Pigs That Ran Straightaway into the Water, Triumph of Lyrics

Lyric discussion by Salty Kevin 

Cover art for Pigs That Ran Straightaway into the Water, Triumph of lyrics by Mountain Goats, The

I think you guys are giving this guy too much credit. The protagonist. I think this song is about denial. Even when he's in the big bus headed southeast from the courthouse (to prison, or the rehab center), he's in denial. "You" refers to authority of any kind: God, drugs, law enforcement, the judicial system.

Then with the chorus he seems to both know he's screwd but at the same expect to triumph... Based on nothing, really. It's like the pigs, possessed by demons, running off the cliff, and how they do exactly what they have to do.