Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. LXV--The Mountain Goats: Love Love Love

It's not often you'll find a pop song that references Raskolnikov from Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, the tragic life of boxing great Sonny Liston, and the suicide of Kurt Cobain--and all three in two minutes, 49 seconds.  But the Mountain Goats do it "Love Love  Love" and throw in biblical references to King Saul falling on his sword, Joseph being sold by his brothers, and St. Paul's "Love Chapter" (1 Corinthians 13) for good measure.

While the Mountain Goats have evolved into a three piece band, they originally began in 1991 as the brainchild (and sole band member) of John Darnielle. In the beginning Darnielle's efforts were largely of the DIY sort, but through the years grew and developed into the band's current incarnation. Though the band has never quite achieved mass success, they have developed a devoted following and in 2015 released their fifteenth album.

I came across "Love Love Love" in the way so many of us who devote too much of our lives to music do--completely by accident.  I was actually searching the web for a song I'd heard called "This Year" (it's a semi autobiographical song dealing with Darnielle's abusive step-father--a great tune in its own right), when I read a comment saying that "Love Love Love" was an even better song.  Never one to let a challenge such as that to go by without at least checking it out, I gave it a listen and it was love love love (so to speak) at first hearing.

Released in 2005 on what's considered to be their best album, The Sunset Tree, the most striking thing about "Love Love Love" to me is its sparseness and its simplicity--it's basically Darnielle's vocals (wonderfully sedate), an acoustic guitar, and some slight background music which may or may not be a synthesizer.  Darnielle sings in an understated falsetto, runs through both the nobility and the dark side of love all the while showing a talent for turning a phrase--I try not to put too much stock into lyric writing, but this is one of those instances when I just throw that caveat out the window.  When he sings, "Some things you'll do for money and some you'll do for fun/But the things you do for love are going to come back to you one by one," it's hard not to smile in wonder.  While the song closes with a a picture of Kurt Cobain's suicide and warnings about both the futility of love and its ephemeral nature, in the end it's still a paean to what a great man (Lou Reed--from "Coney Island Baby" for those who may be interested) once called "the glory of love."

Had my mother not passed away last August, she would have been eighty-one today--and though Mountain Goats to her were little more than critters high up in the hills, this one's for her because she taught me most of what I know about "Love Love Love..."

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee