Up the Wolves

Well according to John at a show :

"I'm always trying to figure out what to say about this god *&@# song. Part of me wants to say look it's about revenge, but as soon as I say that... no, that's not quite it. Part of me wants to say it's about the satisfaction of not needing revenge... and i say no, that some new age stuff. I think it's a song about the moment in your quest for revenge when you learn to embrace the futility of it. The moment where you know the thing you want is ridiculous and pompous and a terrible thing to want anyway. The direction in which you're headed is not the direction you want to go, yet you're going to head that way a while longer cause that's just the kind of person you are."

I love John's attempts to explain his songs :)

Story of Remus and Romulus. Abandoned by their mother, raised by wolves, founded Rome. It's really about overcoming an obstacle like abandonment.

I'm pretty sure the line is "our mother has been absent". Singular, not plural.

I've always seen this one as John and his sister, left to their own devices in the "Rome" of his stepfather's house, and the resentment they must have felt towards their mother for not protecting them from him.

"there'll always be a few things maybe several things that you're gonna find really difficult to forgive"

I love it when men sing about smashing patriarchy. That's what gives me hope...

Really enjoyed hearing this on Sunday's ep of the Walking Dead, which was all about leaving your past behind-- your shitty, impoverished, and unfair past.

@flyingnat

In Roman mythology, Romulus and Remus were twin brothers that were abandoned and raised by a she-wolf. Eventually they founded Rome, and Romulus was the first king.

I read the chorus as saying, effectively, "our mom hasn't taken care of us since we moved in with our step-father, but when she comes to her senses everything will be OK again."

I really like this song, I haven't ever heard of the Mountain Goats, which shouldn't be so weird cause I live all the way in southern africa. My brothers girlfriend left him some of her cd's and he gave me this one to listen to, basically I wanted one song and wasn't even by them but now listening to it. It's really growing on me.

This is my favorite song by him. I am getting a better grasp on it now; mentally, the meaning settled on the anger that comes from being raised in an abusive home, with a mother who looks the other way. Emotionally it speaks more volume for me, needing to destroy the way you were destroyed, needing to make the people who pretended nothing was happening feel the confusing despair a small child feels in that situation. For me, the wolf represented the bitter part of myself that luckily has not existed for a long time. In a way I don't associate with the song, because I recognized the revenge as self-destructive and less than what I could be; yet at the same time, it is not quite about any of it. It's incredibly difficult to explain.

But the wolf could be the mother waking up and realizing what is happening, too. Either way, I feel so much more free after listening to this song.

I think I remember John Darnielle saying this song is about overcoming adversity.

This is a Christian Song with much Christian symbolism.

This Song is about the Pedophiles that invaded/infiltrated/destroyed the Catholic Church.

Victims feel shame, later recover, eventually forgive and then victims go after the individuals who made the cycle possible, to prevent further destruction of children.

Closet = self loathing/ shame

Mother = Virgin Mary

Float = forgive/letting go

Rome = Vatican/Catholic Church

Take Years/ Damage = going after pedophile ring and cover-up with a wrecking ball

Mother has been absent/ Rome = Centralized Church/ Control

The wolf = the second coming.