Coco-Yam Song

Coco-Yam Song
Album	Yam, the King of Crops
Released	1994
Artist	the Mountain Goats
Length	1:53
Previous Track	"Omega Blaster"
Next Track	"Alagemo"

Coco-Yam Song is the fourth song on the cassette Yam, the King of Crops. It was re-released on the compilation Protein Source of the Future...Now!.

Lyrics

A neighboring clan went on the attack
Stole all the giant coco-yams 
From the barn out back
I will make them pay
For taking my yams away

I carved out little figurines of thieves
Burned a palmful of red dust from the medicine bag
Broke a kola nut in half, I ate half of it myself
I sat back and watched the evening drag
I will make them regret 
That they haven't brought my yams back yet

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song

• [answering a question about sound snippets] "Well, both Nothing for Juice and Full Force Galesburg were sort of res-ipsa-loquitur ('the thing speaks for itself') records; I didn't think they'd benefit from sound-snippets, whose main function is usually either to point a listener in a certain direction or to provide stark contrast (there's a snippet on 'Yam, the King of Crops' that I'm thinking of with respect to this second one)." [An editor's note clarifies that Darnielle was referring to this song, rather than the title track of the cassette on which it appeared.] -- 2001-03-05 Space City Rock interview

Things Referenced in this Song

• The song sampled at the beginning of this song is "Always True to You in My Fashion" by Peggy Lee.
• Both coco-yams (taro) and kola nuts are commonly cultivated in West Africa.