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.

Pure Gold
The Mountain Goats Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Hey don't touch the door
Because the door will surely kill you
I hear you saying that you don't see what I mean
Well you better look again
Stop looking at the floor
Because the whole building's
Turning and turning and turning
And don't touch the door

Can't you see the door's burning
And all at once
The street is filled with light
And all at once
The street is filled with sound
When I hold you I know

Our number's being called somewhere
Let them come on down

Overall Meaning

The song “Pure Gold” by The Mountain Goats features lyrics that are open to interpretation, and the beauty of the song is that each listener can take away something different from it. The opening line, "Hey don't touch the door, because the door will surely kill you," sets up the idea that danger is imminent. The subsequent lyrics provide a sense of urgency and alarm as the building is turning and burning, and the street suddenly becomes filled with light and sound. The singer of the song finds solace in holding someone, believing that their number is being called somewhere.

Some interpret the song to be about dealing with the chaos and uncertainty of life, and finding comfort in a person you love. The idea that danger is all around reinforces the need to hold onto something precious, and the line about their number being called somewhere could be interpreted as a sense of fate or destiny. The line "stop looking at the floor" could also represent the idea of not dwelling on the negative or mundane, but focusing on the bigger picture and finding joy in the world around you.

Overall, “Pure Gold” is a song about finding connection and hope in the midst of chaos and danger. It reminds us to hold onto what we love and to look for the light and sound that can bring us together.

Line by Line Meaning

Hey don't touch the door
Do not attempt to come in through the door

Because the door will surely kill you
The door is unlikely to be safe

I hear you saying that you don't see what I mean
I understand that you may not comprehend the situation

Well you better look again
Please reconsider your observation

Stop looking at the floor
Stop avoiding the problem at hand

Because the whole building's Turning and turning and turning
The building is rapidly and repetitively rotating

And don't touch the door
I strongly advise you not to touch the door

Can't you see the door's burning
Notice that the door is on fire

And all at once The street is filled with light
Suddenly, the street is illuminated

And all at once The street is filled with sound
Suddenly, the street is resonating with noise

When I hold you I know Our number's being called somewhere
When embracing, it becomes apparent that we are summoned elsewhere