Now Here We Are Thirty Years Later artwork

1990: ‘Going to Alaska'

Now Here We Are Thirty Years Later

English - May 17, 2021 18:23 - 10 minutes - 9.26 MB
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Previous Episode: Introduction: 'Soudoire Valley Song'
Next Episode: 1991: ‘Running Away With What Freud Said'

A young man slips a poem under a doormat. In this episode, a baby is born during the knock-out stages of the Italia 90 football World Cup, and John Darnielle experiments with setting some words to music. Topics include Romantic poet and farm labourer John Clare, dramatic monologues, and trying to become a new person.

Links to articles mentioned in this episode:

- Pop Matters interview: https://www.popmatters.com/searching-for-john-darnielle-2495
776481.html

- John discusses his Norwalk apartment: https://genius.com/The-mountain-goats-done-bleeding-lyrics

- WTF podcast interview with Marc Maron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WgT3ufLeHw

- England Football Online summary of the 26/06/90 England vs Belgium match: http://www.englandfootballonline.com/Seas1980-90/1989-90/M0661Bel1990.html

- Robert Browning, 'Porphyria's Lover': https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46313/porphyrias-lover

- 'I Am,' by John Clare: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43948/i-am

- W.H. Auden, 'The Fall of Rome': https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46313/porphyrias-lover

- Article on Kate Sessions and the jacaranda: https://laist.com/news/entertainment/jacarandas

- John's Tumblr post on 'Going to Alaska': https://johndarnielle.tumblr.com/post/121763305361/fishingboatproceeds-42-days-of-the-mountain.

- Interview about slipping words under the door: https://www.timmcmahan.com/mountain.htm

Books:

Norman Dubie, Groom Falconer (1989, W. W. Norton & Company)