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.

The House That Dripped Blood
The Mountain Goats Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Look beyond the broken bottles
Past the rotting wooden stairs
Root out the wine-dark honeyed center
Not everyone can live like millionaires

Look through the air-thin walls
Tear up the floorboards strip the paint
Go over every inch of space

With the patience of a saint
Grab your hat get your coat
The cellar door is an open throat

Look past the kitchen cabinets
Go through the chest of drawers
Scrutinize the casements
Rip the varnish off the doors
Dig up the laughing photographs
They're here somewhere or other
Take what you can carry
But let me tell you brother
Still waters go stagnant

Bodies bloat
And the cellar door is an open throat

Overall Meaning

The House That Dripped Blood by The Mountain Goats tells the story of a creepy old house that is in need of some renovation. The singer urges the listener to look beyond the broken bottles and rotting wooden stairs and to seek out the honeyed center. The idea is that although the exterior may be dilapidated, there may still be something of value inside.

The lyrics invite the listener to tear up the floors, strip the paint, and examine every inch of space with the patience of a saint. The singer warns that still waters go stagnant and bodies bloat, alluding to the possibility that the house may have some unpleasant secrets lurking within its walls. The cellar door is described as an open throat, which speaks to the idea that the basement may hold a deep, dark secret.

Line by Line Meaning

Look beyond the broken bottles
Focus on what lies beyond the physical damage

Past the rotting wooden stairs
Move on from the decrepit parts of the house

Root out the wine-dark honeyed center
Find the hidden treasure in the center

Not everyone can live like millionaires
The house is not perfect, and it's okay to have imperfections

Look through the air-thin walls
Search beyond the surface level

Tear up the floorboards strip the paint
Examine everything thoroughly

Go over every inch of space
Leave no stone unturned

With the patience of a saint
Take your time and don't rush the search

Grab your hat get your coat
Get ready to leave

The cellar door is an open throat
The house has a dark side

Look past the kitchen cabinets
Don't be afraid to dig deeper