Dance Music
The Mountain Goats Lyrics
Alright I'm in Johnson avenue
In San Louis Obispo
And I'm five years old or six maybe
And indications that there's
Something wrong with our new house
Trip down the wire twice daily
I'm in the living room
Watching the Watergate hearings
While my stepfather yells at my mother
Straight at her head
And I dash upstairs to take cover
Lean in close to my little record player on the floor
So this is what the volume knob's for
I listen to dance music
Dance music
Okay so I'm seventeen years old
You're the last best thing I got going
But then the special secret sickness
Starts to eat through you
What am I supposed to do?
No way of knowing
So I follow you down your twisting alleyways
Find a few cul-de-sacs of my own
There's only one place this road ever ends up
And I don't want to die alone
Let me down, let me down, let me down gently
When the police come to get me
I'm listenin' to dance music
Dance music
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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The Mountain Goats are an American band formed in Claremont, California, by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Durham, 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 Read Full BioThe Mountain Goats are an American band formed in Claremont, California, by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Durham, 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.
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.
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Donteatacowman
This is a great song to put on repeat while you sob in the car in front of your house after work! 10/10
Twiggie Leon
Or when you need to dash somewhere to take cover, because life keeps dealing one crushing blow after another & when you beg for comfort from the last good thing you've got going, their special secret sickness starts to eat through them & BAM! one more kick in the ass from another place you thought you could go to for solace.
But a Mountain Goats song would never call my deteriorating mental state a "petty problem" ... Would you Mountain Goats?
Chris Brannen
How did he know? Are you watching me? Or maybe I'm just paranoid. But this comment is just too damn relatable.
Cree8Ball
Wait a second... you mean there’s someone else that is an Over the Garden Wall fan AND Mountain Goats fans? Crazy.
Bryan Holloway
hell yeah, brother
CrispTomato94
Donteatacowman I had no idea you were aware of this song.
Snowy Kitten777
LYRICS: alright I’m on, Johnson Avenue in San Luis Obispo and I’m five years old or six maybe, and indications that there’s something wrong with our new house, trip down the wire twice daily I’m in the living room watching the Watergate hearings while my stepfather yells at my mother, launches a glass across the room, straight at her head and I dash upstairs to take cover lean in close to the little record player on the floor, so this is what the volume knob’s for I listen to, dance music, dance music okay so look I’m, seventeen years old, and you’re the last best thing I’ve got going, but then the special secret sickness starts to eat through you what am I supposed to do no way of knowing so I, follow you down your twisting alleyways, find a few cul de sacs of my own, there’s only one place this road ever ends up, and I don’t want to die alone let me down let me down let me down gently, when the police come to get me I’m listening to, dance music, dance music.
L T
Thanks for this...
babw16
When shit goes down for me I got Mountain Goats
Grace Heiner
The music is so cheerful and the lyrics are so dark and it's so sad and happy and perfect and I love it.