In April 2017, as part of a charity fundraiser that John Darnielle’s bowling team participated in, he offered to release a couple of never-before-heard songs, including No More Tears:
(Spoken intro)
One, two, three, and
[Verse 1]
Insane in a studio in Los Angeles
Rudderless and hungry and high
Ideas of no earthly consequence
Float across my consciousness
And then go dark
As bullseyes
[Chorus]
Go down the devil’s way
Go down a twenty devil way
[Verse 2]
Twenty years on they’ll be asking what I remember
Go where the dry dust-crawlers tread
The fire in the vocal booth
The doctor who filed down my teeth:
Dreams from the ether overhead
[Chorus]
Go down the devil’s way
Go down a twenty devil way
[Bridge]
Lit candles pressed into the walls down there
Three cans of Aqua Net in my greying hair
[Verse 3]
Arsenic drifting down through the hourglass
Track-lit hallways that go on for days
Floating like a Portuguese man o' war
Pretty hardcore
Fire offerings, burnt offerings
Thanks and praise
[Chorus]
Go down the devil’s way
Go down the devil’s way
Go down the devil’s way
Go down a twenty devil way
No More Tears was written by John Darnielle.
No More Tears was produced by Scott Solter.
The Mountain Goats released No More Tears on Fri Oct 06 2017.