The Mountain Goats part 2 Trivia Quiz

Answer: f

The Mountain Goats started off as one man, John Darnielle. The name is a reference to the song "Yellow Coat" by Screamin' Jay Hawkins. On a few songs Darnielle would work with other musicians but for the most part the Mountain Goats were just him. He would say "Hi we are the Mountain Goats" at the beginning of every show even though it was just him.

However, in 2007 the Mountain Goats became a full band with bassist Peter Hughes and drummer Jon Wurster. In 2015, multi-instrumentalist Matt Douglas joined the group. Darnielle still says "Hi we are the Mountain Goats," but now he really does mean "We are" rather than "I am."

Answer: No I Can't

John Darnielle wrote "No I Can't" for his grandmother. It's a "Thank you" song. There are two versions of this song. One version first appeared on "Transmissions to Horace." John Darnielle re-recorded the song with bassist Rachel Ware, who sings the chorus with him. Both versions of the song are on "Bitter Melon Farm." This is possibly my favorite Mountain Goats song from the early years.

Answer: Nothing For Juice

"Nothing For Juice" is the third official full album from the Mountain Goats. After this album, John Darnielle used Peter Hughes as the bassist/back-up vocalist on a few songs on the next album, "Full Force Galesburg."

Answer: Moon and Sand

"Moon and Sand" was originally by Chet Baker. John Darnielle covered this song with Rachel Ware on "Nothing For Juice."

One thing that all these songs have in common except for "The Moon Song" is that they are all my favorite song on their respective albums. "Moon and Sand" is my favorite song on "Nothing For Juice." "Moon Over Goldsboro" is my favorite song on "Get Lonely." "In the Craters on the Moon" is my favorite song on "Heretic Pride." At the time this quiz was created, "The Moon Song" had not been officially released, although one could listen to it on youtube.

Answer: Jaipur

The lyrics to "Jaipur" include three variations of lyrics also found in the well-known folk song "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." "Jaipur" is on the Mountain Goats' fifth album, "The Coroner's Gambit." It is a song about coming home.

Answer: The Sunset Tree

The alpha couple are a fictional, dysfunctional married couple that John Darnielle used to write songs about. This couple began their relationship in California and later they moved to Tallahassee, Florida. They drink, they fight, one of them goes to prison, and the ending is ugly.

The earliest songs about this couple have the word "Alpha" in the title. Most of them are meant to be gender neutral. In "Alpha Double Negative: Going to Catalina," the narrator is female. In "No Children," the narrator is most likely male since he uses the word "wife" when singing to the other person.

"Tallahassee," the Mountain Goats' first album recorded in a studio, is also the first album entirely dedicated to this couple. Originally, "Alpha Omega" from the album "Protein Source of the Future... Now" was intended to be the last song in the series. In that song, one of them left. However, John Darnielle decided to bring the couple back together for one more album. In the first song, the title track, the spouse who had left came back, moving all the way from California to Tallahassee just for his/her former love. Things don't go too well. As the album progresses, the couple get angrier and angrier at each other, until finally they get into a physical fight and throw lit cigarettes against the wall in "Oceanographer's Choice." In the end, they burn down their house with both of them inside it. The final song in the series is "Alpha Rat's Nest."


"The Sunset Tree" is about John Darnielle's stepfather. Although Darnielle's parents' marriage helped inspire the alpha couple, no songs on "The Sunset Tree" are about that couple.

Answer: Slow West Vultures

"Slow West Vultures" is the first song on "We Shall All Be Healed." The whole album is songs about John Darnielle's addiction to meth when he was younger. The sound effect you hear near the end of the song is likely a bottle breaking and likely intentional.

This song also has violins that sound almost like a baby crying. I can't tell you about everything going on in this song and have this quiz submitted, but this is one of my favorite songs ever.

Answer: High Hawk Season

"High Hawk Season" is the seventh song on the Mountain Goats' 13th official album, "All Eternals Deck." This song has backing vocals from the North Mountain Singers. These singers sound like cowboys, which is probably intentional to fit the mood of the song.

The song mentions Van Cortlandt Park, the setting for "The Warriors." The song is likely sung from the perspective of Cyrus, the main character in that movie.

Answer: Stabbed to Death Outside San Juan

Bruiser Brody was a wrestler who was stabbed to death in Puerto Rico, near San Juan. He was there for a wrestling match, but he got into a fight with fellow wrestler Jose Huertas Gonzalez. Gonzalez stabbed Brody and killed him. Gonzalez was acquitted of murder because of self-defense.

All of the songs on "Beat the Champ" are about wrestling. One of my personal favorites, "Stabbed to Death Outside San Juan," is sung from the perspective of Bruiser Brody on the last day of his life.

One inaccuracy in the song: the song says that no one heard a thing. Actually, everyone in the locker room heard the screaming. The paramedics just couldn't get to Brody in time because of the large crowd.

Answer: Christian Death

Christian Death's lead singer, Rozz Williams, was a good friend of John Darnielle until he (Williams, not Darnielle) committed suicide. John Darnielle wrote a few songs for him such as "Bluejays and Cardinals" and "Shadow Song." Those songs appear on "The Coroner's Gambit," not on "Goths."

Andrew Eldritch is mentioned in one of the songs on "Goths," and he is the lead singer of Sisters of Mercy. Siouxsie and the Banshees are mentioned in "Stench of the Unburied." There is a whole song on "Goths" that's a brief biography of Gene Loves Jezebel, and that song is "Abandoned Flesh."