Prisco !1
Nicole Prisco
Performing Arts in Western Civilization
December 2013 - Sophomore Year
Professor MacFarlane
Eclectic Analysis of “No Children” by The Mountain Goats
Historical Background:
The Mountain Goats, led by John Darnielle were formed in 1991 in Claremont,
California. Even though the band’s name suggests multiple members, for a time, Darnielle wrote and performed solo. He provides the writing, music, guitars, piano, and vocals for the band.
When The Mountain Goats first formed, they were known for their low quality recordings; often
Darnielle would record on a Panasonic boom box which would produce cassette recordings.
From 2002 onward, the band switched to a more modern approach recording their albums in studio with a full band. Currently, the band is based in Durham, North Carolina. The band’s name derives from the song “Big Yellow Coat” by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins (lyrics: Fifty million bulldogs, Twenty mountain goats, All gathered 'round at sundown, To see my yellow coat). The band is currently signed to Merge Records, record label of the band’s drummer Jon Wurster of the 90’s band Superchunk.
Although Darnielle has surrounded himself with many musicians that have contributed to
The Mountain Goats, he alone remains the most important and interesting member. He was born on March 16, 1967 in Bloomington, Indiana, but grew up in California to a very abusive step father. His relationship with his step father is referenced multiple times in The Sunset Tree. He Prisco !2
chose to work as a psychiatric nurse at the Metropolitan State Hospital in California after he
graduated high school. While he was living there, he would often play his songs on his guitar and
use his boom box to record music. After his time as a nurse, Darnielle went on to receive his
Bachelor’s degree in English at Pitzer College. While in college, he asked his friend Dennis
Callaci of Shrimper Records to help release a cassette of his songs. This sparked the birth of The
Mountain Goats. Darnielle has been writing and composing ever since.
Tallahassee marked a big shift for The Mountain Goats. It is their 7th full length album in a discography that spans 14 full length albums, numerous singles, EPs, Cassettes, and collaborations. Released in 2002, Tallahassee was their first studio recorded album and the first
to be released on a well known British indie label, 4AD. Prior to this album, Darnielle provided
most of the instrumentation with other supporting instrumentalists. On Tallahassee, Darnielle,
who plays guitar, vocal, bells, keys, xylophone, harmonica is joined by Peter Hughes on bass,
guitar, harmony vocal, drums, keys, shaker, Franklin Bruno who plays guitar on "See America
Right," piano on "Have to Explode" and "No Children”, and Michael Ivins who plays
tambourine on "Southwood Plantation Road. The album was produced at Tarbox Studios in
Cassadaga, New York by Tony Doogan and aided by Michael Ivins, a member of The Flaming
Lips.
“No Children” uniquely touches upon the failure of a marital relationship; something that
has become very relevant in this day and age. At the time that Tallahassee was recorded -the
early 2000s - the divorce rate in the United States was 4.2 out of 1,000 people. Presently, the
divorce rate in this country is over 50%; which demonstrates a large growth from the numbers in
the early 2000s. Although Darnielle has stated that the story of Tallahassee is completely Prisco !3
fictional, it serves to depict the idea of the inescapable outcome of a dysfunctional relationship.
The subject of “No Children” and Tallahassee in its entirety is the “Alpha Couple”, two recurring characters in Darnielle’s music. When describing them, he states:
“The Alpha couple are these people who get together in California, and they fall in love, but they’re really broken people, and they’re very bad for each other — they’re both big liquor enthusiasts. They move to Las Vegas and live in a motel for a year, out of a sort of romanticized vision of how they’re supposed to live, and things just keep getting worse, so they just flee across the country in the hopes of starting a new life, but they haven’t really thought it through at all. So they get to Tallahassee, and that’s where I always envisioned them falling apart, in some tiny little house” (Splendid Zine 1).
Tallahassee acts as a concept album for the “Alpha Couple”, and although they have been referenced in other Mountain Goats material prior to the release of Tallahassee, they have not been exclusively written about since.
Open Listening:
Instantly, the sound of piano, bass, and guitar resonates. The guitar, incredibly harsh, as if
someone is purposely strumming with pressure on the pick. There is a distinct sound of pick
hitting steel which provokes a frustrated tone and ambience. Perhaps Darinelle does this to
convey the anger and desperation that lie within the lyrics. The bass is the steady foundation of
the song while the piano provides the sweet melody. Although the instruments have contrastive
qualities, it somehow seems as if they are working together to make the song’s texture less
empty, less open sounding. “No Children” has a relatively fast tempo and sounds a little bit like a
waltz or jig in compound meter, but the strophe and stress of the lyrics indicate simple meter,
most likely 4/4. Prisco !4
Darnielle’s voice enters and it’s incredibly nasally. In Vocal Pedagogy terms, this nasality
is due to the air he is using to sing and how it is instantly funneling up to his nose with no vault,
height, space, or true vocal resonance. However, the sound is simultaneously smooth sounding.
The smoothness distracts the listener from the dark and dense lyrics. Hearing the brutality of the
lyrics in a major key is interesting. The intro tricks the listener into thinking that the song will be performed in a minor key, but one can hear the dominant moving to the tonic with the arrival of the first verse which is clearly major. The vocal harmonies seem to emphasizing the hopelessness of the lyrics of the chorus, along with something else that I cannot discern at this point. This work definitely needs further analysis. The purpose of the lyrics are hard to instantly decipher and will need another few listenings to grasp.
Syntax:
“No Children” is in the key of Db major and in 4/4 time.
The form is as follows:
Intro | Verse 1 | Pre-chorus | Chorus | Intro | Verse 2 | Pre-chorus | Chorus | Outro
The instrumentation of the song :
John Darnielle: guitar and vocals Peter Hughes: bass, harmony vocals, drums Franklin Bruno: piano
The intro starts out with the piano playing an F minor chord. The guitar follows with an
inversion of F minor. The bass is simplistic and plays the root of the chords for the entirety of the
song in quarter notes with some non chord tones thrown in to make the line more interesting. The
guitar strums in a down, up, up down pattern for the intro. The intro chords change every 2 beats. Prisco !5
From Fmin, we move to Bb, back to Fmin, to Bb again, then to Absus, and a PAC in Db major,
Ab-Db. There are no vocals for the intro, only the sound of the instruments. The intro lasts for 4 measures.
The vocals enter with the first verse. We are clearly in Db major now, the chord structure is simple, I-V-IV-I, Db-Ab-Gb-Db. It repeats twice with the guitar strumming strongly on each quarter note beat. The pre chorus follows a I-vi-IV-V, Db-Bbmin-Gb-Ab pattern. The guitar strums remain the same with the piano providing secondary melody descending in thirds. The chorus follows a IV-V-I-IV-I-V-I pattern. After the first chorus, the intro repeats twice with the
2nd verse, chorus, and outro following. The outro is similar to the intro, it repeats twice with the same chords and ends with a little PAC extension/coda.
The form is expanded ternary. The intro is labeled as the A section, I have grouped the verse, pre chorus, and chorus as the B section, and the outro is the A’ section. Therefore, the song form is A-B-A-B-A’.
Sound in Time (Phenomenology):
• 0:01- 0:10 - Piano enters and plays a descending melody while guitar seems to float above
playing the chords. The bass line moves the song forward.
• 0:10-0:22 - Piano becomes less focused. The vocals enter and dominate every other instrument.
The volume and nasality of Darnielle makes it harder to focus on the other instruments. The
bass keeps our interest; it is louder than the guitar or the piano at this point.
• 0:22- 0:34 - Guitar becomes a little louder, gains confidence. Vocal line descends and then rises
to emphasize lyrics. Prisco !6
• 0:34- 0:45 - Piano gains importance, ends each measure with a melody that descends in thirds.
• 0:45- 1:05 - Vocal harmonies enter with an angelic feel. The harmonies move up and down
together, the rise and fall contrasting the bass and guitar.
• 1:05- 1:15 - Piano intro repeats again exactly the same as before.
• 1:15- 1:27 - The piano fades, but not as much as before in the first verse. With the second
verse, the piano builds the smooth texture that makes the vocals less harsh sounding.The guitar
continues in stressed strum on each quarter note beat which provides a feeling of frustration.
• 1:27- 1:38: The vocals strain a bit as the line ascends. The accompaniment remains the same as
before.
• 1:38- 1:51 - Piano melody on the last beat of the measure repeats just as before. The
breathiness in the main vocals is heard to a better extent now. Can hear the intake of breath.
There is no elongation of the vocals, they stop short to provide room for inhalation.
• 1:51 - 2:13 - Vocal harmonies return instantly but interact with the piano in a new texture that
has not been explored prior to this. The piano plays short arpeggios in the right hand while the
guitar and bass are brought up a level so that all instruments are equal. The vocals take on a
new short and staccato feel when ending phrases and sentences.
• 2:13- 2:46 - The chords of the intro come back but the guitar takes on a new strumming
pattern. The piano line ascends to reach the tonic in a very high octave. Bass jumps up the staff
to play the tonic in a higher octave. The conclusion of the song marks the highest notes that
piano and bass have played. Prisco !7
Representation:
Verse #1: I hope that our few remaining friends Give up on trying to save us I hope we come up with a failsafe plot to piss of the dumb few that forgave us I hope the fences we mended Fall down beneath their own weight And I hope we hang on past the last exit I hope it's already too late Pre-chorus #1: and I hope the junkyard a few blocks from here Someday burns down And I hope the rising black smoke carries me far away and I never come back to this town again Chorus #1: in my life I hope I lie and tell everyone you were a good wife and I hope you die I hope we both die
Verse #2: I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow I hope it bleeds all day long Our friends say it's darkest before the sun rises We're pretty sure they're all wrong I hope it stays dark forever I hope the worst isn't over I hope you blink before I do and I hope I never get sober Pre-chorus #2: and I hope when you think of me years down the line you can't find one good thing to say and I hope that if I found the strength to walk out You'd stay the hell out of my way Chorus #2: I am drowning there is no sign of land your are coming down with me Hand in unloveable hand and I hope you die I hope we both die
It is obvious that Darnielle is speaking about the failure of a relationship. The first verse emphasizes how bad the relationship has become. It has become so dysfunctional that the Prisco !8 husband feels that nothing can save his relationship and that anyone who tries should be reprimanded or punished in some way (“I hope that our few remaining friends, Give up on trying to save us”). In a cataclysm of anger and frustration, the mood turns sarcastic. The battles that the couple has overcome should have been lost, and the husband feels as if they deserve all the misery in the world for trying to fix something that has been broken for a long time, despite the moving and relentless tries to start over.
The pre chorus brings the first dense analogy. In “and I hope the junkyard a few blocks from here, Someday burns down”, the junkyard could be a symbol for all of the relationship’s baggage, something that the husband wishes to disintegrate. In “And I hope the rising black smoke carries me far away, and I never come back to this town again”, the smoke which will carry him far away could be a metaphor for death; he truly wishes to burn with the garbage, for that would be better than trying to fix his relationship with his wife.
The first chorus further discusses death and dying with the lyrics, “and tell everyone you were a good wife, and I hope you die, I hope we both die”. The husband feels as if bringing both he and his wife down will put them both out of their misery. Therefore, death would be better than living out the rest of their years together. He will label her as a “good wife” so that no one ever questions the misery they have endured together. Because of this ultimate lie, he himself yearns for death as a way to escape all the sins he has committed and for his destruction of their marriage. The husband does not care for revenge although he clearly dislikes his wife. In other words, labeling her as a “good wife” will not soil her reputation.
The first part of the second verse, “I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow I hope it bleeds all day long”, can be interpreted in two ways. The first depicts the husband as depressed to the Prisco !9
point that he knows that the next day will be filled with bad luck, starting with his morning
shave. The second infers that cutting himself and letting it bleed all day is less pain than dealing with his failed marriage. In “ I hope it stays dark forever”, the darkness will conceal their disintegrating house, a metaphor for their marriage. To cope with his problems, the husband turns to alcohol and hopes that he never sobers up and faces reality with the line, “and I hope I never get sober”.
The second pre chorus represents the husband’s reality. He says “And I hope when you think of me years down the line, you can’t fine one good thing to say”. He realizes that he has contributed greatly to the failure and owns up to it. The husband does not care about salvaging his reputation, he would rather be seen for what he really is, someone who cannot break out of the marriage. If he does master the strength to leave his wife, he wants her to stay the “hell out of
[my] his way”. This statement makes it seem like she is preventing him from leaving, however, I think that this is part of the husbands denial. His fear blocks his ability to leave his wife and that fear only contributes to the resentment he feels towards her.
The 2nd chorus brings the couple together. Even though the husband is drowning in his failed marriage, he decides that if he goes down, she will also go down with him (“you are coming down with me, Hand in unloveable hand”). It seems as though he wants to inflict his misery on her own misery and it seems to be the only thing they’ve every shared. Although this line can be seen as the husband acting selfishly, it can also be analyzed as if he is afraid to die without his wife, for there is still a form of attachment even if it is not truly love. It is unclear whether it is the hand of the husband, wife, or both that is unlovable. Either way as they drown hand in hand, the husband wishes for his wife’s death and then his own. In my opinion, I feel like Prisco !10 he wants his wife to die first, so that he can endure and reflect on the pain that he has caused her and himself. Ultimately, I feel that he wants to suffer the most.
Virtual Feeling:
“No Children” begins with a full sound that resonates within the guitar and piano. The bass thumps a very simple but effective line that drives the song’s tempo. The piano’s melody both dims and flourishes at times which is sometimes unstable. The guitar doubles as a sort of continuous and steady drum pattern. The harshness of the strums resonates in a way that gives the song an interesting rhythm than contrasts the simplicity of the bass. The vocals ascend and descend in fast flurries, making the timbre more intricate. Each instrument provides a very specific purpose, but all in all, they meld together to provide the song’s texture.
The vocals provide different stresses on different beats with each line. There is no consistency, instead short staccato like endings to some phrases and words. As the verse begins the bass and guitar contrast the depressing mood of the lyrics. This continues until the outro. The piano flurries give an ironic major and nostalgic twist to the dark and dense lyrics. The pre chorus feels anticipatory, as if we are expecting something to jump out at us. Then the chorus hits and the listener is impacted with the sweet thirds of the vocal harmonies that negate the despair of the lyrics. The vocals and harmonies have an angelic feeling as if a choir is singing at a funeral. There is an extremely sentimental feeling in the piano that accompanies the vocals.
Onto Historical: