Mountain Goats appreciation month #3

This is one of the quieter songs by the Mountain Goats similar to a lot of the newer material. Less aggressive than the 2 songs posted so far "Your Belgian Things" deals with loss and things coming to an end. While I always thought this song deals with the end of a relationship it's actually about the seizure of a drug lab.
The album "We Shall All Be Healed" deals with a group of meth heads and their mess of a life and "Your Belgian Things" details the removal of a friend's belongings from their house. It's not clear if the person died (there are indications that the lab might have blown up) or was jailed. But it's clear that this is the end: "I wish you had a number where you are / It's hard with no one here to help me through it". The sense of loss and displacement is apparent in every line and is exaggerated by the strange spectacle of the men in biohazard suits cleaning up the place. At the end of the song the narrator's account breaks down, overcome with emotion, with the poignant line "I guess, I guess but Jesus what a mess".
Musically the album version of the song stands out for it's use of a piano, it's sound hovering in the background. Overall the sound is quote solemn, paced - fitting for the occasion I would say.

Your Belgian Things

The men were here to get your Belgian things
They'll store them for you in an airplane hangar
There's guys in biohazard suits
Mud kicking on their rubber boots
They've come to keep your pretty things from danger

The men were here to get your Belgian things
They'll spend the whole day hauling them downstairs
I shot a roll of thirty-two exposures
My camera groans beneath the weight it bears

I can see you in my sleep
Playing the points for all you're worth
Walking gingerly across the bruised earth

The men were here to get your Belgian things
They waltzed right through the door and went flourescent
Their boots were black and shiny and your treasures gleamed like stars
Bones from deep down in the fertile crescent

The arteries are clogging in the mainframe
There's too much information in the pipes
I saw the mess you left up in the east bedroom
A tiger's never gonna change its stripes
I guess
I guess but Jesus what a mess
One way in and no way out

The men were here to get your Belgian things
And only I was here to see them do it
I wish you had a number where you are
It's hard with no one here to help me through it

I can see you in my sleep
Playing the points for all you're worth
Walking gingerly across the bruised earth