Acceptable Damages Sutra

Acceptable Damages Sutra is an unreleased song by the Mountain Goats. A demo of it was posted on the Mountain Goats forums on by John Darnielle on April 15, 2008 along with several other demos to make up for the cancellation of their 2008 Australian tour.

Lyrics

I had some high hopes, had some high hopes
For the coming year
But as it turns out
Nothing ever really changes here
But when I've had
About as much as I can take
When I feel myself
Just about to break
I lean into the wind
And like an infant, I reach out for your hand
Fool me once, you know
Shame shame
Shame shame

And as we rehearse our scene
We really put our hearts into it
And I feel an opening to wiggle through
But I don't want to do it
But some habits are hard to break, hard to break
And some aren't really habits anymore
And when the full force of the hurricane
Nearly knocks me on the floor
I lean into the wind
And like an infant, I reach out for your hand
Fool me once, you know
Shame shame
Shame shame

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song

• "gotta be honest, I don't remember much about this. I think the guitar we're hearing is my '79 Les Paul, which puts this at no earlier than January '03 I think." -- Forum post

Live Shows this Song Was Played at

Internet releases by John Darnielle

Exclusive: "Acceptable Damages Sutra" • "All Devils Here Now" • "Ballad of the Errant Scallop" • "The Big Unit" • "Brandy Let's Go" • "Bride" • "Counting Song for Bitter Children" • "Cut Off Their Thumbs #1" • "Deserters" • "Down Here Where the Bullet Bills Are" • "Extreme South #1" • "Flower Song" • "For the Krishnacore Bands" • "From TG&Y" • "Going Back to California" • "Going Invisible" • "Hye Kye" • "New Mountain Goats Tape Song" • "New World Emerging Blues" • "Pure Crystal" • "Short Song for Justin Bieber and His Paparazzi" • "Shot, Repeatedly, At Close Range, In the Chest, By Your Love" • "Sign of the Crow 2" • "Song for Sasha Banks" • "There Is Power in a Union" • "Thucydides II-58" • "Tyler Lambert's Grave"• "The Ultimate Jedi Who Wastes All the Other Jedi and Eats Their Bones" • "You and Me and a High Balcony" Released elsewhere: "Alibi • "Daniel 12:8 (first)" • "Exegetic Chains" • "For the Snakes" • "If You See Light" • "Let Me Bathe in Demonic Light" • "Michael Myers Resplendent" • "No Children" • "Ox Baker Triumphant" • "Surrounded" • "Until Olympius Returns" • "Wait for You"