Lyric discussion by ABookOnAShelf 

Cover art for Black Pear Tree lyrics by Mountain Goats, The

When he played this last night he said "I have two convictions. For one, I'm a hypochondriac. That's one conviction. The other is that I really am usually sick and about to die, and those of you who don't believe me are all assholes." and then he talked about being in Sweden and getting weird chest pains and being convinced it was cancer, and going to the emergency room and sitting there watching tv and writing this song. It was really great because the only light was on him for the first half, and Kaki sort of sneaked onstage for the second half. I really want this EP.