Deuteronomy 2:10

Deuteronomy 2:10
	;
Album	The Life of the World to Come
Released	2009
Artist	the Mountain Goats
Length	3:21
Previous Track	"Matthew 25:21"
Next Track	"Isaiah 45:23"

Deuteronomy 2:10 is the 10th song on the album The Life of the World to Come.

Bible Verse[]

The Emites used to live there—a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. ^{NIV Translation}

Lyrics[]

The sun above me and a concrete floor below
Scratch at the chain links maybe bare my teeth for show
Fed twice a day I don't go hungry anymore
Feel in my bones just what the future has in store
I pace in circles so the camera will see
Look hard at my stripes, there'll be no more after me

Laze by the shoreline while the sailors disembark
Scratch out a place to sit and rest down in the dark
Smell something burning downwind just a little ways
They set up camp and sing and sweat and work for days
I have no fear of anyone I'm dumb and wild and free
I am a flightless bird and there'll be no more after me

In Costa Rica in a burrow underground
Climb to the surface, blink my eyes and look around
I'm all alone here as I try my tiny song
Claim my place beneath the sky but I won't be here for long
I sang all night the moon shone on me through the trees
No brothers left and there'll be no more after me

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song[]

"This is a song sung by three creatures who aren't with us anymore." -- 2009-11-27 - 9:30 Club - Washington, D.C.
"This is a... You know, it's one of those songs, that, uh, that you write when you think about your own mortality and so forth, and you sit around thinking, you know, when I'm thinking about my own mortality, I can either, you know, watch Cops, or sit down at the piano. And there comes a point when you've seen all the episodes of Cops. So you buy a piano. Then you write this song. Give me a holler when you do that, it'll be funny. I'll be like, 'Yeah, I wrote that song too.'" -- 2009-12-02 - Bell House - Brooklyn, NY
"This is kind of a song about hopelessness, and, uh, and the long, steady contemplation thereof." -- 2015-04-11 - City Winery - New York, NY
"When I was a child I liked to imagine that maybe somewhere in the world there were still dinosaurs - real ones - triceratopses and ankylosaurs who'd escaped to some island. There aren't, though. They are gone. Goodbye forever, all gone things. It makes me sad to know you won't be back." -- 7/29/2009 - The Life of the World to Come: a film by Rian Johnson, liner notes-- The Life of the World to Come: a film by Rian Johnson

Things Referenced in this Song[]

Each verse is sung from the viewpoint of an extinct animal. The first verse is the Tasmanian tiger, the second is the dodo, and the third is the golden toad.

Live Shows this Song Was Played at[]

Videos of this Song[]

The Life of the World to Come

Track list: "1 Samuel 15:23" • "Psalms 40:2" • "Genesis 3:23" • "Philippians 3:20-21" • "Hebrews 11:40" • "Genesis 30:3" • "Romans 10:9 " • "1 John 4:16" • "Matthew 25:21" • "Deuteronomy 2:10" • "Isaiah 45:23" • "Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace"
Bonus tracks: "Enoch 18:14" • "Proverbs 6:27"
The Life of the World in Flux: "Daniel 12:8 (third)" • "Matthew 11:14-19"