Mountain Goats: The Life of the World to Come
Anyone heard the new album yet? What do you think?
I just noticed the price is still really low at Amie Street.
I just noticed the price is still really low at Amie Street.
Comments
Glad to hear you're liking it so far, Thom.
Craig
The Mountain Goats | The Life of the World to Come
1. I Samuel 15:23
For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and presumption is like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.
I became a crystal healer and my ministry was to the sick
Creeping vines would send out runners and seek me in their numbers
I sold self-help tapes
Go down to the netherworld, plant grapes
And as world spread of my powers they would seek me far and wide
All sad faces at my window I would welcome them inside
I sewed clothes for them: cloaks and capes
Go down to the netherworld, plant grapes
My house will be for all people who have nowhere to go
My supply of shining crystals a shield against the snow
There's more like me where I come from, so mark our shapes
Go down to the netherworld, plant grapes
02. Psalms 40:2
He lifted me out of the watery pit, out of the slimy mud. He placed my feet on a rock and gave me secure footing.
Pulled off the highway in Missouri and, lo, our hearts were heavy laid
Made for the chapel with some spray paint for all the things we'd held in secret
Lord, lift up these lifeless bones
Light cascading through the windows
All the rainbow's heavy tones
He has fixed his sign in the sky
He has raised me from the pit and set me high
Left that place in ruin, drunk on the Spirit and high on fumes
Checked into a Red Roof in stayed up for several hours and then slept like infants
In the burning fuselage of my days
Let me mouth be ever fresh with praise
He has fixed his sign in the sky
He has raised me from the pit and set me high
Each morning new
Each day shot through
With all the sharps small shards of shrapnel
that seem to burst of me and you
Head down toward Kansas
We will get there when we get there, don't you worry
Feel bad about the things we do along the way
But not really that bad
We inhaled the frozen air
Lord, send me a mechanic if I'm not beyond repair
He has fixed his sign in the sky
He has raised from the pit and he will set me high
03. Genesis 3:23
So the Lord God expelled him from the orchard in Eden to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken.
House up in Clearlake
Where I used to live
Picked the lock on the front door
And felt it give
Touch nothing, move nothing, stand still
Keep my ears open for cars
See how the people here live now
Hope they're better at it than I was
I used to live here
I used to live here
I used to live here
I used to live here
Pictures up on the mantle
Nobody I know
I stand by the tiny furnace
Where the long shadows grow
Living room to bedroom to kitchen
Familiar and warm
Hours we spent starving within these walls
Sounds of a distant storm
I used to live here
I used to live here
I used to live here
I used to live here
Fight through the ghosts in the hallway
Duck and weave
Stand by the door with my eyes closed
When it's time to leave
Steal home before sunset
Cover up my tracks
Drive home with old dreams of play in my mind
And the wind at my back
Break the lock on my own garden gate
When I get home after dark
Sit looking up at the stars outside
Like teeth in the mouth of a shark
I used to live here
I used to live here
I used to live here
I used to live here
04. Philippians 3:20-21
But our citizenship is in heaven--and we also await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform these humble bodies of ours into the likeness of his glorious body by means of that power by which he is able to subject all things to himself.
The path to the awful room that one will sleep in again
Was lit for one man only gone where none can follow him
Try to look down the way he'd gone:
Back of a closets whose depths draw and on and on
And nice people said he was with God now
Safe in his arms
But the voices of the angels that he heard on his last days with us
Smoke alarms
Well the path to the palace of wisdom that the mystics walk
Is lined with neuroleptics and electric shocks
Hope daily for healing
Try not to go insane
Dance in a circle with bells on
Try to make it rain
And nice people say he had gone home to God now
Safe in his arms, safe in his arms
But the voices of the angels singing to him on his last hours with us
Smoke alarms, smoke alarms
05. Hebrews 11:40
For God had provided something better for us, so that they would be made perfect together with us.
Masks hanging on the tomb walls
Where the coven grieves
Witches hiding in the brambles
Ground level down where the dry leaves
Blow and burn slowly
No ground is ever gonna hold me
Bright candles in the manor
Where the curse takes hold
Bodies reassembling down where the worms crawl
Make your own friends when the world's gone cold
It gets dark and then
I feel certain I am going to rise again
If not by faith then by the sword
I'm going to be restored
Build fires to keep the beacon flashing
Where the earth lies flat
Blood calls to blood as the hours draw down
Invent my own family if it comes to that
Hold them close, hold them near
Tell them no one's ever going to hurt them here
Steal the treasure and try to leave town
Fight my way back down
Don't want to hurt anyone
Probably gonna have to before it's all done
Take to the hills right away
I'm gonna get my perfect body back someday
If not by faith then by the sword
I'm going to be restored
06. Genesis 30:3
She replied, "Here is my servant Bilhah! Have sexual relations with her so that she can bear children for me and I can have a family through her."
For several days the visitors were here
We saw them turned down and we watched them disappear
Talked about the days they said were sure to come
Had a hard time believing
I remember seeing you my tongue struck done
When you first came here from wherever it was you came from
The power in your voice
Your rough touch
You keeping care of me
Keeping watch
Open up the doors to the tent
Wonder where the good times went
I will do what you ask me to do
Because of how I feel about you
Saw his little face contracted as his eyes met light
Try to imagine anything so bright
You only see it once then it steals into the dawn
And then it's gone forever
For several hours we laid there last ones of our kind
Harder days coming maybe
I don't mind
Sounds kind of dumb when I see it but it's true
I would do anything for you
Open up the promise of the day
Drive the dark things away
I will do what you ask me to do
Because of how I feel about you
07. Romans 10:9
Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Wake up sixty minutes after my head hits the pillow I can't live like this
And in the shower I am a sailor standing ready waiting for the shift list
Everything looks burned up I'm too scared to look around
Don't feel like going on but come on make a joyful sound
If you will believe in your heart and confess with your lips
Surely you will be saved one day
Try to think of ways to fix myself but everything ends in a cul-de-sac
The beast broke from the barn while we were sleeping face it face it he's not coming back
Don't see what the point is in event trying to fight
Look for the bigger picture when I close my eyes real tight
If you will believe in your heart and confess with your lips
Surely you will be saved one day
Look for the sign of Daniel, consider the clues
Wait as long as I have to for good news
Wake and rise and face the day and try to stop the day from staring back at me
Busy hours for joyful hearts and later maybe head out to the pharmacy
Won't take the medication but it's good to have around
A kind and loving God won't let my small ship run aground
If you will believe in your heart and confess with your lips
Surely you will be saved one day
08. I John 4:16
And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has in us. God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him.
In a holding tank I built for myself, it's feeding time
And I start to feel afraid 'cause I'm the last one left in line
The endless spring of summer storms that led me today
Began one afternoon with you long ago and faraway
And someone leads the beast in on its chain
But I know you're thinking of me 'cause it's just about to rain
So I wont be afraid of anything ever again
In the cell that holds my body back, the door swings wide
And I feel like someone's lost child as the guards lead me outside
And if the clouds are gathering, it's just to point the way
To an afternoon I spent with you when it rained all day
And someone leads the beast in on its chain
But I know you're thinking of me 'cause it's just about to rain
So I wont be afraid of anything ever again
09. Matthew 25:21
His master answered, "Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master."
They hooked you up to a fentanyl drip
To mitigate the pain a little bit
I flew in from Pennsylvania
When I heard the hour was coming fast
And I docked in San Barbara
Tried to brace myself
You can't brace yourself
When the time comes
You just have to roll with the blast
And I'm an eighteen-wheeler headed down the interstate
And my breaks are going to give
And I won't know till it's too late
Tires screaming when I lose control
Try not to hurt too many people when I roll
Find the harbor freeway and head south
Real tired
Head kind of light
I found Telegraph Road
I'd only seen the name on envelopes
Found the parking lot and turned right
I felt all the details
Carving out space in my head
Tropicanas on the walk way
Neon red between the pain
And the pills trying to hold at bay
Stand as a traveler going far away
And I am airplane tumbling wing over wing
Tried to listen to my instruments
They don't say anything
People screaming when the engines quit
I hope we're all in crash position when we hit
And then came to your bedside
And as it turns out
I'm not ready
And as though
You were speaking through a thick haze
You said hello to me
We all stood there around you
Happy to hear you speak
The last of something bright burning
Still burning
Beyond the cancer and the chemotherapy
And you were a presence full of light upon this earth
And I am a witness to your life and to its worth
It's three days later when I get the call
And there's nobody around to break my fall
10. Deuteronomy 2:10
The Emites used to live there, a people as powerful, numerous, and tall as the Anakites.
The sun above me and a concrete floor below
Scratch at the chain links maybe bare my teeth for show
Fed twice a day I don't go hungry anymore
Feel in my bones just what the future has in store
I pace in circles so the camera will see
Look hard at my stripes, there'll be no more after me
Laze by the shoreline while the sailors disembark
Scratch out a place to sit and rest down in the dark
Smell something burning downwind just a little ways
They set up camp and sing and sweat and work for days
I have no fear of anyone I'm dumb and wild and free
I am a flightless bird and there'll be no more after me
In Costa Rica in a burrow underground
Climb to the surface, blink my eyes and look around
I'm all alone here as I try my tiny song
Claim my place beneath the sky but I won't be here for long
I sang all night the moon shone on me through the trees
No brothers left and there'll be no more after me
11. Isaiah 45:23
I solemnly make this oath--what I say is true and reliable: "Surely every knee will bow to me,
every tongue will solemnly affirm."
If my prayer be not humble make it so
In these last hours if the Spirit waits in check help me let it go
And should my suffering double let me never love You less
Let every knee be bent, and every tongue confess
And I won't get better, but someday I'll be free
'Cause I am not this body that imprisons me
I read the magazines somebody brought
Hold them to my failing eyes until my hands get hot
And when the nurse comes in to change my sheets and clothes
The pain begins to travel, dancing as it goes
And I won't get better, but someday I'll be free
'Cause I am not this body that imprisons me
If my prayer goes unanswered that's alright
If my path fills with darkness and there is no sign of light
Let me praise You for the good times, let me hold Your banner high
Until the hills are flattened and the rivers all run dry
And I won't get better, but someday I'll be free
'Cause I am not this body that imprisons me
12. Ezekiel 7 And The Permanent Efficacy of Grace
The word of the Lord came to me: "You, son of man--this is what the sovereign Lord says to the land of Israel: An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land! The end is now upon you, and I will release my anger against you; I will judge you according to your behavior, I will hold you accountable for all your abominable practices. My eye will not pity you; I will not spare you. For I will hold you responsible for your behavior, and you will suffer the consequences of your abominable practices. Then you will know that I am the Lord!
"This is what the sovereign Lord says: A disaster--a one-of-a-kind disaster--is coming! An end comes--the end comes! It has awakened against you--the end is upon you! Look, it is coming! Doom is coming upon you who live in the land! The time is coming, the day is near. There are sounds of tumult, not shouts of joy, on the mountains. Soon now I will pour out my rage on you; I will fully vent my anger against you. I will judge you according to your behavior. I will hold you accountable for all your abominable practices. My eye will not pity you; I will not spare you. For your behavior I will hold you accountable, and you will suffer the consequences of your abominable practices. Then you will know that it is I, the Lord, who is striking you.
"Look, the day! Look, it is coming! Doom has gone out! The staff has budded, pride has blossomed! Violence has grown into a staff that supports wickedness. Not one of them will be left--not from their crowd, not from their wealth, not from their prominence. The time has come; the day has struck! The customer should not rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for divine wrath comes against their whole crowd. The customer will no longer pay the seller while both parties are alive, for the vision against their whole crowd will not be revoked. Each person, for his iniquity, will fail to preserve his life.
"They have blown the trumpet and everyone is ready, but no one goes to battle, because my anger is against their whole crowd. The sword is outside; pestilence and famine are inside the house. Whoever is in the open field will die by the sword, and famine and pestilence will consume everyone in the city. Their survivors will escape to the mountains and become like doves of the valleys; all of them will moan--each one for his iniquity. All of their hands will hang limp; their knees will be wet with urine. They will wear sackcloth, terror will cover them; shame will be on all their faces, and all of their heads will be shaved bald. They will discard their silver in the streets, and their gold will be treated like filth. Their silver and gold will not be able to deliver them on the day of the Lord's fury. They will not satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs because their wealth was the obstacle leading to their iniquity. They rendered the beauty of his ornaments into pride, and with it they made their abominable images--their detestable idols. Therefore I will render it filthy to them. I will give it to foreigners as loot, to the world's wicked ones as plunder, and they will desecrate it. I will turn my face away from them and they will desecrate my treasured place. Vandals will enter it and desecrate it. (Make the chain, because the land is full of murder and the city is full of violence.) I will bring the most wicked of the nations and they will take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the arrogance of the strong, and their sanctuaries will be desecrated. Terror is coming! They will seek peace, but find none. Disaster after disaster will come, and one rumor after another. They will seek a vision from a prophet; priestly instruction will disappear, along with counsel from the elders. The king will mourn and the prince will be clothed with shuddering; the hands of the people of the land will tremble. Based on their behavior I will deal with them, and by their standard of justice I will judge them. Then they will know that I am the Lord!"
The clouds explode and then the desert blooms
Someone will need to mop this floor for me
When I emerge I find my car
Like a cathedral in a dream of the future
Drive 'til the rain stops
Keep driving
Pull over and blast off when I get the chance
Clear as an insect's wings in sunlight
Flip on the high stakes radio
Try to sing the words right
Drive 'til the rain stops
Keep driving
I had his arms tied up behind him
We were together all day
Maybe make Culiacán by sunset
Try to anyway
High as the clouds now
Flying
Drive 'til the rain stops
Keep driving
13. Enoch 18:14
When I inquired regarding them, The angel said: "This place is the end of heaven."
I saw some old friends as I came to the city gate
They asked me where I'd been of late
I hadn't been anywhere, but what was I going to say
Two hopeful people looking at me that way
You and your brother
You both escaped the curse
You can't comprehend what it's like
We stood in the sunlight and they asked me where I'd been
Held the gate open--told me to come on in
I saw the damp green grass so nice on the other side
Couldn't explain myself to them, but I tried
You and your brother
You both escaped the curse
So you can't comprehend what it's like
Ground was dry but giving, the sky was nearly black
Saw some old friends when I looked back
Remember my old home, haven't forgotten yet
What happens on the day when I forget
You and your brother
You both escaped the curse
So you can't comprehend what it's like
14. Proverbs 6:27
Can a man hold fire against his chest without burning his clothes?
Try to hide down in the darkness
Get accustomed to our shapes
Rained in 'til next week at the earliest
Go through an old box full of betamax tapes
Pull the blankets up to my neck
And the screen began to glow
I cried real tears when they beat Chuck Norris down
Wait here in the shadows 'til the shadows let me go
And treat each crushing moment like a gift
And wait for the fog to lift
Pretend I'm waiting for a notice
From someone somewhere far away
Sit here and break things while I'm waiting
As day gives way to day gives way to day gives way to day
But though I try to let the shadows mask my movements
They're never gonna hide me like they used to
I watch the delta force save everybody from that plane on fire
I was watching wishing i had not lost track of you
I treat each crushing moment like a gift
And wait for the fog to lift
Love the album, and also enjoyed seeing them on Colbert last night!
Craig
And anyone else find it amusing that he followed up an album called "Heretic Pride" with one filled with Biblical references?
Although, just remembering the titles of songs feels like work. I've never particularly enjoyed memorizing Bible verses.
I'm sure there's others, too, but these come to mind off the top-of-my-head.
To some extent, this album reminds me of a more focused Sufjan.
I can't wait for November 7. Going to be seeing them live.
Craig
I'm planning to add that track at refresh this weekend.
Craig
Amazon and iTunes each have their own bonus track.
I was all set to pass you up by RECing every track on the new Peter Bradley Adams album while it was still free....
But in your wily ways, you too RECed every track while it was free, maintaining your 300 and odd change lead over me.
My plan was simple - leave you in the dust with broken street cred on your face, then bulldoze through drb, and finally past Dwizzle and powelllaw (who don't count anyway since they are affiliated with Amie Street) to claim the crown.....
Now my hopes have been dashed.
I HOPE YOU"RE HAPPY!!!!!
Oh, and froggie, did you post that on the wrong thread? Seems a bit random.
Craig