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.

Cobra Tattoo
The Mountain Goats Lyrics

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sun just clearing the treeline when my day begins.
slippery ice on the bridges, northeastern wind coming in.
you will bruise my head, I will strike your heel.
drive past wind of northern pine, try not to let go of the wheel.
dream at night
girl with a cobra tattoo on her arm,
it's head flaring out like a parachute.

prisms in the dew drops in the underbrush
skatecase sailor's purses floating down in the black needlerush
higher than the stars I will set my throne.
God does not need Abraham, God can raise children from stones.
dream at night

girl with a cobra tattoo
and try to hear the garbled transmissions come through.

Overall Meaning

The song "Cobra Tattoo" by The Mountain Goats is a melancholic reflection on life's unpredictability and the uncertainty of the future. The opening lines set the tone for the song, describing a cold and slippery winter morning. The singer seems to be heading out on a journey, hoping to navigate through the challenges that lie ahead. The lines "you will bruise my head, I will strike your heel" evoke the biblical story of Jacob wrestling with an angel, a metaphor for facing challenges in life and emerging stronger from them. The singer is determined to keep moving forward, despite the obstacles.

The chorus of the song offers a moment of respite, as the singer dreams of a girl with a cobra tattoo on her arm. The striking imagery of the cobra, with its head flaring out like a parachute, adds to the dream's surreal quality. The cobra is a potent symbol of transformation, shedding its skin to reveal a new form. In this context, the cobra tattoo may represent the possibility of change or of a new beginning.

The second verse of the song paints a vivid picture of nature's beauty, with prisms in the dew drops and sailor's purses floating down a river. Yet the singer is not content to simply marvel at the world's beauty, as they declare their intention to "set [their] throne higher than the stars." This line speaks to a desire for power and control, perhaps as a means of overcoming life's uncertainties.

Overall, "Cobra Tattoo" is a haunting meditation on the human experience, with its joys and sorrows, triumphs and setbacks.

Line by Line Meaning

sun just clearing the treeline when my day begins.
The singer's day starts at sunrise.

slippery ice on the bridges, northeastern wind coming in.
The weather is icy and windy.

you will bruise my head, I will strike your heel.
This line references the Bible story of Cain and Abel and suggests a violent confrontation.

drive past wind of northern pine, try not to let go of the wheel.
The artist is driving through a forested area.

dream at night girl with a cobra tattoo on her arm, it's head flaring out like a parachute.
The artist dreams about a girl with a cobra tattoo on her arm, which is described in detail.

prisms in the dew drops in the underbrush skatecase sailor's purses floating down in the black needlerush
This is a poetic description of the natural surroundings.

higher than the stars I will set my throne.
The singer aspires to greatness and to be above others.

God does not need Abraham, God can raise children from stones.
This line references a biblical story and implies that God doesn't need humans to fulfill his purposes.

dream at night girl with a cobra tattoo and try to hear the garbled transmissions come through.
The artist has another dream about the girl with the cobra tattoo and tries to hear radio signals.

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