Letter from a Motel

Letter from a Motel (also known as Letter from the Alpha Motel or Letter from the Alpha Privative Hotel) is an unreleased song by the Mountain Goats.

Lyrics

The beams we used to build our house are breaking at last
The building will not hold together very much longer
My arms are young and they can do the work if called upon to do so
But the house itself has weakened and it's tilting on its axis

In the picture that you sent I could see the windows getting soft
Yeah I could see the heat had gotten straight out of hand
And I knew that none of this was what you'd been meaning to send along
I did not mean to say what I'm saying now 
if we're gonna talk about what intentions were
But the house itself is weak.
Very weak.
Though you and our three daughters believe in what you want to believe
From where I stand stability is everything
In the room I'm standing in stability is everything
And in this world, in this world, stability is everything

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song

• "This is an unreleased song from the, uh, Alpha songs, if anybody tried to follow the -- I personally didn't, but I was the guy writing the songs. Anyway, it doesn't have 'Alpha' in the title, but the big secret is it involves those people who were supposed to get divorced and one of them just vanishes. It's called 'Letter from a Motel'." -- 1999-01-30 - CD Exchange - Bloomington, IN

Live Shows this Song Was Played at

• 1999-01-27 - Cat's Cradle - Carrboro, NC
• 1999-01-29 - Mercury Paw - Louisville, KY
• 1999-01-30 - CD Exchange - Bloomington, IN
• 2019-09-04 - The Showbox - Seattle, WA

Videos of this Song

• 1999-01-30 - CD Exchange - Bloomington, IN