The Mountain Goats are an American band formed in Claremont, California, by… Read Full Bio ↴The Mountain Goats are an American band formed in Claremont, California, by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. For many years, the sole member of the Mountain Goats was Darnielle, despite the plural moniker. The Mountain Goats are, for all practical purposes, the endlessly clever and prolific John Darnielle and whatever musicians he surrounds himself with, which means that while the soundscape may change from project to project, the overall tone and feel of Darnielle's work remains remarkably consistent. At his best, he writes finely observed, slightly surreal, impressionistic vignettes that manage to mix life as we live it with life as we wish we could live it, and as such he has more in common with a novelist than he does with the typical singer/songwriter, which is fitting, as he's also a published author. Darnielle's early Mountain Goats releases were lo-fi, cassette-recorded efforts cut with a rotating lineup of musicians, such as 1995's Nine Black Poppies and 2000's The Coroner's Gambit. By 2005's The Sunset Tree, his recordings had become cleaner and less cluttered, but his characters studies were just as vivid, and as the Mountain Goats finally cohered into a stable lineup (with Darnielle joined by Peter Hughes, Matt Douglas, and Jon Wurster), they recorded tuneful, thematically unified albums such as Beat the Champ (2015) and Goths (2017) that ranked with their finest work.
Darnielle began the new millennium with The Coroner's Gambit for Absolutely Kosher before signing to 4AD for the release of the surprisingly polished Tallahassee in 2002. We Shall All Be Healed followed in 2004, and one year later, Darnielle was back with The Sunset Tree. Remaining as prolific as ever, Darnielle turned away from the intensity of The Sunset Tree for a calmer, more reflective set of songs on 2006's Get Lonely. The accessible and assured Heretic Pride appeared in 2008. Next up was the Bible verse-inspired The Life of the World to Come, the group's sixth album for 4AD, in 2010. Switching to Merge Records in 2011, Darnielle released All Eternals Deck, which was recorded in four different studios in Brooklyn, Boston, North Carolina, and Florida with four different producers -- John Congleton, Scott Solter, Brandon Eggleston, and Morbid Angel guitarist and Hate Eternal frontman Erik Rutan -- helming various tracks. That year the band was also handpicked by Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival that he was curating in Minehead, England, but they were ultimately unable to appear due to scheduling issues.

Broom People
The Mountain Goats Lyrics

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'36 Hudson in the garage
All sorts of junk in the unattached spare room.
Dishes in the kitchen sink
New straw for the old broom.
Friends who don't have a clue
Well meaning teachers
But down in your arms, in your arms
I am a wild creature.

Lawn two foot high with newspapers
White carpet thick with cat hair
Half eaten gallons of ice cream in the freezer
Fresh fuel for the sodium flares
I write down good reasons to freeze to death
In my spiral-ring notebook

But in the long tresses of your hair
I am a babbling brook

Overall Meaning

The Mountain Goats’ song “Broom People” is a ballad that tells the story of two people living together in a run-down house. The song describes the mess and chaos around them, which echoes the emotional turmoil within. The first verse paints a picture of a car - a ‘36 Hudson, a classic car that is no longer in production - sitting in the garage along with other “junk” in the “unattached spare room”. The following lines describe dirty dishes in the kitchen sink and a new straw for an old broom, suggesting that the couple may not have a lot of money to maintain their house. The chorus presents a contrast, revealing that in each other’s arms, they become “wild creatures” despite their mundane lives.

The second verse focuses on the house’s state. The lawn is two feet high and newspapers lie scattered about, while the white carpet is thick with cat hair. Half-eaten ice cream gallons sit in the freezer, and the presence of sodium flares alludes to some unspecified disaster or danger outside their home. The singer describes writing down “good reasons” to freeze to death in their notebook. This is a grimly humorous and ironic line, as it conveys the hopelessness and bleakness of their situation. However, the chorus again turns to a more positive, transcendent note, suggesting that the intimacy and emotional support within their relationship helps the singer to “babble” like a brook in the long hair tresses of his partner.

Overall, “Broom People” is a touching song that depicts the paradoxical coexistence of despair and hope in a relationship struggling through rough times. The song speaks to the human need for connection and the power that love has to lift us out of the quagmire of our existence.

Line by Line Meaning

36 Hudson in the garage
There's a car in the garage called the 36 Hudson

All sorts of junk in the unattached spare room.
There's a room in the house that has all sorts of junk in it

Dishes in the kitchen sink
There are dirty dishes sitting in the kitchen sink

New straw for the old broom.
There's new straw that has replaced the old straw in the broom

Friends who don't have a clue
There are friends who don't understand what's going on

Well meaning teachers
There are teachers who want to help but may not be effective

But down in your arms, in your arms
When I'm in your arms

I am a wild creature.
I feel free and alive

Lawn two foot high with newspapers
The lawn is overgrown with newspapers scattered all over

White carpet thick with cat hair
The white carpet has a thick layer of cat hair on it

Half eaten gallons of ice cream in the freezer
There are half-eaten gallons of ice cream in the freezer