You Were Cool

You Were Cool is an unreleased song by the Mountain Goats written around 2010.

Lyrics[]

This is a song with the same four chords
I use most of the time
When I've got something on my mind
And I don't want to squander the moment
Trying to come up with a better way
To say what I want to say

People were mean to you
But I always thought you were cool
Clicking down the concrete hallways
In your spiked heels
Back in high school

It's good to be young, but let's not kid ourselves
It's better to pass on through those years and come out the other side
With our hearts still beating
Having stared down demons
Come back breathing

People were mean to you
But I always thought you were cool
Clicking down the concrete hallways
In your spiked heels
Back in high school

You deserved better than you got
Someone's got to say it sometime because it's true
People should have told you you were awesome
Instead of taking advantage of you
I hope you love your life now 
Like I love mine
I hope the painful memories only flex their power over you a little of the time
We held on to hope of better days coming
And when we did we were right
I hope the people who did you wrong
Have trouble sleeping at night

People were mean to you
But I always thought you were cool
Clicking down the concrete hallways
In your spiked heels
Back in high school

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song[]

"I don't know. It feels so powerful live to me that I sort of feel like that's where it belongs for now. I have had this idea to at some point make an album of previously-live-only stuff, but as I'm always saying, my chief focus is usually on writing new stuff. I can think of at least three live-only (or shared-as-demo) songs that'd make an auspicious start to an unreleased-played-live record, though, so who knows." (to the question, "Do you think you'll ever do a studio recording of that one?") -- John's AMA
"...and several people wanted to hear this song this week, so—and I don't think John [Green] has heard it, so, and uhh, I would like him to, 'cause I'm pretty fond of it. It's one of those I'm perverse about, where it should be on a record, but I always like to keep some unreleased. I may buckle with this one eventually. It's for a friend of mine that I went to high school with." -- 2013-01-15 - An Evening of Awesome - at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
"So this song is for a specific person." -- 2013-03-04 - WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
"I wrote it for an old friend of mine, and she is fine, if you are curious." -- 2016-10-25 - eTown Hall - Boulder, CO
"The person I wrote this song for, in case you see yourself in it, and you're younger than she and I are– which is possible, I know there are a few people younger than I am... But just in the unlikely event, I want you to know, if you're a person who's heard this song and has thought "that's me! that's me!"; she's my age now, and she's fine." -- 2017-10-06 - Brudenell Social Club - Leeds, England
"I'm gonna play one that hasn't been released and I don't play too much anymore for super ungrateful reasons that I don't like to divulge –– but people started yelling the words along with me? And I was like no, to get into the zone of this song, I need people to not be yelling it back at me. What kind of horrible songwriter is like, Oh, they're singing my song, this is terrible? But it's a really personal song, it's about someone I knew, and to get into the zone, I kinda have to not be [inaudible] they're yelling at me. So I will tell you in Albany that no one will ever breathe a word of this outside of this room, because nothing ever travels outside of a room. It's great, it's a great world, you can say something to 800 people or so who you want to keep it with and they don't rat you out. Like rats. Like snitches. I'm in touch with the woman that I wrote this about now, and I would like to report to you that she's doing great and she [inaudible]." -– 2023-04-18 – Empire Live – Albany, NY

You Were Cool

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