The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory

i cant make much out of it...but i think its basically about a girl he loves possibly. wonderful song though. one of gbv's best.

Fucked if I know what it means but it's one of my favorite songs. It's alot different then Teenage FBI and the other more popular songs though.

My intuition is that he's singing about a woman he once loved who is having terrible problems with mental illness, and is perhaps confined to an institution.

("...we passed through the hallway of shatterproof glass..." i.e. they can see but they can't touch. The glass imprisons those on one side, while on the other side it protects the "normal" world from being "infected" by insanity)

He desperately wishes he could do something to help, but fears that if he gets too involved with her, his own mental state will succumb to the same downward spiral.

Bob only knows what "goldheart mountaintop queen directory" means. It could be an example of the kind of (apparently?) meaningless "word salad" spoken by people who are schizophrenic or who have brain damage.

Robert pollard once said that this was about how he took acid and looked in the mirror and his face changed into that of his sons. I don't really get how the lyrics convey this though.

This song has a clear sexual theme. The most prominent example is the second 'verse': "she runs through the night as if nobody cares she screams and she cries and ignores all the stares she wants me to come, but i'm never going there" The literal meanings of these lines are most definitely related to public sex, or exhibitionism. It's possible Pollard is talking about erection dysfunction with the line "she wants me to come, but i'm never going there" and the line "she screams and she cries, and ignores all the stares" is pretty self explanatory here.

"the hallways of shatterproof glass" are a metaphoric reference to the vaginal passage, and "we passed through" is another reference to sex.

"cold hands touching my face don't hide - the snake can see you" This is slightly more tricky, and more perverse. Pollard said in an interview that these lines were relating to a darker side of sex; necrophilia ("cold hands touching my face") and unconsensual sex ("don't hide, the snake can see you" - snake being a common colloquial term for penis)

This leaves the most important, and most cryptic part of the song - the title. At first it may seem like a meaningless sentence, "Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory" but there's actually a story behind the name. In the same interview previously mentioned, Pollard tells of an incident back in 1973 that occurred on a mountain in the Sierra Nevada known to locals as Goldheart Mountain. Apparently the details are sketchy, but Pollard tells the interviewer that there was a building, or encampment somewhere on the mountain that housed captive immigrants or missing girls (Queens) for the purpose of sex. A sort of nonconsensual brothel - clients would enter and pick which girl they would sleep with (the Directory). The operation was discovered and shut down in '73. But it explains the title - The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory.

-- 0037

You're all way off. Bob said himself this song is about an acid trip.

Trough lyrical medium Pollard throws splashes of imagery on a canvas of jagged disconnected thought bubbles. He is the Pablo Picasso of Rock and Roll lyrics.

"the goldheart mountaintop queen directory"... what the FUCK does that mean

I think by the "she runs throught the night" she's been released from the institution.

The goldheart mountaintop queen directory: It is possible since they have split up or were once in love that one of them has a heart shaped locket made of gold with ones picture inside. not sure about mountaintop. 'Queen' is a synonym( I think) for pretentious manner. not sure about directory either.

for me the song is about a girl you really love, but you know you cant get her because shes a way to good for you. shes the "gold heart mountain top queen directory" .