"Uh, 19 years ago, I was working on a record for 4AD, and it was to be our first record for 4AD so I was working very, very hard cause it is in my nature to want to please the people who have asked me to do something. [‘Woooo’ from the crowd.] You say 'woooo' - it's a mixed blessing, everybody. But, for me what that involved was like, keeping my head down, wake up thinking about the divorcing couple, go to bed thinking about the divorcing couple. Anything else going on in my world - how can I connect it to my divorcing people down in Tallahassee?
Anything else? Thinking about these people. Watching a movie? Thinking about these people. Watching the Cincinnati Bengals play on a Sunday? Still thinking about these people. Mute the television, write a little something about these people. Ugly, awful people. Get 'em in your skull. I did not know then, 19 years later, I would be talking to Variety magazine this morning about these people.
You know it's a bit odd to sort of like, really, I mean I play this song a lot, but I really have had the opportunity in recent weeks to think about this song, yeah. I do consider it a love song of sorts. You wouldn't waste that much energy on somebody you didn't love at bottom...
...would you?"
[band plays “No Children”]
John Darnielle | The Mountain Goats concert | October 27, 2021
