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Going to Alaska Lyrics

The jacaranda are wet with color,
and the heat is a great paint brush, lending color to our lives,
and to the air, and to out faces; but I'm going to Alaska
where there's snow to suck the sound out from the air.

Up, yes, in the branches,
the purple blossoms, go pale at the edges;
there is meanining in the shifting of the sap, and I see in them traces
of last year, but then they hadn't grown so strong,
and their limbs were more like wires. Now they are cables.
thick and alive with alien electricity, and I am going to Alaska,
where you can go blind just by looking at the ground,
where fat is eaten by itself
just to keep the body warm.

Because from where we are now, it seems, really,
that everything is growing in a thousand different ways;
that the soil is soaked through with old blood and with relatives
who were buried here, or close to here, and they are giving rise
to what is happening. Or can you tell me otherwise?
I am going to Alaska, where the animals can kill you,
but they do so in silence, as though if no-one hears them,
then it really won't matter. I am going to Alaska.
They tell me that it's perfect for my purposes.
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Cover art for Going to Alaska lyrics by Mountain Goats, The

I Agree, for me, this one's up there with 'Going To Georgia'. It's great. i especially like the line "I'm going to Alaska, where there's snow to suck the sound out from the air."

Cover art for Going to Alaska lyrics by Mountain Goats, The

anyone see the connectiong between this song and stephanie says by velvet underground?

I don't really see a connection, but I'd like to imagine one. I love that song so much. Thanks for reminding me of it, now I enjoy this one even more :)

Cover art for Going to Alaska lyrics by Mountain Goats, The

This song is about being a state in which the beauty of the world around only hurts you. He's looking at how vibrant the blossoms in the jacaranda trees are and he can't appreciate them because their beauty only wounds him. So he's going to Alaska where things are simpler, because there you have to fight to survive and there are legit things to hurt you, such as polar bears and the cold. Where he is now there's too much history ("old blood and relatives") and it's too complicated ("everything is growing in a thousand different ways"), but in Alaska he would have a clean slate.

My Interpretation
Cover art for Going to Alaska lyrics by Mountain Goats, The

I have one of the original tapes this is on. It is awesome.

Cover art for Going to Alaska lyrics by Mountain Goats, The

"I am going to Alaska, where the animals can kill you but they do so in silence, as though if no one hears them then it really won't matter."

Favorite line of the song. One of my favorite songs in the Going To series.

Cover art for Going to Alaska lyrics by Mountain Goats, The

"they tell me that it's perfect for my Purposes"

best line of a great song. I can't even beleive how good this song is!

Cover art for Going to Alaska lyrics by Mountain Goats, The

blooming jacaranda is a sign of spring, and the wood is used in guitars.

Cover art for Going to Alaska lyrics by Mountain Goats, The

okay, so after listening to this song like, 1000 times, I have decided it is about Zombies.

here is why:

"that the soil is soaked through with old blood and with relatives who were buried here, or close to here, and they are giving rise"

Zombies, that's why he is going to alaska, where you can go blind just by looking at the ground, and the animals can kill you, and you have to eat fat by itself just to keep warm. these are all terrible things, but not nearly so bad as Zombies.

 
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