2005: 'Hast Thou Considered The Tetrapod?'

Deep in the dream chamber. Today's episode is about 2005, the year I discovered The Sunset Tree: an album that changed my life. It also takes in Keats, Walter Benjamin, amateur Shakespeare productions in Rutland, and the Venerable Bede.

Show notes

Interviews:

Puncture interview with Bill Meyer, 1994: http://web.archive.org/web/19990427042719/http://mb1.musicblvd.com/cgi-bin/tw/288145857327820_105_4973

Washington Post interview with Ivan Kreilkamp, 2004: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2004/02/04/sure-footed-mountain-goats/534c6689-1848-4538-936a-e6da5230e961/

NPR interview with Linda Wertheimer, 2005: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/4651778

Interview with No Depression, 2005: https://www.nodepression.com/john-darnielle-where-the-truth-lies/2/

The Sound of Young America podcast interview with Jesse Thorn, 2011: https://maximumfun.org/episodes/bullseye-with-jesse-thorn/john-darnielle-mountain-goats-interview-sound-young-america/

MTV interview with Eric Spitznagel, discussing piracy, 2011: http://www.mtv.com/news/2693865/interview-the-mountain-goats-john-darnielle/

SPIN interview with Joe Gross, 2011: https://www.spin.com/2011/04/spin-interview-john-darnielle/

VICE interview with Cam Lindsay, 2011: https://www.vice.com/en/article/bmw7m4/john-darnielle-lived-the-teenage-goth-life-i-never-did

I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats, ‘218: In League With Dragons,’ with Darnielle and Joseph Fink, 2019:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4cORAS6IHaVredgdNx8FjS?si=33ed8ee10d224894

Interview with Helena Fitzgerald for her Substack, Griefbacon, 2021: https://griefbacon.substack.com/p/dont-write-songs-chatting-with-john

Guardian interview with Oscar Rickett, 2022: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/31/john-darnielle-being-an-american-is-like-living-in-a-terry-gilliam-world

BOMB magazine interview with Carmen Maria Machado, 2022: https://bombmagazine.org/articles/john-darnielle/

Web resources:

Holly Hazlewood’s review of Dark in Here for Spectrum Culture, quoting the press kit: https://spectrumculture.com/2021/06/24/the-mountain-goats-dark-in-here-review/

Bleed Out Bandcamp page with liner notes: https://themountaingoats.bandcamp.com/album/bleed-out

Carl Wilson’s article on The Sunset Tree for The Globe and Mail, 2005: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/hes-finally-confessed-so-hold-on/article18226562/

Edmund Spenser, Sonnet 75: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45189/amoretti-lxxv-one-day-i-wrote-her-name

Heritage Calling article on Newcastle-Gateshead public art over the decades, including Tyne Line of Txt Flow: https://heritagecalling.com/2016/09/07/55-years-of-public-art-in-newcastle-gateshead/

Darnielle on Berryman’s ‘Tampa Stomp’, featuring the reference to ancient Rome: https://fsgworkinprogress.com/2014/04/28/on-berrymans-tampa-stomp/

Wikipedia entry on Benjamin’s ‘Angel of history’: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelus_Novus

John Keats, ‘This living hand, now warm and capable’: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50375/this-living-hand-now-warm-and-capable, and Joel Brouwer’s commentary on the poem: https://romantic-circles.org/editions/poets/prose_commentary/brouwer

Geoff Sanborn’s newsletter episode on The Sunset Tree: https://allhail.substack.com/p/2005-the-sunset-tree

JD’s tweet about The Sunset Tree: ‘a record that changed things for us’: https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1519056431126822920

Books:

Bede. A History of the English Church and People. Translated and with an introduction by Leo Sherley-Price, revised by R. E. Latham. Penguin Books, 1968, pp. 127-8.

Alan Bennett, The History Boys. Faber & Faber, 2004.

Antony Sher. Beside Myself: An Actor’s Life. Revised edition. Nick Hern Books, 2009.

Marc Maron, Waiting for the Punch: Words To Live By From The WTF Podcast. Flatiron Books, 2017, p. 40.

Oliver Burke. Four Thousand Weeks: Time and How to Use It. Vintage, 2021.

Devil House, by John Darnielle. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022.

Live recordings:

Live at KEXP Radio on 2005-06-16: https://archive.org/details/tmg2005-06-16.aud.192mp3/tmg2005-06-16t04.mp3

Live at The EARL, Atlanta, GA, on 2006-11-03: https://archive.org/details/mountaingoats2006-11-03.flac/08-Talking.flac

Live at Club Capitol, Perth, Australia, on 2007-01-02: https://archive.org/details/tmg2007-01-02/tmg2007-01-02t03.flac

Live at 9:30 Club, Washington D.C., on 2009-11-27: https://archive.org/details/tMG2009-11-27.aud.flac16/Tmg2009-11-27t19.flac

Live at Ventura Music Hall, CA, on 2022-04-29: https://archive.org/details/tmg2022-04-29.aud.mv88.flac24/tmg2022-04-29t26.flac

Youtube links:

‘High Barbary,’ performed for the Sing Out Loud series at the Pirate Museum in St. Augustine, Florida: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEgoYPnslC0

PBS Eons: ‘Something Has Been Making This Mark For 500 Million Years’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz1fccY3S84