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in: Heretic Pride songs, Video, The Jordan Lake Sessions: Volumes 3 and 4 songs

In the Craters on the Moon

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 In the Craters on the Moon
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Album

 Heretic Pride

Released

 2008

Artist

the Mountain Goats

Length

3:32

Previous Track

"So Desperate"

Next Track

"Lovecraft in Brooklyn"

In the Craters on the Moon is the seventh song on the album Heretic Pride. It also appears as the first song on the 2021 live album The Jordan Lake Sessions: Volumes 3 and 4.

Press Kit notes[]

In the Craters on the Moon

It is the natural condition of my characters when a few of them have gathered together, to find themselves secluded in a near-lightless room waiting for some unspecified disaster. Frankly, I suspect that this is the natural condition of a pretty hefty percentage of the general populace. The people in this song have reached a point of comfort with their dread: ready for panic to set in, relishing the moment.

Lyrics[]

If the strain proves too much
Give up right away
If the light hurts your eyes
Stay in your room all day

When the room fills with smoke
Lie down on the floor
In the declining years
Of the long war

Well the blood’s in the water
And the shark’s gonna come
And we swim in the dark
Until our bodies are numb

Blind desert rats in the moonlight
Too far from shore
In the declining years
Of the long war

Empty room with a lightbulb
Where the phone starts to ring
Everybody gets nervous
Nobody says anything

The next day someone’s initials
Show up on the door
I think I’m gonna crack
Can’t live like this anymore

Ugly things in the darkness
Worse things in store
In the declining years
Of the long war

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song[]

  • "This is a song about how in certain times in your life you may find it necessary to think of all your friends as your enemies. And they may grow resentful; that only proves you right." -- 2008-03-02 - Bottom of the Hill - San Francisco, CA
  • "They applaud thrift in Boston. They really admire a man who knows his way around a bargain. This is a song about some people who, for them, thrift is not really an option -- because they spend all of their money on, uh, on sugar and old video cassettes of "Speed Racer" and "Kimba the White Lion". It's working out okay for them, depending on who you talk to." -- 2008-03-14 - Museum of Fine Arts - Boston, MA
  • "This has kind of turned out to be a political song, which was just written in a second-story sub-basement in Stockholm in a room where no light came in. You get a certain kind of thought: 'write now, write now.'" -- 2017-05-31 - The Mayan - Los Angeles, CA
  • “This is a song about living in a cave and saying, 'I think I’ll stay in my cave.'” -- 2017-06-01 - The Fillmore - San Francisco, CA

Things Referenced in this Song[]

Live Shows this Song Was Played at[]

Videos of this Song[]


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