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Soft Targets
Bedside

Album

Bedside Recordings Vol. 1.2

Released

2003

Artist

the Mountain Goats

Length

3:47

Next Track

"Advancing Army Clip" (John Vanderslice)

Soft Targets is the first song on the single Bedside Recordings Vol. 1.2. It also appears as the 26th song on the 2021 live album The Jordan Lake Sessions: Volumes 3 and 4.

Lyrics[]

You cry when you get drunk
And I can't find the right things to say
Sooner or later you'll start breaking plates
And I'll do what I can to stay out of your way

There is nobody innocent here
I've got more blood on my hands than you do
It's you and it's me and the baby makes three
Yeah but we've got our love to carry us through
We've got our love to carry us through

I cry when I'm hungry
Something is wrong with my brain
And the ghost of our future's awake in the attic
He moans and he wails as he rattles his chain

We embrace on the floor in the kitchen
Emissaries  from neighboring lands
When I hunt down the vampire that did this to us
I will rip out his heart with my hands
I will rip out his heart with my hands

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song[]

  • "It's a love song, after a manner of speaking. It's called -- well, here's the thing. Uh, in the US military, uh, has this way of, uh coming up with nice ways of describing bad things. Uh, so you have hard targets, that's buildings and military installations and streets, right, and then you have soft targets, and that's people, right. This song is called 'Soft Targets'." -- 2003-06-27 - Mains D'oeuvres, Mofo Festival - Paris, France
  • "This is a song off a 7 inch that came out in like 2001, it's one of those kind of depressing songs. It's one where like you say "Oh I'm gonna pick sides, I'm gonna decide who is the hero in this song. The big message of I would say half of my songs is that when you attempt to pick the hero on two sides of a human equation, you err-- You're starting from a flawed proposition and there's not going to be a hero to pick. That's the whole point. But people do it anyway, but I think I frustrated their ambitions in that regard because there are no heroes in this song, there's just two people who are fucking up. This is called 'Soft Targets'." -- 2018-09-11 - Crescent Ballroom - Phoenix, AZ
  • "If you're bombing a city - it happens, yknow - you have your hard targets, and it's like schools and hospitals and they say like 'so oh no it's strictly army bases', but you know soft targets, soft targets are things that have soft parts, and it's people. This song is not about war, but it is called 'Soft Targets'." -- 2022-11-17 - Albert Hall - Manchester, England
  • "This is based on military terminology. Hard Targets are things like buildings, tanks, and Steven Seagal. Because he had a movie where the tagline was, 'Steven Seagal is a...HARD TARGET." But that was a lie. Steven Seagal is a Soft Target. You know a Soft Target because if you break its skin, it bleeds. This song is called Soft Target." -- 2023-02-18 - Manchester Music Hall - Lexington, KY

Things Referenced in this Song[]

Live Shows this Song Was Played at[]

Videos of this Song[]

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