Home Again Garden Grove

Home Again Garden Grove
Album	We Shall All Be Healed
Released	2004
Artist	the Mountain Goats
Length	3:15
Previous track	"Mole"
Next Track	"All Up the Seething Coast"

Home Again Garden Grove is the eighth song on the album We Shall All Be Healed.

Lyrics

Wipe down the windshields and roll down the windows
Let's go where the jackals are breeding
Wrap this bandanna around your head
Don't let anyone see that you're bleeding

Fire up the scanner and keep your eyes on it
Don't speak unless someone speaks to you
Hands in your pockets and sun on your face
The warm love of God coursing through you

Home again
Home again
Garden Grove
Garden Grove

I can remember when we were in high school
Our dreams were like fugitive warlords
Plotting triumphant returns to the city
Keeping TEC-9's tucked under the floorboards, ah-ha

Now we are practical men of the world
We tether our dreams to the turf
And cruise down these alleys for honey to feed them
Jellyfish riding the surf

Shoving our heads 
Straight into the guts of the stove 
Home again
Garden Grove
Garden Grove

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song

• "This is, uh—well, I could tell you a long story. Man, this is a wrong story to tell. Well, it is, because it—you know, they say...'any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental'; that's not true in the case of this story. This is a true thing that somebody else did, so why should I hate on him, right? It's my friend Max...Like so many of us, in those days, and many young men and women of good will, he developed a real taste for black tar heroin, and, but, like everybody's dealer, the dealer would go in and out of, you know 'Oh, I'm getting out of this business, so you can't call me this weekend,' and I really have a theory about—I don't know if you know that dealers do this, but they, smack dealers are into this—it's really, like, doing this real 'cut you off, turn it back on, keep you dependent on them' thing. Who could've imagined that the person dealing heroin to you would turn out to be an amoral monster? Strange world! So anyway, our dealer is going through one of his periodic 'I'm not going to sell to you' moments, which I'm assuming it means he got enough money and doesn't need anybody hanging around his house right now. So Max drives into Orange County, into the housing projects, where he know you can get it, but we don't, we don't know what to do when we get there. It's not a thing we know. And I say 'we'—I wasn't with him this day. Thank God. Because he went and scored and he was very excited it worked, so he pulled over on the side of the 57 freeway in Orange County to fix and nod off instead of, I guess his idea was 'fix and get back on the freeway,' but he didn't do that, because he nodded out. That's when the California Highway Patrol came up behind him, asked him how he was feeling, with a needle of heroin on the seat, and he went to jail. And so, well..and then years later I think 'Man, remember that one time when Max went to Garden Grove?'" -- 2011-03-29 - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY
• "There is a town in Southern California. I am sure it has many nice things about it, but if you're looking to buy dope, that's mainly all I know about it. I know that there was a lot of it there. I know you can get -- speak of this fellow over here who was talking about getting arrested -- you can get your ass arrested in Garden Grove. Let me tell you right now. This is called 'Home Again Garden Grove.'" -- 2011-04-05 - The Vic Theatre - Chicago, IL
• "That last song [ Age of Kings ] was about a person remembering a time when he was very in love. This song is about a person who was actively remembering a time when he was about to go to jail-- it's a similar but different situation. This is called 'Home Again Garden Grove.'" -- 2011-04-06 - Mercy Lounge - Nashville, TN

Things Referenced in this Song

• Garden Grove is a city in Orange County, California.

Live Shows this Song Was Played at

• 2011-03-29 - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY
• 2011-04-01 - Paradise Rock Club - Boston, MA
• 2011-04-02 - Castaways - Ithaca, NY
• 2011-04-05 - The Vic Theatre - Chicago, IL
• 2011-04-06 - Mercy Lounge - Nashville, TN
• 2011-04-07 - Variety Playhouse - Atlanta, GA
• 2011-06-21 - The Detroit Bar - Costa Mesa, CA

Videos of this Song

• 2011-04-01 - Paradise Rock Club - Boston, MA
• 2011-04-02 - Castaways - Ithaca, NY
• 2011-04-06 - Mercy Lounge - Nashville, TN