| Hand of Death | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Album |
Cardinals At The Window |
|
Released |
October 9, 2024 |
|
Artist |
The Mountain Goats |
|
Previous Track |
"Ighre Massina (Live at Madame Lou's)" (Etran De L'Aïr) |
|
Next Track |
"Wild Loneliness (Live for the Current)" (Superchunk) |
Hand of Death is a song by the Mountain Goats. A demo version was released on Cardinals At The Window, a compilation album benefitting Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, Rural Organizing and Resilience (ROAR), and BeLoved Asheville after Hurricane Helene.
Lyrics[]
Rehearsing for the tournament of champions Somebody's going to have to cleanse the temple Train by moonlight all night Practice with a blindfold on Try not to think too hard about the neighbors Up on my balcony that overlooks the harbor Preparing to deploy the hand of death Preparing to deploy the hand of death Rest among the ruins of old empires Rise from my heavy sleep at sundown Byways on my pathways beckoning Stay focused on the target Feel close enough to taste its beating heart Hungry as a captive of the king Preparing to deploy the hand of death Sure and steady Almost ready Remind myself to breathe, heed thou my counsel Skin and bones and blood and tender flesh There will be no return to these beginnings Preparing to deploy the hand of death Preparing to deploy the hand of death
Comments by John Darnielle About this Song[]
- "As I listen to it, I realize that it's a song about the Mountain Goats..." -- 2019-09-28 - City Winery - Philadelphia, PA
- "This was the first song I wrote for the album that became In League with Dragons, but it was not on the album. We did a pre-production version that was extraordinarily mellow, but it just didn’t really belong. And it was the first song that I played of that whole sequence at the sadly departed Tiny Telephone San Francisco’s studio during a live Facebook stream with JV manning the Facebook and like, freaking out because neither of us had ever seen when you do like a livestream, like, all these thumbs up keep -- I didn’t see it, right, JV was filming and he was just [sitting there] with his eyes going ‘Dude! It’s the craziest!’ Anyway. But this song is also a very thinly veiled metaphor about when I lived alone in a room in Norwalk with a guitar and was starting to do something that became this, and it’s called Hand of Death." -- 2020-02-20 - Swedish American Hall - San Francisco, CA
Things Referenced in this Song[]
Live Shows this Song Was Played at[]
- 2018-08-10 - Facebook Live Stream - San Francisco, CA
- 2019-09-28 - City Winery - Philadelphia, PA
- 2020-02-20 - Swedish American Hall - San Francisco, CA