First Few Desperate Hours

First Few Desperate Hours
	;
Album	Tallahassee
Released	2002
Artist	the Mountain Goats
Length	3:04
Previous track	"Tallahassee"
Next Track	"Southwood Plantation Road"

First Few Desperate Hours is the second song on the album Tallahassee. It was performed by Your Heart Breaks in Tallahassee Turns Ten.

Lyrics[]

Bad luck comes in from Tampa
Bad luck comes in from Tampa
On the back of a truck
Doing ninety up the interstate
We have bad dreams the night he rolls in
We have bad dreams the night he rolls in
And we try to keep our sprits high
But they flag and they wane
When the truck pulls up out front
In the light spring rain
And they sag like withering flowers
Let the good times roll on
Through these first few desperate hours 

Yeah the driver drops his cargo at the curb
The driver drops his cargo at the curb
And the sun peeks in
Like a killer through the curtain
And when cloven hoof prints turn up in the garden
Yeah when cloven hoof prints turn up in the garden
We keep up the good fight
We keep our spirits light
But they draw like flies
And there's a stomach-churning shift
In the way the land lies
And they lean like towers
On a hillside struggling to stand
Through these first few desperate hours
Yeah

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song[]

"This is a song about a couple of people who shouldn't probably have gotten married in the first place. They did... and you were like, hey hey hey hey, it's always good to see you guys out around the town, cruising the bar and everything, but maybe getting married, not the best idea... and when you said it, they got really angry, and they were like, you know, 'Who are you to judge me?' They came out with a lot of that. So you were like, 'I'm not, you know, I'm not anybody to judge you, I'm not judging, I'm just singing, I've known you a long time.' And then they were like, 'You don't know me,' and you were like, 'Okay, I don't know you. Hey, cool. It's your lives, not mine.' Then they were like, 'Why you gotta be that way?'... and it ended badly, and you were like, 'I hope it goes well for them,' but it didn't, and you resist the urge to gloat. Inside you had a little bit of the gloat in you. As a matter of fact, I know that you did, because I saw it when the whole thing went down." -- 2012-12-17 - The Showbox - Seattle, WA

Things Referenced in this Song[]

Live Shows this Song Was Played at[]

Videos of this Song[]

Tallahassee
Track list: "Tallahassee" • "First Few Desperate Hours" • "Southwood Plantation Road" • "Game Shows Touch Our Lives" • "The House That Dripped Blood" • "Idylls of the King" • "No Children" • "See America Right" • "Peacocks" • "International Small Arms Traffic Blues" • "Have to Explode" • "Old College Try" • "Oceanographer's Choice" • "Alpha Rats Nest"

The "Alpha" Series

Track list: "Alpha Aquae" • "Alpha Desperation March" • "Alpha Double Negative: Going to Catalina" • "Alpha Gelida" • "Alpha Incipiens" • "Alpha Negative" • "Alpha Omega" • "Alpha Rats Nest" • "Alpha Sun Hat" • "Alpha in Tauris" • "Alphabetizing" • "Letter from a Motel" • "One Winter at Point Alpha Privative" • "Spilling Toward Alpha" • "Fit Alpha Vi" • "Alpha Compunction" • "Going to Dade County" • "Tallahassee" • "First Few Desperate Hours" • "Southwood Plantation Road" • "Game Shows Touch Our Lives" • "The House That Dripped Blood" • "Idylls of the Kings" • "No Children" • "See America Right" • "Peacocks" • "International Small Arms Traffic Blues" • "Have to Explode" • "Old College Try" • "Oceanographer's Choice" • "Ethiopians" • "Alpha Chum Gatherer" • "New Chevrolet in Flames" • "Design Your Own Container Garden" • "Going to Federal Prison" • "Orange Ball of Hate"

First Few Desperate Hours

Contents

Lyrics[]

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song[]

Things Referenced in this Song[]

Live Shows this Song Was Played at[]

Videos of this Song[]

Fan Feed

First Few Desperate Hours

Album	Tallahassee
Released	2002
Artist	the Mountain Goats
Length	3:04
Previous track	"Tallahassee"
Next Track	"Southwood Plantation Road"