Mountain Goats appreciation month #6

"Palmcorder Yajna" was one of the first Mountain Goats songs I heard and I initially liked it a lot for its frantic mood (almost angry) and obscure lyrics. Only later did I understand the dark undertones and real meaning of the words.
The song is from the "We Shall All Be Healed" album, as is "Your Belgian Things", and also deals with the same group of meth addicts. And while "Your Belgian Things" is about the aftermath of the mess, this one is about the climax.
A bunch of people are holed up in a motel room, maybe set up a meth lab there. Everybody is getting real nervous: "Every couple minutes someone says he can't stand it anymore."
One of the symbols used here is fire. "If anybody comes in to our room while we're asleep / I hope they incinerate everybody in it." The Sanskrit/Hindu term "Yajna" from the title is a ritual sacrifice, usually by fire. The narrator is wishing for a cleansing to resolve this whole fucked up situation.
In his dreams the narrator moves from paranoia to wishful thinking of dream fulfilment to death.
"And I dreamt of a factory,
Where they manufactured what I needed,
Using shiny new machines,
And the headstones climbed up the hills"

The recurring last line of the chorus about the "headstones climbing up the hills" is a premonition of death. The headstones could be the living dead or the as good as dead still alive, the boundary between live and death blurred.


Palmcorder Yajna


Holt Boulevard
Between Gary and White
Hooked up with some friends at the Travelodge
Set ourselves up for the night

Carpenter ants in the dresser
Flies in the screen
It will be too late by the time we learn
What these cryptic symbols mean

And I dreamt of a house
Haunted by all you tweakers with your hands out
And the headstones climbed up the hills
And the headstones climbed up the hills

Send somebody out for soda
Comb through the carpet for clues
Reflective tape on our sweatpants
Big holes in our shoes
Every couple minutes someone says he can't stand it any more
Laugh lines on our faces
Scale maps of the ocean floor

And I dreamt of a camera
Pointing out from inside the televsion
And the aperture yawning and blinking
And the headstones climbed up the hills

If anybody comes to see me
Tell 'em they just missed me by a minute
If anybody comes in to our room while we're asleep
I hope they incinerate everybody in it

And I dreamt of a factory
Where they manufactured what I needed
Using shiny new machines
And the headstones climbed up the hills