Song for Dennis Brown

Song for Dennis Brown
	;
Album	The Sunset Tree
Released	2005
Artist	the Mountain Goats
Length	3:58
Previous Track	Magpie
Next Track	Love Love Love

Song for Dennis Brown is the 11th song on the album The Sunset Tree.

Lyrics[]

On the day that Dennis Brown's lung collapsed
Spring rain was misting down on Kingston
And down at the harbor 
Local cops were intercepting an inbound shipment
And for a while there it was chaos
As they handcuffed and then roughed up some sailors
On the day my lung collapses
It's not gonna be much different

On the day that Dennis Brown's habits caught up with him
Schoolchildren sang in choirs
And out behind the Chinese restaurants
Guys were jumping into dumpsters
And the stench was overbearing
But they were past the point of caring
On the day my habits catch up with me
I'll be down among the jumpers

And when the birds come home in spring
We will fill them full of buckshot
And jets of contaminated blood
Will cloud the rivers and the lakes
It took all the coke in town 
To bring down Dennis Brown
On the day my lung collapses
We'll see just how much it takes

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song[]

"There's a reggae singer, Bob Marley's favorite singer. His name was Dennis Brown and he spent the late '80s doing what some of us do when we find out about cocaine. (audience laughs) Well, it's funny later if you live through it. But anyway, this song is for him." -- 2005-06-18 - China Clipper - Olympia, WA
"This is a song about a reggae singer who died. Well, it's ostensibly about him." -- 2005-07-04 - Fulton Mall Parking Garage - Brooklyn, NY
"This is a true story in, like, every sense of the word. Every sense of the word 'story.'" -- 2005-10-17 - Lee's Palace - Toronto, Ontario

Things Referenced in this Song[]

Dennis Brown was a prolific reggae artist who died of a collapsed lung. He had a history of asthma and substance use disorder; journalists speculated that his cocaine use may have exacerbated his respiratory disease.[1]

Live Shows this Song Was Played at[]

Videos of this Song[]

The Sunset Tree

Track list: "You or Your Memory" • "Broom People" • "This Year" • "Dilaudid" • "Dance Music" • "Dinu Lipatti's Bones" • "Up the Wolves" • "Lion's Teeth" • "Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod" • "Magpie" • "Song for Dennis Brown" • "Love Love Love" • "Pale Green Things"
Come, Come to the Sunset Tree: "Collapsing Stars" • "High Doses #2" • "The Day the Aliens Came (Hawaiian Feeling)"

Song for Dennis Brown

Contents

Lyrics[]

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song[]

Things Referenced in this Song[]

Live Shows this Song Was Played at[]

Videos of this Song[]

Fan Feed

Song for Dennis Brown

Album	The Sunset Tree
Released	2005
Artist	the Mountain Goats
Length	3:58
Previous Track	Magpie
Next Track	Love Love Love