The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats
Closing track #14 on The Mountain Goats‘ twelfth full-length album All Hail West Texas.
Marking the end of All Hail West Texas, “Absolute Lithops Effect” leaves us with a breaking point, a catharsis, and an actual recognition that we do need to get out of here and we do need help. Arguments abound...
[Verse 1]
After one long season of waiting
After one long season of wanting
I am breaking open
My insides are pink and raw
And it hurts me when I move my jaw
But I am taking tiny steps forward
[Pre-Chorus 1]
And I feel sure that my wounds will heal
And I will bloom here in my room
[Chorus]
With a little water and a little bit of sunlight
And a little bit of tender mercy, tender mercy
[Interlude]
[Verse 2]
The big trucks come up the highway
And the big wheels rattle my windows
And night, night comes to Texas
After one blind season alone in here
After one long, sweltering summer
I, I'm going to find the exit
[Pre-Chorus 2]
And I will go to the house of a friend I know
And I will let myself forget
[Chorus]
With a little water and a little bit of sunlight
And a little bit of tender mercy, tender mercy
[Outro]
Absolute Lithops Effect was written by John Darnielle.
Absolute Lithops Effect was produced by John Darnielle.
The Mountain Goats released Absolute Lithops Effect on Tue Feb 19 2002.
John Darnielle before playing this song at Dan’s Silverleaf in Denton, TX on June 20, 2014:
This is a song about sitting alone in a room waiting for something to happen. A subject that’s most insufficiently addressed by pop music. You know, because not everybody really is going to find the one they...
On the episode of I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats about “Absolute Lithops Effect”, John Darnielle talks about the interest he had in cacti while living in a state similar to the song’s narrator:
A Lithops effect would be if something looks like it’s not growing, but it is, right? ‘Cause when yo...