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About

Genius Annotation

Track #9 on The Mountain Goats‘ twelfth full-length album All Hail West Texas.

Its two characters are reminiscent of the Alpha couple that John Darnielle frequently wrote about (see for example “Alpha Incipiens” or Tallahassee). The narrator here, however, is more mature and aware of their situation than the Alpha couple ever was.
At the same time, the idea of traveling from place to place to escape a negative feeling likens to another early series in the Mountain Goats' discography: the “Going to…” series (see for example “Going to Spain” or “Going to Alaska”). Again, however, the narrator of “The Mess Inside” is more self-aware than the one in “Going to…” songs.

John talked at length about “The Mess Inside” and its relation to the rest of All Hail West Texas and his larger discography during the ninth episode of I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did The Mountain Goats say about "The Mess Inside"?
Genius Answer

John Darnielle before playing this song at Park West, in Chicago, IL on October 13, 2008:

“This is a song about how you may find yourself in a position where you remember that the love you once had with a person was so wonderful, it was so good, that it seems worth preserving. But you have had that thought rather too late to really do any preserving. But at the same time, you start chasing that notion, it’s like, oh, I have to preserve what’s there. What you mean is ‘regain what’s gone’. But you won’t listen to me about that, you are- you would rather say, ‘oh no, I gotta preserve our love.’ No, your love, you left on the corner of Fifth and Broadway, it’s not there anymore, goodbye to all that, right? You have to say goodbye to that, but you’re not willing, you would rather spend some money on it first.”

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