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.

One Frozen River
The Mountain Goats Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

When my old friend came crawling up the hill,
Broken and bloody,
Carrying her hair in clumps in her hands,
I let her right on in,
Let her right in.

When she stood at the kitchen window,
Staring out at the countryside,

And then she looked my way.
I let her right on in,
Let her right in.

And when she was stronger than she'd been before,
I opened the front door.
And then i opened the back door.

And the sunlight poured in.
Yeah

Overall Meaning

, some people say that time heals all wounds,
But time can also inflict wounds you never even knew you had.
And sometimes, it's the healing that hurts the most.
The singer in this song is a loyal friend, who encounters another friend who is struggling with something. From the beginning, it is clear that the struggling friend is in a terrible state, as she arrives "broken and bloody." But the singer doesn't hesitate to "let her right on in." This metaphorically represents the idea of being there for someone when they need it most, without questioning their circumstances or imposing judgement upon them.

As the song continues, the once-broken friend slowly heals, becoming stronger and more resilient than ever before. The singer is there for her all along, supporting her and helping her through each step of her journey. By the end of the song, the healing friend is so strong that she's ready to face the world outside, and the singer gladly opens both the front and back doors to let the sunlight pour in.

Overall, this song is about the power of friendship and the importance of being there for someone when they need it most. It also speaks to the idea that healing is not always an easy process, but it's worth it in the end.

Line by Line Meaning

When my old friend came crawling up the hill,
When my old friend arrived at my doorstep, exhausted and wounded,

Broken and bloody,
Her body was battered and she was bleeding,

Carrying her hair in clumps in her hands,
She was holding onto her hair, which had been yanked out during the traumatic experience she had just gone through,

I let her right on in,
I welcomed her into my home,

Let her right in.
I didn't hesitate to help her in any way that I could,

When she stood at the kitchen window,
As she stood at the kitchen window,

Staring out at the countryside,
Gazing out at the peaceful landscape outside,

And then she looked my way.
She turned to face me,

I let her right on in,
I continued to give her comfort and support,

Let her right in.
I remained welcoming and attentive to her needs,

And when she was stronger than she'd been before,
As she regained her emotional and physical strength,

I opened the front door.
I invited her to leave my home and enter the world outside,

And then i opened the back door.
I gave her even more freedom and independence,

And the sunlight poured in.
I allowed her to embrace the joys of the outside world and move forward with her life once again.

Contributed by Landon K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.