Wilson’s article on The Sunset Tree for The Globe and Mail, 2005: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/hes-finally-confessed-so-hold-on/article18226562/ Edmund Spenser, Sonnet 75: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45189/amoretti-lxxv-one-day-i-wrote-her-name Heritage Calling article on Newcastle-Gateshead public art over the decades, including Tyne Line of Txt Flow: https://heritagecalling.com/2016/09/07/55-years-of-public-art-in-newcastle-gateshead/ Darnielle on Berryman’s ‘Tampa Stomp’, featuring the reference to ancient Rome: https://fsgworkinprogress.com/2014/04/28/on-berrymans-tampa-stomp/ Wikipedia entry on Benjamin’s ‘Angel of history’: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelus_Novus John Keats, ‘This living hand, now warm and capable’: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50375/this-living-hand-now-warm-and-capable, and Joel Brouwer’s commentary on the poem: https://romantic-circles.org/editions/poets/prose_commentary/brouwer Geoff Sanborn’s newsletter episode on The Sunset Tree: https://allhail.substack.com/p/2005-the-sunset-treeJD’s tweet about The Sunset Tree: ‘a record that changed things for us’: https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1519056431126822920 Books:Bede. A History of the English Church and People. Translated and with an introduction by Leo Sherley-Price, revised by R. E. Latham. Penguin Books, 1968, pp. 127-8. Alan Bennett, The History Boys. Faber & Faber, 2004. Antony Sher. Beside Myself: An Actor’s Life. Revised edition. Nick Hern Books, 2009. Marc Maron, Waiting for the Punch: Words To Live By From The WTF Podcast. Flatiron Books, 2017, p. 40. Oliver Burke. Four Thousand Weeks: Time and How to Use It. Vintage, 2021. Devil House, by John Darnielle. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022.Live recordings:Live at KEXP Radio on 2005-06-16: https://archive.org/details/tmg2005-06-16.aud.192mp3/tmg2005-06-16t04.mp3 Live at The EARL, Atlanta, GA, on 2006-11-03: https://archive.org/details/mountaingoats2006-11-03.flac/08-Talking.flac Live at Club Capitol, Perth, Australia, on 2007-01-02: https://archive.org/details/tmg2007-01-02/tmg2007-01-02t03.flac Live at 9:30 Club, Washington D.C., on 2009-11-27: https://archive.org/details/tMG2009-11-27.aud.flac16/Tmg2009-11-27t19.flac Live at Ventura Music Hall, CA, on 2022-04-29: https://archive.org/details/tmg2022-04-29.aud.mv88.flac24/tmg2022-04-29t26.flac Youtube links:‘High Barbary,’ performed for the Sing Out Loud series at the Pirate Museum in St. Augustine, Florida: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEgoYPnslC0 PBS Eons: ‘Something Has Been Making This Mark For 500 Million Years’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz1fccY3S84

45 minutes in the pews, praying the Rosary. Today's episode is about 'Against Pollution,' Catholicism, ammonites, and spiritual 2004.Show notesInterviewsCasual Magic podcast interview on John’s Hare Krishna years with Shivam Bhatt: https://casualmagic.libsyn.com/casual-magic-episode-31-mountain-goatsLive showsLive at The 40 Watt Club, Athens, GA, on 2006-08-10: https://archive.org/details/tmg2006-08-10.flac16/tmg2006-08-10t18.flac Live at The Saturn, Birmingham, AL, on 2021-08-08: https://archive.org/details/tmg2021-08-08/tmg2021-08-08-26.flacWeb ResourcesClassic FM article on ‘Coventry Carol’: https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/occasions/christmas/coventry-carol-lyrics-meaning-history/ JD tweet about teaching catechism: https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1242608701116162053; also worth noting is this reference to an early Mountain Goats song ‘called “History of the Church Part 2”… about Polycarp rebuking Marcion’: https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1071071098685534208 Natural History Museum primer on ammonites: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-an-ammonite.html ‘The Chambered Nautilus,’ by Oliver Wendell Holmes: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44379/the-chambered-nautilus Anemona Hartocollis, ‘The Major Findings of Harvard’s Report on Its Ties to Slavery,’ discussing Holmes’s actions as dean. New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/26/us/harvard-slavery-report.html ‘Exclusive: Hammer Horror Stars Reunite at Bray.’ CinemaRetro, https://web.archive.org/web/20100325031535/http://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?/archives/257-EXCLUSIVE-HAMMER-HORROR-STARS-REUNITE-AT-BRAY-STUDIOS.html/ BooksGraham Greene, Brighton Rock. Vintage Classics, 2011. Jeanette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Vintage, 2011.YouTube videos‘Whole Wide World/Against Pollution [Live]’ at the Gothic Theatre in Englewood, CO, on 2021-08-19: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSn6N0Cw_Yg ‘Against Pollution [Live//Halloween//2005]’ – at the Knitting Factory in New York on 2005-10-31, with John dressed as a priest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1kbCQkhezs

Where they manufactured what I needed. The show is back with a double episode about 'Palmcorder Yajna,' 'Devil House,' a folder full of MSN Messenger chatlogs two decades old, and the unique awfulness of being 13 and online in West Deeping in 2003. ***Show notesBooksDevil House, by John Darnielle. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022. InterviewsBeliever interview with Daniel Handler, 2004: https://believermag.com/an-interview-with-john-darnielle/Pitchfork interview with Tom Breihan, 2009: https://pitchfork.com/news/36406-john-darnielle-tells-the-story-behind-the-mountain-goats-biblical-new-lp/ The AV Club interview with Paul Caine, 2009: https://www.avclub.com/the-mountain-goats-john-darnielle-learns-to-trust-other-1798218315 Rolling Stone interview with Christian Hoard, 2015: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-slow-climb-how-the-mountain-goats-john-darnielle-became-the-best-storyteller-in-rock-227793/I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats, ‘203: Done Bleeding,’ with Darnielle and Joseph Fink, 2019: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6FguuVWylhnxsYsOmPDSTu?si=3d7aebf5ea1f415bI Only Listen to the Mountain Goats, ‘204: Going Invisible 2,’ with Darnielle and Joseph Fink, 2019:https://open.spotify.com/episode/1w3hnw8e881zr1mohUy8lT?si=63bb43a9e0aa4848Smarty Pants podcast interview with Stephanie Bastek, 2022: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0u15aKXWzicelZPItsBusO?si=a4faa02396534010&nd=1SSound Opinions podcast interview with Andrew Gill, 2022: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/john-darnielle-on-his-new-novel-devil-house/id94793843?i=1000549044737 Q podcast interview with Tom Power, 2022: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-50-q New Yorker interview with Helen Rosner, 2022: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/john-darnielle-wants-to-tell-you-a-story Web ResourcesWe Shall All Be Healed liner notes: https://annotatedtmg.org/wsabh.htmlWe Shall All Be Healed microsite reconstructions: http://web.archive.org/web/20101208171235/http://www.4ad.com/weshallallbehealed/ and https://annotatedtmg.org/mirror/wsabh-microsite.html John’s tweet about his hospice work: https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1068880460477054977 Geoff Sanborn’s newsletter entry for All Hail the Mountain Goats on We Shall All Be Healed: https://allhail.substack.com/p/2003-we-shall-all-be-healed?s=r Tom Moyser’s 2012 review of Transcendental Youth in For Folk’s Sake: https://www.forfolkssake.com/reviews/19212/album-the-mountain-goats-transcendental-youth T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47311/the-waste-land Live showsLive at The Empty Bottle, Chicago, on 2002-11-01: https://archive.org/details/tmg2002-11-01.aud.128mp3/tmg2002-11-01t09.mp3Live at Berbati’s Pan, Portland on 2003-10-03: https://archive.org/details/tmg2003-10-03.aud.192mp3/tmg2003-10-03t01.mp3Live at VPRO DAWRS Session Studio DeSmet, Amsterdam on 2004-03-27: https://archive.org/details/tmg2004-03-27.FM/06+-+Interview.flacLive at KEXP Radio on 2005-06-16: https://archive.org/details/tmg2005-06-16.aud.192mp3/tmg2005-06-16t04.mp3Live at Herbst Theatre, San Francisco, on 2009-02-24: https://archive.org/details/tmg2009-02-24.schoeps_cmc34_16bit/john_darnielle_20090224_cmc34_d01t06.flacLive at The Opera House, Toronto, on 2011-04-03: https://archive.org/details/MG2011-04-03.flac/mg2011-12-31t12.flac Live at City Winery, New York, on 2015-04-11: http://www.nyctaper.com/2015/04/the-mountain-goats-april-11-2015-city-winery-flacmp3streaming/Live at Swedish American Hall, San Francisco, on 2020-02-20: https://archive.org/details/tmg2020-02-20/10_%5Bbanter+4%5D.wavLive at Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro, NC, on 2021-12-16: https://archive.org/details/tmg2021-12-16/tmg2021-12-16-17.flacYouTube clips‘Palmcorder Yajna,’ live at The Earl in Atlanta, GA on 2004-10-18: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2aMfIFo0ro Signal Flare #9, featuring ‘Shot, Repeatedly, At Close Range, In the Chest, By Your Love’ (2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-nnmmSwizA ‘Rescue Breathing,’ live at Swedish American Hall, San Francisco, 2020-02-20: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjl2tqDr3gI‘Beat the Devil’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j868ThCN9cQ ‘All Devils Here Now’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1NTsVR-FmY ‘You Were Cool,’ live at Carnegie Hall, 2013-01-15: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYeeQn65qPw ‘We Shall All Be Healed,’ performed for X Radio in London on 2017-05-25: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTqXAf7engc

Oh Christ, it's those awful Alpha people again. The final instalment in this season is a double episode on 'No Children,' taking in the Offspring, the difference between a divorce and burning a house down, and the things we can't let go of until they let go of us. Show notes06/22/13 Live show at Bottletree in Birmingham, AL, with banter leading up to ‘Alpha Chum Gatherer’: https://archive.org/details/mountaingoats2013-06-22.flac16/mountaingoats2013-06-22t11.flac BBC News article on grammar schools and social mobility: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44081733 Wikipedia entry forWill It Blend?: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_It_Blend%3FInterview with Daoud Tyler-Ameen for NPR on ‘No Children’: https://www.npr.org/2018/10/10/653349496/the-mountain-goats-american-anthem-no-children-dysfunctionTumblr post on the Alpha couple as ‘one flesh’: https://johndarnielle.tumblr.com/post/119711150476/hi-tallahassee-has-been-one-of-my-favorite-albumsFandom page on ‘No Children,’ referencing live banter which is quoted throughout: https://themountaingoats.fandom.com/wiki/No_Children Fandom page on the Tallahassee album, containing liner notes. Quotes from live introductions to individual songs can be found on their respective pages here: https://themountaingoats.fandom.com/wiki/Tallahassee ‘John Darnielle explains his cultural influences,’ including The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Vulture, 2014: https://www.vulture.com/2014/09/john-darnielle-explains-his-cultural-influences.html The Annotated Mountain Goats site for Tallahassee (archived), with quotes from a 2005 interview with Transition Video Magazine: https://web.archive.org/web/20201112032352/https://kylebarbour.org/tmg/tallahassee.html#fn:southwoodjohn -And for the whole Alpha series: https://web.archive.org/web/20201111235658/https://kylebarbour.org/tmg/series.html#alpha Tumblr post on narrowing the focus of the album: https://johndarnielle.tumblr.com/post/46335170309/the-sleeve-that-held-the-boarding-pass-from-my Article on Tallahassee by Jim Fisher for Salon.com, archived here https://www.scribd.com/document/52894439/tMG-InterviewsInterview with Chris Willman for Variety, 2021: https://variety.com/2021/music/news/no-children-mountain-goats-tiktok-john-darnelle-video-1235100275/Kickstarter page for ‘It’s Complicated: A Feminist Zine on Loving Misogynist Art’: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/niina/its-complicated-a-feminist-zine-on-loving-misogyniLalitree Darnielle’s response to ‘It’s Complicated’: https://blog.lalitree.com/post/24473496489/its-complicated-project-welcome-to-the-itsTumblr post on ‘Going to Georgia’: https://johndarnielle.tumblr.com/post/54507637224/hi-so-i-totally-get-that-you-dont-play-going-to Tumblr post on the genesis of the Alpha series: https://johndarnielle.tumblr.com/post/53493520474/why-did-you-write-so-many-alpha-songs-did-you Fandom page for ‘One Winter at Point Alpha Privative,’ discussing the problem with poems: https://themountaingoats.fandom.com/wiki/One_Winter_at_Point_Alpha_Privative I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats episode 109, on ‘Younger’: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0DNMpmyrpy0NzJI4zLuwlv?si=f7e06a015b5143d3 Zine interview with Cory Brown, c.1999 about the fan appetite for divorce content: https://www.flickr.com/photos/caliclimber/9136546010/in/album-72157604938464838/ Geoff Sanborn’s newsletter on Zopilote Machine, which quotes a radio interview where Darnielle explains the alpha privative: https://open.spotify.com/track/3i5OukPST8wDQXwqH2fbhm?si=2322aad2592245ec the cool beans! #4 interview with Matt Kelly, 1994, archived here: https://www.scribd.com/document/52894439/tMG-InterviewsAlex Russell’s post on ‘One Winter at Point Alpha Privative’: https://afewthingsmaybeseveralthings.com/2020/04/19/231-one-winter-at-point-alpha-privative/ -And on ‘Design Your Own Container Garden’: https://afewthingsmaybeseveralthings.com/2018/07/22/201-design-your-own-container-garden/ Interview with Carsten Wohlfeld for Luna Kafe, 2003: http://www.lunakafe.com/moon78/usca78.php Daytrotter radio session, 2007, featuring ‘Ethiopians’: https://archive.org/details/daytrotter1.mp3/03+Ethiopians.mp3 Interview with Alexander Sammon for Mother Jones, 2017: https://www.motherjones.com/media/2017/02/john-darnielle-mountain-goats-novel-universal-harvester/ Document collating otherwise unavailable interviews: https://www.scribd.com/document/52894439/tMG-InterviewsInterview about horror with Sam Costello for Dark, but Shining, 2007: https://web.archive.org/web/20070208201251/http://www.darkbutshining.com:80/?p=863 Leslie Jamison, ‘The Empathy Exams.’ The Believer, 2014: https://believermag.com/the-empathy-exams/‘Alpha Negative’ banter in 04-20-2014 Chicago live show at Old Town School of Folk Music, https://archive.org/details/tmg2014-04-20/09-WokeUpNew.mp3 Julian Barnes, ‘A candid view of Candide.’ The Guardian, 2011: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/01/candide-voltaire-rereading-julian-barnesJon Blistein, ‘Offspring’s Dexter Holland Finishes Ph.D, Thesis on HIV Research.’ Rolling Stone, 2017: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/offsprings-dexter-holland-finishes-ph-d-thesis-on-hiv-research-193282/amp/ Matthew Singer, ‘In The City: The story of Portland’s original all-ages gay nightclub.’ Willamette Week, 2014: https://www.wweek.com/portland/article-22975-in-the-city.html JD tweets about the City and the friends he made there: https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1303463222851362821 and https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1303463222851362821 BooksPeter Coviello, Long Players: A Love Story in 18 Songs. Penguin, 2018.

I want to go home, but I am home. Today's episode is about 2001, and the song 'Riches and Wonders.' It looks at millennial housing insecurity, playground insults, bad landlords, and the predations of the Colo mice.Show notes06-17-2007 Zoop live set, featuring ‘Cobscook Bay’ and ‘Leaving Home’: https://archive.org/details/tmg2007-06-17.Zoop 09-08-2021 City Winery, NYC live banter before ‘Genesis 3:23,’ featuring discussions of revisiting old homes and the mice of Colo: https://archive.org/details/tmg2021-09-08/tmg2021-09-08-15.flac Comments on ‘Leaving Home’ in the Ghana liner notes: https://themountaingoats.fandom.com/wiki/Leaving_Home Interview with Gabriella Paiella for Electric Lit, 2014: https://electricliterature.com/interview-john-darnielle-author-of-wolf-in-white-van/ Interview with Chris Willman for Variety, https://variety-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/variety.com/2021/music/news/no-children-mountain-goats-tiktok-john-darnelle-video-1235100275/amp/?amp_js_v=a6&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQIKAGwASCAAgM%3D#aoh=16355430760789&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fvariety.com%2F2021%2Fmusic%2Fnews%2Fno-children-mountain-goats-tiktok-john-darnelle-video-1235100275%2F Transcript of John’s talk at the 2016 Festival of Faith and Writing: https://ccfw.calvin.edu/podcast/obsessions/ NPR interview with Terri Gross, 2015: https://www.npr.org/2015/09/11/439189592/as-a-lyricist-and-novelist-the-mountain-goats-lead-man-writes-about-pain NPR interview with Linda Wertheimer, 2005: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/4651778 Pitchfork interview with Tom Breihan, 2009: https://pitchfork.com/news/36406-john-darnielle-tells-the-story-behind-the-mountain-goats-biblical-new-lp/ ‘Closed Doors,’ my autobiographical poetry sequence in Subtropics, with an epigraph taken from the Breihan interview: http://subtropics.english.ufl.edu/index.php/2019/01/15/closed-doors/ An interview with Hannah Whiteman about the sequence: http://subtropics.english.ufl.edu/index.php/2019/01/14/richard-obrien/. ‘Millennial insecurity is reshaping the UK economy’ – Sarah O’Connor in the Financial Times, https://www.ft.com/content/66149ea8-158a-11e8-9e9c-25c814761640.‘Millennial housing crisis engulfs Britain.’ Michael Savage in The Observer, drawing on research from the Resolution Foundation: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/apr/28/proportion-home-owners-halves-millennials ‘The ‘frustrated’ housing aspirations of generation rent.’ Report by Kim McKee and Adriana Mihaela Soaita: https://housingevidence.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/R2018_06_01_Frustrated_Housing_Aspirations_of_Gen_Rent.pdf ‘Millennials are screwed.’ Michael Hobbes, Huffington Post: https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/poor-millennials/ Interview with Kyle Munson for the Des Moines Register, 2017: https://eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/columnists/kyle-munson/2017/02/25/john-darnielle-wanted-write-iowans-so-he-came-up-creepy-rural-elegy-different-sort/98192656/All Hail West Texas liner notes, discussing the houses in Colo and Ames: http://web.archive.org/web/20200911212129/https://kylebarbour.org/tmg/ahwt.html Salon interview with Mike Appelstein, 2013: https://www.salon.com/2013/08/03/mountain_goats_john_darnielle_im_not_interested_in_back_in_the_day_we_are_always_in_the_present_moment/New York magazine profile by Stephen Rodrick, 2009: https://nymag.com/arts/popmusic/features/55031/ ‘John Darnielle: From Self-Destruction to Self-Construction.’ Articulate, Season 5, Episode 19: https://articulateshow.org/videos/john-darnielle-from-self-destruction-to-self-construction/ Interview with Leah Weathersby, Amazon, 2005, collated here, discussing leaving nursing: https://www.scribd.com/document/52894439/tMG-InterviewsInterview with Christian Hoard for Rolling Stone, 2015, discussing Durham: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-slow-climb-how-the-mountain-goats-john-darnielle-became-the-best-storyteller-in-rock-227793/I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats episode 108, on ‘Riches and Wonders’: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7eXljkDV29uaocghNM0ubP?si=b3e16a05a1564e2304-20-2004 live performance of ‘Riches and Wonders’ at Go! Studios, Carrboro, NC: https://archive.org/details/gostudios2004.mp3/09+-+Riches+and+Wonders.mp3

I put the pieces all together, but I don't know what they mean. It's the year 2000, I'm writing mean things about my classmates in a homemade newspaper, and you're falling off that cliff somewhere in California, which I've never seen. Today's episode looks at 'Cobscook Bay,' Robert Aickman, and Rozz Williams, and has a content note for suicidal ideation. Show notesJohn’s introductory comments before the first live performance of ‘Cobscook Bay,’ https://archive.org/details/tmg2007-06-17.Zoop/2-05_Alibi_06-17-07.mp3 Liner notes for The Coroner’s Gambit on The Annotated Mountain Goats: http://web.archive.org/web/20200824091232/https://kylebarbour.org/tmg/coroner.html#fn:rozz2003 VH1 interview with Gil Kaufman, archived here: https://www.scribd.com/document/52894439/tMG-Interviews c.2000 interview with Cory Brown: https://www.flickr.com/photos/caliclimber/9136546010/in/album-72157604938464838/ 2007 interview about horror with Sam Costello for Dark, but Shining: https://web.archive.org/web/20070208201251/http://www.darkbutshining.com:80/?p=863 Interview Magazine: ‘John Darnielle’s Cartography of Grief’, with Matt Mullen: https://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/john-darnielle2017 interview with Elijah Taylor, for Birth Movies Death: https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2017/04/02/the-mountain-goats-john-darnielle-talks-his-new-book-universal-harvester 2017 Mother Jones interview with Alexander Sammon: https://www.motherjones.com/media/2017/02/john-darnielle-mountain-goats-novel-universal-harvester/ 2019 performance of ‘The Water Song’: https://archive.org/details/tmg2019-12-07# 2013 Salon interview: https://www.salon.com/2013/08/03/mountain_goats_john_darnielle_im_not_interested_in_back_in_the_day_we_are_always_in_the_present_moment/Geoff Sanborn’s essays on The Coroner’s Gambit: https://allhail.substack.com/p/2000-the-coroners-gambitAnd All Hail West Texas: https://allhail.substack.com/p/2002-all-hail-west-texas A. E. Stallings on rhyme: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/articles/69202/presto-manifesto- Anna Borges’s article for The Outline on suicidal ideation: https://theoutline.com/post/7267/living-with-passive-suicidal-ideation?zd=1&zi=2sucjfn7 Spectrum Culture article by Holly Hazelwood on The Coroner’s Gambit at 20: https://spectrumculture.com/2020/02/05/holy-hell-the-coroners-gambit-turns-20/ NPR interview on Goths and West Coast death-rock with Lars Gotrich: https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2017/04/25/525383835/the-mountain-goats-on-growing-up-and-growing-older-in-goth?t=1633514777444 09/08/2019 live performance of ‘The Coroner’s Gambit’ at City Winery, NYC, with discussion of Rozz: https://archive.org/details/tmg2021-09-08/tmg2021-09-08-11.flac# Rob Delaney interview discussing suicidal ideation: https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/performance-art-rob-delaney-interviews-john-darnielle BooksRobert Aickman. Compulsory Games, edited by Victoria Nelson, with a blurb by John Darnielle. New York Review of Books, 2018. Seamus Heaney, ‘John Clare’s Prog,’ in The Redress of Poetry. Faber & Faber, 1995.

It's 1999, and John Darnielle is trying something new. Today's episode looks at 'You're in Maya,' taking in twin high maintenance machines, bad dreams about driving, language loss, and 'the Lord Śrī Krishna’s grace.'1/27/99 live set at the Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, NC, featuring the first known performance of ‘You’re in Maya’: https://archive.org/details/tmg1999-01-27.aud.128mp3/tmg1999-01-27t07.mp310/9/99 live set in Amsterdam where the song’s autobiographical nature is discussed: https://archive.org/details/tmg1999-10-09.aud.192mp3 Erin Marquis and Bradley Brownell’s Jalopnik piece on every car in a Mountain Goats song: https://jalopnik.com/we-listened-to-every-song-by-the-mountain-goats-heres-1845476773Warsan Shire’s poem ‘Home’: https://www.facinghistory.org/standing-up-hatred-intolerance/warsan-shire-home [CN for racial slurs, war, border violence and sexual assault]Podcast interview about Bruce Springsteen’s Tunnel of Love on Steven Hyden’s Celebration Rock: https://omny.fm/shows/celebration-rock/celebration-rock-john-darnielleDarnielle’s article on Chuck Berry’s ‘Going Back to Memphis’ for Last Plane to Jakarta: http://lastplanetojakarta.com/articles/memphis.html 30/3/2011 live show recorded by NYC Taper, featuring John’s comments on sharing damage and ‘This Year’: http://www.nyctaper.com/2011/04/the-mountain-goats-march-30-2011-bowery-ballroom-flac-and-mp3-downloads-streaming-song/ Raphael-Bob Waksberg’s Mountain Goats parody on Twitter: https://twitter.com/raphaelbw/status/1296226561360670720?lang=en Wordsworth’s Preface to Lyrical Ballads: https://www.bartleby.com/39/36.html Casual Magic podcast interview on John’s Hare Krishna years with Shivam Bhatt: https://casualmagic.libsyn.com/casual-magic-episode-31-mountain-goatsPop Matters interview discussing the ‘thirst to believe’: https://www.popmatters.com/115150-get-holy-an-interview-with-john-darnielle-2496114699.htmlBooksChant and Be Happy: The Power of Mantra Meditation. The Bhaktidevanta Book Trust, 1982. This introductory volume is based on the teachings of Prabhupāda and features interviews with George Harrison and John Lennon.

You must try to lead a good life. What that means will depend on your, and John Darnielle's, opinion on the following: St. Augustine, the distribution of prasadam at a Krishna-catered wedding, the history of diet culture, and those magnificent peanuts from Singapore. Show notesThe Annotated Mountain Goats page, gathering many of John’s own reflections on ‘Golden Boy’: http://web.archive.org/web/20200920010914/https:/kylebarbour.org/tmg/ghana.html#fnref:goldenjohnBeer Frame zine: http://web.archive.org/web/20200926194716/http:/www.core77.com/inconspicuous/Food Republic interview with Matt Rodbard (1 of 2): https://www.foodrepublic.com/2012/09/25/john-darnielles-passion-of-the-popcorn-part-i/Drew Millard interview for Vice (2017): https://www.vice.com/en/article/d7wnem/john-darnielle-is-the-voice-of-outcasts-and-weirdos-everywhereGabriella Paiella interview for Electric Lit (2014): https://electricliterature.com/interview-john-darnielle-author-of-wolf-in-white-van/Gabriella Paiella interview for British GQ magazine: https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/lifestyle/article/mountain-goats-fitnessMen’s Health interview about John’s running regime: https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a34438996/john-darnielle-the-mountain-goats-running-interview/ Fan lists of food songs: https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/mountain/eating-jam-out-of-a-jar-food-in-mountain-goats-lyr/ https://www.reddit.com/r/themountaingoats/comments/11lhrv/mountain_goats_songs_with_references_to_food/‘Rescue Breathing’ on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjl2tqDr3gII Only Listen to the Mountain Goats Episode 203: ‘Done Bleeding’ – featuring discussions of self-harm: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6FguuVWylhnxsYsOmPDSTu?si=20347653616f4980&nd=1 A tweet where Darnielle addresses his own experiences of disordered eating: https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1358824136445992960 Geoff Sanborn’s newsletter, All Hail the Mountain Goats: https://allhail.substack.com/p/introductionPitchfork interview with Tom Breihan: https://pitchfork.com/news/36406-john-darnielle-tells-the-story-behind-the-mountain-goats-biblical-new-lp/ Christianity Today interview with Kate Shellnutt: https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2016/august-web-only/mountain-goats-john-darnielle-loves-amy-grant-rich-mullins-.html Imogen West-Knights on ‘treat brain’ in the Financial Times: https://www.ft.com/content/3ed08931-80b0-43a0-9bba-6c4bcc1b3e70Krishna.org article on prasadam: https://krishna.org/prasadam-what-is-it-and-why-we-should-not-eat-anything-else/ Tony Burke on the Apocryphal Apocalypses of John: https://www.apocryphicity.ca/2013/06/24/more-secret-scriptures-3-the-apocryphal-apocalypses-of-john/ And the Apocrypals episode on these texts: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5TZrZRHQpb2dnTaUI1fias?si=c84259d985e94dcc&nd=1 BooksSaint Augustine, Confessions. Translated with an introduction by R. S. Pine-Coffin, Penguin, 1961. Amy Erdman Farrell. Fat Shame: Stigma and the Fat Body in American Culture. New York University Press, 2011.Laura Waddell, ‘The Pleasure Button: Low Income Food Inequality.’ Know Your Place: Essays on the Working Class, by the Working Class. Edited by Nathan Connelly, Dead Ink, 2017.

Arguing with the Twitter avatar of Paste's Matt Mitchell about his 'Full Force Galesburg' review. This episode runs from Antigone to Otis the Aardvark, by way of Roman re-enactors and the Romantic sublime, as I try to make sense of the snapshots of a 90s childhood. Show notesMatt Mitchell’s thoughtful and not actually objectionable ranking of the studio albums for Paste: https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/the-mountain-goats/the-mountain-goats-albums-ranked/Liner notes to Full Force Galesburg: http://web.archive.org/web/20200930190323/https://kylebarbour.org/tmg/galesburg.html1997 Duke Coffeehouse live show in Durham: https://archive.org/details/tmg1997-04-04.aud.128mp3/Interview with the Des Moines Register: https://eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/columnists/kyle-munson/2017/02/25/john-darnielle-wanted-write-iowans-so-he-came-up-creepy-rural-elegy-different-sort/98192656/‘Rocky Mountain Guy’ – 2001 profile by Iowa State Daily: https://www.iowastatedaily.com/article_4b1cb817-2033-5e2f-b9a6-a1cca11d691 8.htmlJohn’s ‘Five Favorite Mountain Goats Characters’ for eMusic, featuring ‘Twin Human Highway Flares’: http://web.archive.org/web/20101223190232/http:/www.emusic.com/features/spotlight/2008_02-mountain-goats.htmlDriving directions from Davenport, Iowa, to the Regency Inn, Geneseo: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Davenport,+IA,+USA/Regency+Inn+Geneseo,+765+W+Main+St,+Geneseo,+IL+61254,+United+States/@41.5183787,-90.5272117,11z/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x87e234c5e012a2f1:0xe8ea1f6356581fb0!2m2!1d-90.5776367!2d41.5236437!1m5!1m1!1s0x87e2100c5f82d557:0xa1fdd3c8fbe3bca3!2m2!1d-90.1671276!2d41.4480527!3e0Burying the real songs: a live comment on ‘It Froze Me’: http://web.archive.org/web/20200907012721/https://kylebarbour.org/tmg/nfj.html#fnref:itfrozeme‘Love Love Love’ fandom page, mentioning ancient Greek conceptions of love: https://themountaingoats.fandom.com/wiki/Love_Love_LoveShakespeare’s Sonnet 73: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45099/sonnet-73-that-time-of-year-thou-mayst-in-me-beholdJoel Heng Hartse’s review of Dark in Here: https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/july-web-only/mountain-goats-latest-pandemic-release-looks-into-darkness.html2014 interview with Electric Lit: https://electricliterature.com/interview-john-darnielle-author-of-wolf-in-white-van/My poem ‘National Moth Night’: https://andotherpoems.com/2013/07/30/richard-obrien/Books and academic articlesSophocles, Antigone. The Theban Plays. Translated by Robert Fagles, with introductions and notes by Bernard Knox. Penguin, 1984. p.101. Aaron Kelly and David Salter, ‘“The Time Is Out of Joint”: Withnail and I and Historical Melancholia.’ In J. R. Keller & L. Stratyner (eds.), Almost Shakespeare: Reinventing His Works for Cinema and Television. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2004, pp. 99-112. William Cronon, ‘The Trouble with Wilderness; Or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature. Environmental History, 1.1, 1996: p.7-28.Sarah Hibberd and Miranda Stanyon, Music and the Sonorous Sublime in European Culture, 1680–1880. Cambridge University Press, 2020. Jean-Francois Lyotard, translated by Geoff Bennington, and Brian Massumi. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. University of Minnesota Press, 1984.Peter de Bolla, The Discourse of the Sublime: Readings in History, Aesthetics and the Subject. Oxford: Blackwell, 1989.

A lot of stars. In this episode, I celebrate my sixth birthday in the West Deeping village hall, and John Darnielle comes up with a series of dance moves. Featuring discussion of covers, authenticity, and young Kurt Cobain.Show notes2001 interview with Space City Rock, discussing live performance changes and popular culture: http://www.spacecityrock.com/2001/03/15/heavy-metal-ephemera-and-popular-culture-a-chat-with-the-mountain-goats/John’s ‘Five Favorite Mountain Goats Characters’ for eMusic, featuring the narrator of ‘Waving at You’: http://web.archive.org/web/20101223190232/http:/www.emusic.com/features/spotlight/2008_02-mountain-goats.htmlKelefa Sanneh, ‘The Rap Against Rockism,’ in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/31/arts/music/the-rap-against-rockism.htmlSpin, on John’s Bieber song: https://www.spin.com/2013/03/mountain-goats-justin-bieber-john-darnielle-paparazzi/1996 live recordings of ‘The Sign’:1)https://archive.org/details/tmg1996-03-20.flac162)https://archive.org/details/knitfac1996.mp3/19+The+Sign+(w_Alastair+Galbraith).mp33)https://archive.org/details/tmg1996-03-23.aud.128mp3/tmg1996-03-23t18.mp3Comments on ‘The Sign’: https://themountaingoats.fandom.com/wiki/The_SignZOOP live performance of ‘The Sign,’ complete with dance moves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sONMDqGGv78Last Plane to Jakarta entries mentioning Pulp (http://lastplanetojakarta.com/articles/liftfn2.html), Elliot Smith (http://lastplanetojakarta.com/articles/elliott4.html), Nirvana (http://lastplanetojakarta.com/articles/empires3.html), and Stockholm Monsters (http://lastplanetojakarta.com/articles/mozz.html)I Love Music forum post about Nirvana: https://ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=3690John’s Tumblr post about Nick Cave: https://johndarnielle.tumblr.com/post/50577057813/to-the-left-of-nick-caves-left-foot-at-the-lip John on Mercyful Fate: https://www.undertheradarmag.com/interviews/my_favorite_album_john_darnielle_of_the_mountain_goats_on_mercyful_fates_doAnd on covering Frankie Valli: http://www.themountaingoats.net/misc/kjhk.htmlComments on Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, Leonard Cohen, David Berman and Nick Cave all sourced by searching JD’s Twitter.Believer interview with Daniel Handler: https://believermag.com/an-interview-with-john-darnielle/John Keats, ‘When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be’: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44488/when-i-have-fears-that-i-may-cease-to-be

A book of maps. In this week's episode, it's 1995 and I'm in the stocks for some reason. Meanwhile, John Darnielle is finishing up college and expanding his horizons. Featuring discussion of ISKCON, John Berryman, translating Seneca, the Throgs' Neck Bridge, and what the hell there is to do in South Lincolnshire anyway.Show notesLinks to sources mentioned in the episode:Darnielle’s comments on the Throgs’ Neck Bridge: https://themountaingoats.fandom.com/wiki/Going_to_Port_WashingtonReddit AMA featuring the ‘book of maps’ story: https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/htsx1/i_am_a_former_nurse_named_john_darnielle_ask_me/Prabhupāda, The Science of Self-Realization: https://vedabase.io/en/library/ssr/Casual Magic podcast interview on John’s Hare Krishna years with Shivam Bhatt: https://casualmagic.libsyn.com/casual-magic-episode-31-mountain-goatsCarol Atherton on Waterland: https://passing-it-on.com/2021/06/18/teacher-feature-tom-crick/Interview Magazine: ‘John Darnielle’s Cartography of Grief’: https://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/john-darnielleIndyWeek interview with Grayson Haver Currin: https://indyweek.com/music/features/mountain-goats-steady-struggle-conquest/Bandcamp interview on Songs for Pierre Chuvin and grad school: https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/john-darnielle-songs-for-pierre-chuvin-interviewJoseph Fink and John Darnielle’s podcast, I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats: https://open.spotify.com/show/0nXkEK0eeD10Wn3MdGBNKJ?si=xGuKQvoARRCTT11CbQoZQA&dl_branch=1John’s tweet about Thyestes: https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/891506827803996160West Deeping church website: https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/14510/about-us/Kansas college radio interview, 1997: http://www.themountaingoats.net/misc/kjhk.htmlVarious live comments on ‘The Recognition Scene’: https://themountaingoats.fandom.com/wiki/The_Recognition_SceneJohn and Franklin Bruno’s ‘Shrimper-licious mutual interview’: https://www.flickr.com/photos/caliclimber/albums/72157604938464838/with/7142322151/TuneGlue interview on oral tradition: https://tuneglue.substack.com/p/004-john-darnielle-the-mountain-goats‘The Ruin,’ with translation by Jack Watson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_RuinDarnielle on Berryman: https://fsgworkinprogress.com/2014/04/28/on-berrymans-tampa-stomp/My 2007 3:AM interview with JD: https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/the-sound-and-the-fury-an-interview-with-john-darnielle/Nahuatl references on Zopilote Machine: http://web.archive.org/web/20200928053602/https://kylebarbour.org/tmg/zopilote.html#fn:azotlejohnArticle discussing Aristotle’s definition of ‘anagnoresis’: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3595657.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A249f3245eb1d1283378570906cb79b33BooksGraham Swift, Waterland. Revised edition, Picador, 1992.Jonathan Bate, John Clare: A Biography. Picador, 2003.Sophocles, Antigone. The Theban Plays. Translated by Robert Fagles, with introductions and notes by Bernard Knox. Penguin, 1984.Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (1958). Penguin Classics, 2001.

I will carry you home in my teeth. Two decades before the release of 'Dark in Here,' this episode features another song for singing in caves: 'Grendel's Mother.' I also discuss Peter Coviello's 'Long Players,' Toni Morrison, the 1970s conversation pit aesthetic of my reception classroom, and a self-eviscerating live take on 'Going to Georgia.' Show notesOn the ‘more-than-human’: https://www.ideabooks.nl/9789083015293-more-than-humanThe Magenta Bat4 bat detector: https://shopping.rspb.org.uk/bats/magenta-bat-4-bat-detector.htmlWalking tours from Wild Intrigue: https://www.wildintrigue.co.uk/mini-expeds/On ‘Snow Songs’: http://web.archive.org/web/20200905175609/https://kylebarbour.org/tmg/bitter.html#fn:johnsnow.New Yorker article on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/losing-her-mind-crazy-ex-girlfriend-ends-with-hopeMichael Robbins on ‘equipment for living’: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/articles/70208/equipment-for-livingMy 1991 episode, with much discussion of Graham Greene: https://thirtyyearslater.substack.com/p/1991-running-away-with-what-freudA letter from Missouri: https://themountaingoats.fandom.com/wiki/The_Hot_Garden_Stomp / https://themountaingoats.fandom.com/wiki/Bad_PriestessJohn’s Tumblr post on ‘Going to Georgia’: https://johndarnielle.tumblr.com/post/54507637224/hi-so-i-totally-get-that-you-dont-play-going-toHarp magazine interview about Souled American: https://web.archive.org/web/20061031050930/http://www.harpmagazine.com/articles/detail.cfm?article_id=4720 Meghan Purvis on translating Beowulf: http://www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk/index.php/2013/06/meghan-purvis-on-translating-beowulf/My poetry pamphlet, The Dolphin House: https://www.brokensleepbooks.com/product-page/richard-o-brien-the-dolphin-house BooksKenneth Burke, Equipment for Living: The Literary Reviews of Kenneth Burke. Edited by Nathaniel A. Rivers and Ryan P. Weber, Parlor Press, 2010.Beowulf, translated by Meghan Purvis. Penned in the Margins, 2013. Peter Coviello, Long Players: A Love Story in 18 Songs. Penguin, 2018. Jonathan Dollimore, Sex, Literature and Censorship. Wiley, 2001. Toni Morrison, Mouth Full of Blood: Essays, Speeches, Meditations. Random House, 2019.

The Mountain Goats get productive. In this episode, it's 1993 and John Darnielle is reading Sophocles, writing prolifically, and recording immediately. Over in England, I'm reading the names of dinosaurs over my grandmother's shoulder. Topics include: self-belief, grace, the Wedding Present, and the Southern California divorce rate.Show notes:‘John On Process #2,’ discussing unfinished songs from 1993-4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH0DnQFgyGcJohn’s interview with Acoustic Guitar Magazine: https://acousticguitar.com/indie-rocker-john-darnielle-of-the-mountain-goats-embraces-acoustic-guitar/Sasha Frere-Jones, on John and Craig Finn as literary songwriters, for the New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/05/16/the-declaimersJohn describes his early process in a note on the release of Songs for Pierre Chuvin: https://themountaingoats.bandcamp.com/album/songs-for-pierre-chuvinBen Opipari interviews John for Songwriters on Process: https://www.songwritersonprocess.com/blog/2017/5/15/john-darnielle-the-mountain-goatsThe Annotated Mountain Goats entry for Transmissions to Horace: http://web.archive.org/web/20200927231020/https:/kylebarbour.org/tmg/horace.htmlDaoud Tyler-Ameen’s piece for NPR on ‘No Children’ and the California divorce rate: https://www.npr.org/2018/10/10/653349496/the-mountain-goats-american-anthem-no-children-dysfunctionMatador Review interview, mentioning ‘workers in song’: https://eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/columnists/kyle-munson/2017/02/25/john-darnielle-wanted-write-iowans-so-he-came-up-creepy-rural-elegy-different-sort/98192656/An idea also picked up in this Aspen Times interview: https://www.aspentimes.com/news/a-good-time-with-mountain-goats/Rob Delaney interviews John Darnielle, including a brief discussion of suicide: https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/performance-art-rob-delaney-interviews-john-darnielleMy anthology of dinosaur poems for children, Dragons of the Prime: https://theemmapress.com/shop/dragons-of-the-prime/ John on tractors (interview with the Des Moines Register): https://eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/columnists/kyle-munson/2017/02/25/john-darnielle-wanted-write-iowans-so-he-came-up-creepy-rural-elegy-different-sort/98192656/

Now I have everything I need. In this episode, it's 1992, and John Darnielle has everything he needs (flowers; some books; a Panasonic boombox). Meanwhile, I've got a cake for my birthday in the shape of a tractor. Topics include: electrical equipment, design theory, Christian socialism, and Brian Eno on why we're drawn to the 'sound of failure.'Web links mentioned in the episode:- NPR piece on 'Songs for Pierre Chuvin': https://www.npr.org/2020/04/10/831191549/the-mountain-goats-john-darnielle-songs-for-pierre-chuvin-boombox?t=1622337736138- Pitchfork article on the sound of the boombox: https://pitchfork.com/features/secondhands/9583-bleats-whines-and-other-awful-human-sounds-to-which-our-hearts-are-inexorably-tied/- Link to purchase The Hound Chronicles/Hot Garden Stomp from Shrimper: https://midheaven.com/item/hound-chronicles-hot-garden-stomp-by-mountain-goats-2xcd- The Annotated Mountain Goats page for 'The Hound Chronicles': http://web.archive.org/web/20201112012137/https:/kylebarbour.org/tmg/hound.html#credits- And for the last boombox album (until 'Songs for Pierre Chuvin'), 'All Hail West Texas': http://web.archive.org/web/20200911212129/https://kylebarbour.org/tmg/ahwt.html#- Bible Gateway link for Matthew 25:44-5: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2025%3A44-45&version=NIV- Tune Glue interview: https://tuneglue.substack.com/p/004-john-darnielle-the-mountain-goats- Peter Hughes relistens to all albums since 'Tallahassee' for NPR: https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2012/12/17/167467065/inside-listening-the-mountain-goats-bassist-assesses-his-own-bands-albums- The Plastic Bertrand court case: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-10801347#:~:text=Musician%20Plastic%20Bertrand%20has%20apparently,a%20court%20case%20in%20Belgium.&text=On%20Wednesday%2C%20an%20expert%20linguist,accent%20used%20by%20the%20performer- Podcast interview with Steven Hyden: https://omny.fm/shows/celebration-rock/celebration-rock-john-darnielle- Our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/thirty_years_later/- Can diamonds burn?: https://wtamu.edu/~cbaird/sq/2014/03/27/can-you-light-diamond-on-fire/#:~:text=Yes%2C%20diamond%20can%20be%20burned.&text=Pure%20diamond%20consists%20only%20of,combustion%20product%20was%20carbon%20dioxide- Lateral tape motion: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020768315001614Books:- Brian Eno, A Year With Swollen Appendices. Faber & Faber, 1996.- Caroline Levine, Forms. Princeton University Press, 2015.

New flowers, cold comfort. In this episode, John Darnielle wakes up after a Portland blackout with a click in his hip, and Richard learns to sit up straight. Topics include: Graham Greene the 'Catholic atheist,' biographers and their subjects, 'confessional' music, and this year's worst 'Jeopardy!' guest host, Dr. Oz.Links to articles mentioned in this episode:- Graham Greene obituary: https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/00/02/20/specials/greene-obit.html- Peter Green on 'The End of the Affair': https://newrepublic.com/article/68004/the-end-the-affair- John Banville on Graham Greene: https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/graham-greene-unquiet-englishman/- Ian Thomson on Norman Sherry's failings: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/oct/03/biography.grahamgreene- Liner notes for 'Zopilote Machine': https://themountaingoats.fandom.com/wiki/Zopilote_Machine- Alex Russell on 'Running Away With What Freud Said': https://afewthingsmaybeseveralthings.com/2017/01/23/133-running-away-with-what-freud-said/- Podcast interview with Steven Hyden: https://omny.fm/shows/celebration-rock/celebration-rock-john-darnielle- 2006 stage comments on the Mountain Goats wiki: https://themountaingoats.fandom.com/wiki/Running_Away_with_What_Freud_Said- 2016 stage comments on Genius: https://genius.com/The-mountain-goats-running-away-with-what-freud-said-lyrics- Dr David Viscott on YouTube: https://afewthingsmaybeseveralthings.com/2017/01/23/133-running-away-with-what-freud-said/- Dr David Viscott obituary: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-01-26-tm-22135-story.html- JD's 'hiding in a duct' dream: https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1376868279206219777- Our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thirty_years_later

A young man slips a poem under a doormat. In this episode, a baby is born during the knock-out stages of the Italia 90 football World Cup, and John Darnielle experiments with setting some words to music. Topics include Romantic poet and farm labourer John Clare, dramatic monologues, and trying to become a new person.Links to articles mentioned in this episode:- Pop Matters interview: https://www.popmatters.com/searching-for-john-darnielle-2495776481.html- John discusses his Norwalk apartment: https://genius.com/The-mountain-goats-done-bleeding-lyrics- WTF podcast interview with Marc Maron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WgT3ufLeHw- England Football Online summary of the 26/06/90 England vs Belgium match: http://www.englandfootballonline.com/Seas1980-90/1989-90/M0661Bel1990.html- Robert Browning, 'Porphyria's Lover': https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46313/porphyrias-lover- 'I Am,' by John Clare: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43948/i-am- W.H. Auden, 'The Fall of Rome': https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46313/porphyrias-lover- Article on Kate Sessions and the jacaranda: https://laist.com/news/entertainment/jacarandas- John's Tumblr post on 'Going to Alaska': https://johndarnielle.tumblr.com/post/121763305361/fishingboatproceeds-42-days-of-the-mountain.- Interview about slipping words under the door: https://www.timmcmahan.com/mountain.htmBooks: Norman Dubie, Groom Falconer (1989, W. W. Norton & Company)