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Steal Smoked Fish
StealSmokedFish

Album

Steal Smoked Fish

Released

2012

Artist

the Mountain Goats

Length

3:13

Next Track

"In the Shadow of the Western Hills"

Steal Smoked Fish (alternate take)
TranscendentalYouth

Album

Transcendental Youth (Japanese release)

Released

2012

Artist

the Mountain Goats

Length

3:44

Previous Track

"Transcendental Youth"

Next Track

"Tomorrow"

Steal Smoked Fish is the first and title track from the Steal Smoked Fish single. An alternate take, performed with piano instead of guitar, is available on the Japanese version of Transcendental Youth.

Lyrics[]

Across the Burnside bridge before
Anyone shot their movies there
We hid from the whipping rain
When we had run out of cocaine
Dispatch down to Plaid Pantry
Two on point, and two on sentry
Ah, the joys that the lesser days bring
Make you throw back your heads and sing

God bless all petty thieves
With tins of oysters up their sleeves
Feast when you can
And dream when there's nothing to feast on

Across a different bridge today
Over the river and down Broadway
Feels so good to have you here
Some of you will be dead next year
I see your destinies above you
Like angels who don't love you
Let them kiss you and hold you tight
As long as the money's right

God bless all my old friends
And god bless me too, why pretend?
Feast when you can
And dream when there's nothing to feast on

God bless the guys from my old neighborhood
Gone past the point where any blessings can do them any good 

Attach the C-4 where you must
Disappear in a cloud of dust
But spare a thought for what it covers up
Pour a triple and raise your cup
We were here once, me and my friends
But we destroyed all of the evidence
And vanished into the night
At least we got that one right 

God bless us, all of us
We who learn to shun the light
God bless all vampires every night
Feast when you can
Feast when you can
Feast when you can
Feast when you can

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song[]

  • "This song is for a bunch of people, most of them ghosts." -- 2014-06-14 - Bottom of the Hill - San Francisco, CA
  • [answering a question from Joseph Fink about "theft of luxury"] "The idea that, that, that you should only steal staple foods is ridiculous. Most staple foods take a lot longer to cook, right. If you have to devote some of your day to shoplifting, right, then, uh -- [audience laughter] You do! Then, then you take stuff you can eat quickly, right, uh, maybe eat in the -- behind the store, uh, before they catch you and take it away from you, right. You don't have time to -- if you cook beans, you have to soak them overnight, and then you have to have the time in the day to bring them to a boil, uh, with, uh, a little bit of baking soda, you know, so they won't get bubbly, and um -- and they have to come to a boil and you reduce them and, uh, and you let them simmer for an hour or two, maybe with a bay leaf. But, but not everybody has time to do that, right. Um, so, so yeah, that's the thing, the stuff that people call luxury items, Chee-tos, tins of fish, you know, whatever. Um, they're not -- they're ready. To eat, right.... I should stress, though, that in the song we're going to talk about, uh, the people stealing stuff from Plaid Pantry in Portland, Oregon are doing so because they spent all their money on meth, and they don't have -- and they're really hungry because they've been up for three days and, uh, and that's their best idea to feed themselves. And then, I know for a fact that when they actually open up the King Oscar sardines, it's not going to taste as good as it looked on the package." -- 2018-05-30 - Thalia Hall - Chicago, IL / I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats season 1 episode 16 (50:05-53:45)
  • "The people from the first verse were largely sex workers, friends of mine, and they died of AIDS during the crisis. Uh, and our friends were dropping like flies in those days. It's, it's incomprehensible if you didn't live through it.... That verse is a recollection of people I will not see again." -- 2018-05-30 - Thalia Hall - Chicago, IL / I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats season 1 episode 16 (58:55-59:52)

Notes[]

Things Referenced in this Song[]

  • The song refers to the Burnside Bridge and the Broadway Bridge, both in Portland, Oregon.
  • Plaid Pantry is a chain of convenience stores in Oregon and Washington.
  • Gus Van Sant filmed the movie "Paranoid Park" in Portland in 2006-2007; some scenes were filmed at the Burnside Skatepark, under the east end of the Burnside Bridge. Van Sant's earlier film "My Own Private Idaho" also depicts street kids in Portland.

Live Shows this Song Was Played at[]

Videos of this Song[]


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