Going to Santiago

Going to Santiago
Album	Transmissions to Horace
Released	1993
Artist	the Mountain Goats
Length	2:27
Previous Track	"Teenage World"
Next Track	"Sail On"

Going to Santiago is the ninth song on the tape Transmissions to Horace. It was re-released on the compilation Bitter Melon Farm. The musical excerpt which appears before the song, identified in 2016 by Isopanisad Radio Hour host Soren Spicknall, is an instrumental version of the jazz standard “I Don’t Know Why (I Just Do)” recorded by Ray Anthony in 1956.

Lyrics

Big birds in the trees 
Car's locked and I've lost my keys
Crashing sounds of the waterfall
And a statue of Jesus two hundred feet tall

Three thousand miles from the port in California
And three little feet from falling off the earth
And the shadow of a mountain 
Should cast a shadow
And the snow underfoot is soft and yielding

La la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la
La la la la 

Look at those birds
I'd say something about them but I've lost the words
They're laughing and they're watching me
And the radiator's boiling for no reason

Wild cattle crossing as it strikes their fancy
And a handful of money which does me no good
And a pocketful of medicine to abuse myself with
And a photograph of someone stapled to my shirtsleeve

La la la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la
La la la la

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song

• "Yes, when it began, you thought, 'I'm glad to hear these songs from the tape Transmissions to Horace.' And now as we approach the end of the tape, you think, 'when will we be free of these songs from the tape known only as Transmissions to Horace?' [starts playing] Oh wait, wait, wait, hold on... I need a cheat sheet for this one. It was on side two of the tape. You know how it is, you listen to side one of the tape, you get pretty into it, but then -- All right. As I say, this song was on a tape called Transmissions to Horace." -- 2014-06-14 - Bottom of the Hill - San Francisco, CA

Live Shows this Song Was Played at

• 2014-06-14 - Bottom of the Hill - San Francisco, CA