Fault Lines

this isn't an alpha song. alpha songs not on talahassee generally have the word alpha in the title and this song really doesn't describe the alpha couple.

i definitely thing this is the same couple from jenny. in jenny they're young, carefree, and in love as they cruise about on the new motorcycle. now this sort of lifestyle is starting to become meaningless, no matter how much money they do or do not have. the deteriorating motorcycle is on obvious metaphor for their collapsing relationship.

Correct lyrics:

down here where the heat's so fine i'll drink to your health and you drink to mine as we try to make the money we scored out in vegas hold out for a while

we drink vodka from russia we get our chocolates from belgium we have our strawberries flown in from england

but none of the money we spend seems to do us much good in the end i got a cracked engine block both of us do

got a house, the jewels, the italian race car they don't make us feel better about who we are i got termites in the framework so do you

down here where the watermelon grows so sweet where i worship the ground underneath of your feet we are experts in the art of frivolous spending

it's gone on like this for three years i guess and we're drunk all the time and our lives are a mess and the deathless love we swore to protect with our bodies is stumbling across its bleak ending

but none of the rage in our eyes seems to finish it off where it lies i got sugar in the fuel lines both of us do

got a fight and the lies that we both love to tell fail to send our love to its reward down in hell i got pudding for a backbone but so do you

la la la la, hey hey

I thought this was about the alpha couple on my first listen as well, especially with the preference for harder liquors. However, if you really listen to it you can tell it's not them. The alpha couple never had much money; in the song "Southwood Plantation Road," the alpha male claims he's spending a lot of money when he's buying his wife white gold. That doesn't seem like the kind of remark that would come from someone who buys jewels and Italian race cars for his wife.

my favorite mountain goat song... as soon as those first chords play its like an energy comes to me.. material things cant be glue for people.. especially lovers.. love it!

I believe that this is the outcome of the couple in Jenny after their trip. If you see these lyrics from Jenny as he keeps mentioning the Kawasaki motorbike that drove them away to fulfill 'their dreams'.. "how much better, how much better could my life get? nine hundred cubic centimeters of raw whining power" You can see that he associates already the idea of leaving with this girl and being free, with a material good. He then goes on to sing about how there is a crack in the engine in Fault Lines and the Italian racecar. "I got a cracked engine block both of us do got a house, the jewels, the italian racecar they don't make us feel better about who we are" After associating the feeling with the material good, perhaps along the way of their relationship, he forgot what the meaning of it was. And so he starts to buy more and more stuff and starts to become aware of it happening. To put it to more simple words... their relationship used to be about driving away and being free, but now it's just about the bike. Also, dreaming about times that could have been/could be and hopefulness that soon crumbles seems to be a theme through AHWT.

I'm pretty sure that this is the couple from the song "Jenny".

this is one of the most beutiful songs ever written.

i think he sings [deathless]

Its deathless.

this song makes me think of f. scott fitzgerald and his wife. though i doubt that was the intention.

Just wanted to say that I think it is amazing that both this song and "No Children" came out the same year. Second I believe this is about a couple that has fallen out of love, refuses to admit it, and tries to fill the gap with material goods.