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.

Running Away With What Freud Said
The Mountain Goats Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Big city, wide corner,
New flowers, cold comfort.
56 Fahrenheit early in the morning.
Buses passing by black smoke in their wake.
Big surprises, a lot of big surprises
Bones ringing, running away with what Freud said.

New morning, world breathing,

Far, far from home
Big ringing in the bones
Whose bones are these? God please.
Feeling the pumping, feeling the fresh blood pump inside
City's living, the city's truly living

What's the difference?
Running away with what Freud said.

Overall Meaning

The song "Running Away With What Freud Said" by The Mountain Goats is a poetic portrayal of a person's state of mind as they try to cope with the overwhelming experience of living in a big city. The song is characterized by vivid descriptions of the city and its inhabitants, as well as the singer's inner thoughts and feelings. The opening lines of the song set the scene with a contrast between the big city and the new flowers, suggesting that while there is beauty to be found in the city, it is also a harsh and unforgiving place. The line "56 Fahrenheit early in the morning" creates a sense of disorientation and a feeling of being lost in the city, as the singer navigates their way through the unfamiliar streets.

The chorus of the song is perhaps the most cryptic part, with the line "bones ringing, running away with what Freud said" leaving much to the listener's interpretation. It could be seen as a reference to Freud's theories on the unconscious mind, suggesting that the singer's subconscious is trying to escape from their conscious thoughts and feelings. The final lines of the song continue this theme with a plea to God for help in understanding the singer's situation, highlighting the sense of confusion and uncertainty that comes with living in a big city.

Overall, "Running Away With What Freud Said" is a beautifully crafted song that uses vivid imagery and cryptic lyrics to create a powerful portrayal of the emotional complexity of modern urban life.

Line by Line Meaning

Big city, wide corner,
The overwhelming presence of the city and its vastness as represented by the intersection of a busy street corner.

New flowers, cold comfort.
Despite the presence of something beautiful like new flowers, there is still a sense of unease and discomfort.

56 Fahrenheit early in the morning.
An objective description of the temperature and time of day, which sets a somber tone.

Buses passing by black smoke in their wake.
The unpleasant consequences of urban transit, highlighting pollution and the effect on the environment.

Big surprises, a lot of big surprises
The unpredictability of life and how it can be overwhelming.

Bones ringing, running away with what Freud said.
A metaphor for subconscious thoughts and desires that have an impact on behavior and decision-making.

New morning, world breathing,
A new day is beginning, the world is alive and functioning without regard for personal feelings.

Far, far from home
In an unfamiliar place, physically and emotionally distant from anything familiar.

Big ringing in the bones
Repeated references to the subconscious and how it has an impact on behavior, reactions, and decisions.

Whose bones are these? God please.
A plea for guidance and understanding in trying to ascertain the sources of these influences on one's behavior.

Feeling the pumping, feeling the fresh blood pump inside
Sensations of vitality and energy, maybe even passion, running at a physiological level.

City's living, the city's truly living
Reinforcing the idea that the city is alive and functioning even though it is not a living being.

What's the difference?
A rhetorical question that invites the listener to consider what makes one place or experience different from another, and what impact that has.

Running away with what Freud said.
Incorporating Freud's theories on the subconscious, emotional and mental influences over behavior are running rampant.

Contributed by Camden J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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