Up the Wolves
The Mountain Goats Lyrics


There's bound to be a ghost at the back of your closet
No matter where you live
There'll always be a few things, maybe several things
That you're gonna find really difficult to forgive

There's going to come a day when you feel better
You'll rise up free and easy on that day
And float from branch to branch,
Lighter than the air
Just when that day is coming
Who can say,
Who can say?

Our mother has been absent
Ever since we founded Rome
But there's gonna be a party when the wolf comes home

We're gonna commandeer the local airwaves
To tell the neighbors what's been goin' on
And they will shake their heads
And wag their bony fingers
In all the wrong directions,
And by daybreak we'll be gone

I'm going to get myself in fighting trim
Scope out every angle of unfair advantage
I'm gonna bribe the officials,
I'm gonna kill all the judges
It's gonna take you people years
To recover from all of the damage

Our mother has been absent
Ever since we founded Rome
But there's gonna be a party when the wolf comes home

Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS

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Up the Wolves
The Mountain Goats are an American band formed in Claremont, California, by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Durham, 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 Read Full BioThe Mountain Goats are an American band formed in Claremont, California, by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Durham, 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.
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Most interesting comments from YouTube:

Roman Zimmermann

nobody did this yet ok

there's bound to be a ghost at the back of your closet
no matter where you live
there'll always be a few things, maybe several things
that you're gonna find really difficult to forgive
there's gonna come day when you feel better
you'll rise up free and easy on that day
and float from branch to branch
lighter than the air
just when that day is coming
who can say, who can say
our mother has been absent ever since we founded rome
but there's gonna be a party when the wolf comes home
we're gonna commandeer the local airwaves
to tell the neighbors what's been going on
and they will shake their heads and wag their bony fingers in all the wrong directions
and by daybreak we'll be gone
i'm gonna get myself in fighting trim
scope out every angle of unfair advantage
i'm gonna bribe the officials, i'm gonna kill all the judges
it's gonna take you people years to recover from all of the damage
our mother has been absent ever since we founded rome
but there's gonna be a party when the wolf comes home



Catnip Corpse

There's bound to be a ghost at the back of your closet
No matter where you live
There'll all ways be a few things, maybe several things
That you're gonna find really difficult to forgive

There's gonna come a day when you'll feel better
You'll rise up free and easy on that day
And float from branch to branch lighter than the air
Just when that day is coming, who can say? Who can say?

Our mother has been absent
Ever since we founded Rome
But there's gonna be a party when the wolf comes home

We're gonna comandeer the local airwaves
To tell the neighbors what's going on
And they will shake their heads and wag their bony fingers
In all the wrong directions and by daybreak we'll be gone

I'm gonna get myself in fighting trim
Scope out every angle of unfair advantage
I'm gonna bribe the officals; I'm gonna kill all the judges
It's gonna take you people years to recover from all of the damage

Our mother has been absent
Ever since we founded Rome
But there's gonna be a party when the wolf comes home



All comments from YouTube:

Øystein

"I'm always trying to figure out what to say about this god damn song. Part of me wants to say look it's about revenge, but as soon as I say that... no, that's not quite it. Part of me wants to say it's about the satisfaction of not needing revenge... and I say no, that some new age stuff. I think it's a song about the moment in your quest for revenge when you learn to embrace the futility of it. The moment when you know that the thing you want is ridiculous and pompous and a terrible thing to want anyway. The direction in which you're headed is not the direction in which you want to go, yet you're going to head that way a while longer anyway cause that's just the kind of person you are." - John Darnielle, 2007

Boog S Reviews

I’ve always taken it as triumphing over something big in life. John even says it in a live version. He says something along the lines of “this songs about overcoming adversity and overcoming the odds”. I’ll always associate it with overcoming the odds and starting a new chapter in life. Might not be the meaning but that’s always what it meant to me personally

Very Sad

@Oliva Sullen it is also a reference to Romulus and Remus from Roman mythology, which can suggest a lot if you study those characters and how they fit into the mythology and what they represent.

Oliva Sullen

"Our mother has been absent ever since we founded Rome, but there's gonna be a party when the wolf comes home"

I think the whole song is about anti-establishment, patriarchy, government, roman church, religion, everything that excommunicates or exiles our link to the maternal, or "mother nature" so to speak. The mother/wolf is kind of this maternal fury of our inner nature that is going to rip down everything we built so that we will finally be able to celebrate earth's restoration. I think the idea of the absent mother in the lyrics isn't about a parent who abandons us, its like the absence of intimacy experienced by humanity when we created civilization. It's not a song about revenge, its a song about reconciliation. Celebrating the unburdening of resentment. We have to destroy social order to find social connection.

Ha G

that song is probably not meant that way, but your interpration is worthwhile

Siddhant Pandey

I just looked this song up again today after a long time. Heard it in The Walking Dead, and I've loved it ever since.

This quote perfectly describes this song, and adds another layer to my understanding of it.

And she'll, funnily enough, reading this makes me feel like it fits the protagonist of The Last of Us Part II quite perfectly.

3 More Replies...

Sriracha Addict

You’re gonna miss me so bad when I’m gone Daryl Dixon

Can Bey

This centence belong to beth man not daryl but its ok

Quinn O'Shea

@HisNameIsCho Grady memorial hospital kept slaves beth was one of them

The Bleach God

@HisNameIsChoActually, there were a few, and it wasnt being covered up. Everyone knew about it, and it was wide-spread.

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