Scotch Grove

Scotch Grove
Album	The Coroner's Gambit
Released	2000
Artist	the Mountain Goats
Length	1:37
Previous Track	"Baboon"
Next Track	"Horseradish Road"

Scotch Grove is the seventh song on the album The Coroner's Gambit.

Lyrics

On the way home from the party
Neither of us said a word
LeAnn Rimes on the car stereo
Sang that song you know I hate
The one about the blackbird
And the rain came down on the windshield
I wished it would wash us both away
You had to open up your mouth, didn't you
I knew what you were gonna say
And you were Barbe bleue's wife
Opening every cupboard, trying to find the smoking gun
And I told you, I told you
I told you not to open that one

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song

• "There's one, um, god, what's the name of it, there's one on The Coroner's Gambit that's played in an open tuning, uh, that mentions a LeAnn Rimes song, although it turns out to not be LeAnn Rimes, it's by Lila McCann. But I remember this one that had this droney open tuning that would be kind of like a vicious song if I knew the tuning, but I don't. So there's that one I haven't played live. There's a number." -- 2021-07-28, Colorado Sound radio interview

Things Referenced in this Song

• LeAnn Rimes is a pop country singer. However, the song about the blackbird that is referenced, "Down Came a Blackbird," is actually performed by Lila McCann, who many critics said emulated Rimes's style.
• "Barbe bleue" ("Blue Beard" in English) is the name of a French folk tale by Charles Perrault. In the story, Blue Beard's new wife is trying to discover what became of his previous wives. He warns her not to go into one room of his castle, but she ignores his warnings and finds it full of the corpses of his past spouses. When he finds out, he tries to kill her, but the wife is saved by Blue Beard's siblings, who have recognized his monstrous ways.