Monday 5 August 2013

Track of the Day: The Mountain Goats - The Mess Inside

Today is an important day. Twelve years after the release of The Mountain Goats' seminal album, 'All Hail West Texas', Merge Records have releasing a remastered version; cleaned up (though not too much. I'd hate it to lose the old girl's signature hiss) and version on vinyl.

In honor of such a momentous occasion my track of the day is it's standout track 'The Mess Inside'. This beautiful anti-love song details a couple who are trying to fix a relationship which is beyond repair. Despite it's archaic recording style and simple instrumentation it is one of the most heart breaking songs in modern music, with each of it's four verses delivering another cruel blow to the future of its characters.

''But you cannot run, and you cannot hide, from the wreck we've made of our house,and from the mess inside.



Lyrics:
'We took a weekend, drove to Provo.
the snow was white and fluffy.
but a weekend in Utah won't fix what's wrong with us.
the gray sky was vast and real cryptic above me.
i wanted you to love me like you used to do.

We took two weeks in the Bahamas.
went out dancing every night.
tried to fight the creeping sense of dread with temporal things.
most of the time i guess i felt alright.
but i wanted you to love me like you used to do.

But you cannot run
and you cannot hide,
from the wreck we've made of our house,
and from the mess inside.

We went down to New Orleans
one weekend in the Spring.
looked hard for what we'd lost.
it was painful to admit it, but we couldn't find a thing.
i wanted you to love me like you used to do.

We went to New York city in September.
took the train out of Manhattan to the grand army stop.
found that bench we'd sat together on a thousand years ago
when i felt such love for you i thought my heart was gonna pop.
i wanted you to love me like you used to do.

But i cannot run.
and i can't hide.
from the wreck we've made of our house.
from the mess inside.'

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