Terror Song is a song originally by Furniture Huschle. It has been covered by the Mountain Goats during a few live shows.
Lyrics[]
Dad has a knife He's stabbing his wife Mom has a saw She's sawing off her own jaw Mom without jaw And Dad without wife They're making awful plans, you'll get cancer in your hands Terror song Terror song Dad has a knife He's stabbing his wife Mom has a saw She's sawing off her own jaw Mom without jaw And Dad without wife They're making awful plans, you'll get cancer in your hands Terror song Terror song Dad has a knife He's stabbing his wife Mom has a saw She's sawing off her own jaw Mom without jaw And Dad without wife They're making awful plans, you'll get cancer in your hands Terror song Terror song
Comments by John Darnielle About this Song[]
- "'Terror Song,' however, isn't really properly a member of the class "song," even though it obeys a lot of that class's entry-level rules or customs (rhymed couplets, balladic plot development, a refrain). It's in many ways the ideal Furniture Huschle jam: the scene is set quickly & is identifiable to anybody who's even paying distracted attention; once set, said scene degenerates almost immediately into senseless and inexplicable violence; the narrator seems not to know what to make of it, but sounds like he feels obligated, at the least, to pass the information along. This would be one thing if the narrator were reporting back from Kabul or something. Instead, he's sending along dispatches from this nightmare kitchen nook. There's a sound like a drone, but higher in your head. You can almost see the Dutch curtains on the windows facing the carport; they have blood on them now and nobody's going to clean them. As sinners roasting in Hell sometimes say: 'Bummer.'" -- MungBeing Magazine: MungBeat!
- "I didn't write this song. Neither - neither did Neil Tennant. My friend Joel, who records under the name Furniture Huschle, wrote this song. You all have to sing this song. 'Oh John, how can I sing a song when I've never heard it before?' Take a cue from Jordan. He's playing a song he's never heard before, okay? Also, I'm going to sing the lyrics three times through. By the third time you'll know it, and I want you to pretend that you're all members of a cult, and a lot hinges on your yelling the lyrics to the song really really really really loud. Ah, that bass drum sounds so good. Okay, so here we go." -- 2003-04-09 - Will's Pub - Orlando, FL
- "You guys don't know this song, but in a minute you're gonna know this song. And then in two minutes, I'm gonna be haranguing you to sing this song that my friend Joel out in Pomona wrote. And you're gonna say to yourselves, 'John, John, John, John, I didn't come to the indie rock show to have some guy hassle me to sing along. If I'd wanted that, I'd have gone to the Hootie show.' And I'd have said, 'I am the Hootie show.' Like most of Joel's songs, this is a song about family dynamics. If you're like most of the people who like my songs, you've got fucked-up family dynamics. Me too. That's why I like this song." -- 2004-10-19 - Village Tavern - Mt. Pleasant, SC
- "The last song we ever played on the Tuttlingen tour was by the author of this song. His songs really never found the commercial appeal that they deserve, on account of they all have one verse that you repeat three or four times. And take place in a nightmare world." -- 2013-06-15 - Buskirk-Chumley Theater - Bloomington, IN
Things Referenced in this Song[]
Live Shows this Song Was Played at[]
- 1998-04-23 - Black Watch Pub - Claremont, CA
- 2003-03-14 - The Hideout - Austin, TX
- 2003-04-06 - Gate City Noise - Greensboro, NC
- 2003-04-06 - Go! Rehearsal Studios, Room 4 - Carrboro, NC
- 2003-04-08 - Beta Bar - Tallahassee, FL
- 2003-04-09 - Will's Pub - Orlando, FL
- 2003-08-23 - Breadstretchers - Springfield, IL
- 2003-09-27 - Mercury - Austin, TX
- 2004-02-11 - Mills College Chapel - Oakland, CA
- 2004-03-05 - T.T. the Bear's - Cambridge, MA
- 2004-05-27 - Bottom of the Hill - San Francisco, CA
- 2004-10-15 - The Social - Orlando, FL
- 2004-10-19 - Village Tavern - Mt. Pleasant, SC
- 2005-06-24 - Bottom of the Hill - San Francisco, CA
- 2006-07-29 - Pitchfork Music Festival - Union Park - Chicago, IL
- 2006-10-31 - Spanish Moon - Baton Rouge, LA
- 2007-06-16 - Zoop - Farm Sanctuary - Watkins Glen, NY
- 2013-06-15 - Buskirk-Chumley Theater - Bloomington, IN
- 2019-09-17 - House of Blues - San Diego, CA