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.

Standard Bitter Love Song #8
The Mountain Goats Lyrics

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I went down to lloyd center looking for you.
But a mouth full of anger blocked my view.
He took your hand there in the skating the rink.
God will give him blood to drink.

Saw the two of you leaving.
I didn't want to follow behind.
But I could see the rest of your evening,

Burning in my mind.

The sky's black. the moon's pink.
God will give him blood to drink.

I looked over the railing. ice was white
On the northeast side where I saw you and your boyfriend
On a friday night.
I went mining for gold. I struck pure, fresh zinc.
God, god will give him blood to drink.

Hey, hey, hey

Overall Meaning

"Standard Bitter Love Song #8" is a song by The Mountain Goats, with lyrics that paint a vivid picture of heartbreak and jealousy. The singer is searching for his lover in Lloyd Center, but is unable to find her as he is consumed by anger. He then sees her with someone else, leaving him burning with thoughts of the rest of her evening. The combination of the black sky and pink moon sets the eerie stage for the dark thoughts that consume him. The final verse refers to the singer looking over the railing at the ice being white, where he had previously observed the subject of the song and her boyfriend on a Friday night. The singer then goes mining for gold but instead strikes "pure, fresh zinc," invoking the image of something valuable, but ultimately worthless. The repetition of "God will give him blood to drink" throughout the song illustrates how the singer wants revenge, and wants the person who has taken his love to suffer.

Overall, the song is filled with vivid imagery that portrays the singer's pain and anger, and his desire for revenge. The singer paints a picture of loss and jealousy that is palpable, and the repetition of the chorus adds to the intensity of the song. The song is a testament to the power of The Mountain Goats' lyrics and their ability to capture complex emotions in a simple and seemingly effortless way.

Line by Line Meaning

I went down to lloyd center looking for you.
I ventured to Lloyd Center in search of your presence.

But a mouth full of anger blocked my view.
However, my vision was obstructed by a confrontational individual.

He took your hand there in the skating the rink.
He seized your hand while at the ice skating rink.

God will give him blood to drink.
The man will face karmic retribution for his actions.

Saw the two of you leaving.
I witnessed the two of you departing from the location.

I didn't want to follow behind.
However, I chose not to trail after you.

But I could see the rest of your evening,
Nevertheless, the remainder of your night played out in my thoughts.

Burning in my mind.
It lingered on my mind with intensity.

The sky's black. the moon's pink.
The sky is dark and the moon has a pink hue.

God will give him blood to drink.
The man will face the consequences of his actions from a higher power.

I looked over the railing. ice was white
I peered over the railing to see the white ice beneath me.

On the northeast side where I saw you and your boyfriend On a friday night.
On the northeastern side, I spotted you and your significant other on a Friday evening.

I went mining for gold. I struck pure, fresh zinc.
I embarked on a journey to find riches and found pure zinc instead.

God, god will give him blood to drink.
The man's actions will have serious repercussions under divine justice.

Hey, hey, hey
A simple exclamation to punctuate the song.

Contributed by Oliver R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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