Song for Mitch Williams

Song for Mitch Williams is an unreleased song by the Mountain Goats. According to the Mountain-Goats.com Forums, it was found on a tape at WSRN, Swarthmore College. The tape contained three tracks that appeared to be submissions for The Wheel Method. The other songs on the tape were two versions of "Song for an Old Friend," which was released on The Wheel Method and later Bitter Melon Farm.

Lyrics

you came to california.
you left houston by night.
and you looked around anaheim, there was nothing there.
and your fastball has been clocked at better than a hundred miles an hour.
even so, yesterday they let you go.

on the plane home you get them to give you a seat alone,
and when the stewardess comes by
you feel the fire flashing on your eyes
because just between the badge and the belt you can see the strike zone.
yeah, just between the badge and the belt you can see the strike zone.
but you gotta stop thinking that way.
it's ten fifteen on a tuesday morning
and the sky through the cabin window is bright and powder blue.

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song

• "actually there are two, both unreleased: one about the Constitutional Convention and one about Mitch Williams" -- John's Twitter (replying to a tweet that has since been deleted)

Things Referenced in this Song

• Mitch Williams is a former baseball player, about whom John Darnielle talked in a 2001 interview:

  Heroes: Mitch Williams, former reliever for the Phillies, who handled almost incomprehensible public ire with grace and poise, and who to this day carries himself well when discussing the death threats he got for giving up that long ball to Joe Carter after loading the bases.

  What makes you laugh: Thinking about Mitch Williams; the Onion, of course; U.S. foreign policy.

  -- 2001-11-03 "The Morning News" interview