Last week Mountain Goats leader John Darnielle showed us his compassion for the fellow man by showing his support for unions. This week he continues with that theme. His thoughts, like most of ours, are currently with Japan and the crisis they are working through after the disastrous earthquake and tsunami hit last week.
Darnielle has uncovered a long lost demo tape that is dated 5/27/01 and labelled FRENETIQUES demos but only has a solitary track on it. Posting on the band’s blog Darnielle believes that the song was recorded in demo form, but never completed because his mind was diverted towards the recording of Tallahassee. The song is called “Eugene Sue” and has “a catchy little chorus.”
Talking about the themes of the song, and the inapporopriate nature of them, Darnielle says:
The song itself is completely inappropriate to the occasion at hand; in it, a man washes up on shore and calls down curses on himself & the entire world. He sees a guy with a gun. He foretells trouble for everybody. He whistles. What can I say: it’s a Mountain Goats song; some degree of doom and paranoia goes with the territory. Still, it seems hopeful in its peril-ridden way. Happy doomed guy singing. Painting smiley faces on the walls of his open prison. And a spoken intro that indicates that I’d been watching the Cubs play the Reds into extra innings.
To me, and to all Mountain Goats fans I’m sure, that sounds incredible. Darnielle has no preference as to whether the eventual owner keeps it to themselves or digitizes it for mass consumption. Even if they do go for the latter there is no substitute for owning this one of a kind item, so head here to make your bid. All proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders.
You can read John Darnielle’s two posts about Japan and the tape in full here.
