Your Belgian Things Lyrics
The men were here to get your Belgian things
They'll store them for you in an airplane hangar
There's guys in biohazard suits
Mud caking on their rubber boots
They've come to keep your pretty things from danger
[Verse 2]
The men were here to get your Belgian things
They'll spend the whole day hauling them downstairs
I shot a roll of thirty-two exposures
My camera groans beneath the weight it bears
[Chorus]
I can see you in my sleep
Playing the points for all you're worth
Walking gingerly across the
Bruised earth
[Verse 3]
The men were here to get your Belgian things
They waltzed right through the door and went fluorescent
Their boots were black and shiny and your treasures gleamed like stars
Bones from deep down in the fertile crescent
[Verse 4]
The arteries are clogging in the mainframe
There's too much information in the pipes
I saw the mess you left up in the east bedroom
A tiger's never gonna change its stripes
I guess
I guess but Jesus what a mess
One way in and no way out
[Verse 5]
The men were here to get your Belgian things
And only I was here to see them do it
I wish you had a number where you are
It's hard with no one here to help me through it
[Chorus]
I can see you in my sleep
Playing the points for all you're worth
Walking gingerly across the bruised earth
About
Track #6 on The Mountain Goats‘ eighth full-length studio album We Shall All Be Healed from 2004.
This song seems to be describing a possible meth lab explosion or accident leading to a police raid.
The narrator is present for all of this. Though it wasn’t his operation, he knows the person who was in charge, and is addressing this song to them.
Perhaps this person is dead, perhaps they fled after the accident, or perhaps they were injured and had to be hospitalized (this last interpretation would lead in well to the next song, “Mole”, which is about a hospital visitor).
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
John Darnielle before playing this song at The Gargoyle in St. Louis, MO on October 23, 2006:
This is a song about tallying up your losses and feeling unduly proud of them. You’ll probably do this at some point. Say, ‘Wow, I squandered all that good will, and stuff, that I had. I bet no one ever so thoroughly wasted such good things. I must be a badass,’ you might say, you will say to yourself, on that day. Then you’ll indulge yourself in feeling bad about it. Then if you’re me, you’ll write a song."
