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
“Going to Alaska” is the first song by the Mountain Goats to have a “Going to …” title, and arguably the first Mountain Goats song ever. It, like several early songs, began life as a poem.
There are over thirty “Going to…” songs, including “Going to Utrecht” and “Going to Spain”. These songs are ab...
[Verse 1]
The jacaranda are wet with color
And the heat is a great paintbrush, lending color to our lives
And to the air, and to out faces; but I'm going to Alaska
Where there's snow to suck the sound out from the air
[Verse 2]
Up, yes, in the branches
The purple blossoms, go pale at the edges;
There is meaning in the shifting of the sap, and I see in them traces
Of last year; but then they hadn't grown so strong
And their limbs were more like wires. Now they are cables
Thick and alive with alien electricity
And I am going to Alaska, where you can go blind
Just by looking at the ground; where fat is eaten by itself
Just to keep the body warm
[Verse 3]
Because from where we are now, it seems, really
That everything is growing in a thousand different ways:
That the soil is soaked through with old blood and with relatives
Who were buried here, or close to here, and they are giving rise
To what is happening. Or can you tell me otherwise?
I am going to Alaska, where the animals can kill you
But they do so in silence, as though if no-one hears them
Then it really won't matter. I am going to Alaska!
[Outro]
They tell me that it's perfect for my purposes
Going to Alaska was written by John Darnielle.
Going to Alaska was produced by John Darnielle.