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Seven for Australia

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Released: 2008
Label: None, online release

Release notes

After having to cancel the 2008 Australian tour for medical reasons, 1 John released these songs on the forums as an apology and thank you. 2

The Seven for Australia moniker comes from the metadata in the files. John similarly categorized all seven tracks in the genre "Gospel & Religious".

Table of contents

  1. New World Emerging Blues
  2. Going Invisible
  3. If You See Light (demo)
  4. Ox Baker Triumphant (demo)
  5. Wait for You
  6. Alibi (demo)
  7. Acceptable Damages Sutra

New World Emerging Blues 3 4

Someday, someday, Mount Fuji's gonna blow 5
Someday, someday, Mount Fuji's gonna blow
And spray hot ashes on
The villagers below

Someday, someday, the ocean's gonna rise
Someday, someday, the ocean's gonna rise
And I will emerge from hiding
And shrug off my disguise

Someday, someday, the Earth will be as black as tar
Someday, someday, the Earth will be as black as tar
And we will see each other
As we truly are 6

Going Invisible 7 8

"Two, three, four."

When I rose from a heavy sleep
I was stepping lightly
And I put on my gray suit
And a matching fedora
Ready to face the world
Fairly nearly ready
Came down the hallway
Looked in the mirror
I'm gonna break something
I'm gonna break something
Today
And sweep all the pieces away

And I stood before the mirror then
Like I was waiting for a phone call
Squinting like a lost traveler in a thick fog
But nothing clear came into view
Except for you
Just off in the distant horizon
Something hidden in your hand
I'm gonna break something
I'm gonna break something
Today
And sweep all the pieces away

So I pulled my hat brim
Down over my eyes
And preened and posed and tried my
New self on for size

Then I was out the door
In the faint winter sunlight
Just a number in the crowd
Smiling at everyone
Ah, but who'd smile back
At a face like that
I'm gonna break something
I'm gonna break something
Today
And sweep all the pieces away

If You See Light (demo)

If You See Light is annotated with Get Lonely.

Ox Baker Triumphant (demo)

Ox Baker Triumphant is annotated with Babylon Springs.

Wait for You

Wait for You is annotated with Babylon Springs.

Alibi (demo)

Alibi is annotated with Babylon Springs.

Acceptable Damages Sutra 9 10

I had some high hopes, had some high hopes
For the coming year
But as it turns out
Nothing ever really changes here
But when I've had
About as much as I can take
When I feel myself
Just about to break
I lean into the wind
And like an infant I reach out for your hand
Fool me once, you know
Shame, shame
Shame, shame 11

And as we rehearse our scene
We really put our hearts into it
And I feel an opening to wiggle through
But I don't want to do it
But some habits are hard to break, hard to break
And some aren't really habits anymore
And when the full force of the hurricane
Nearly knocks me on the floor
I lean into the wind
And like an infant I reach out for your hand
Fool me once, you know
Shame, shame
Shame, shame

Footnotes

  1. "As some Australian ticketholders have already heard, we have had to cancel the Australian tour. This is really devastating for us to do. Everybody knows I don't cancel a show unless I absolutely have to; what's worse, coming to Australia is the highlight of our year. So many of our favorite shows ever are from our Australian tours, and we were excited about showing everyone the full-band lineup. The note sent out by our wonderful Australian agents, Handsome Tours, says "for personal medical reasons," and that says as much as need be said; if it weren't serious, I would be leaving for Oz next week, believe me. You'll be doing me a great favor if you keep me in your thoughts and prayers, and if you know in your heart that I don't play around in doing right by the people I love: I will be back to make this up to you.

    "Thank you for your understanding and again I am really really sorry. Love to you all

    "John D."

    The Mountain Goats, March 19, 2008: Australian Tour Cancelled, retrieved December 6, 2013. ↩

  2. What's Up You Australians, posted April 15, 2008 10:11 PM, retrieved December 6, 2013:

    So, I wish there were a way of giving these to just you guys, 'cause that's who they're for, but there isn't so you're going to have to share. I combed through the stuff I have that's on two of the computers in this house and I got seven demos for you. One or two of them haven't been released in any form I think. I don't know though. I don't keep such good track of what has or hasn't been released. Anyhow, these are just my way of saying how sorry I did not get to see you this month. It was going to be an awesome tour. It will still be awesome when we get back. Til then please accept these!

    Dudes who like to crosspost stuff from this forum to another/on your lj/etc etc, I wish you wouldn't, I can't stop you, there I've said my piece. On the other hand! These are AACs. If you ain't got iTunes, you won't be able to hear them. Somebody on this thread is gonna have to convert the files to mp3 for repost here at some point I'd guess. That's on you-all OK? Finally, I hope I correctly matched the links to the song titles - I was uploading songs one after another and I might have gotten some mixed up. the descriptions should make it easy enough - acceptable damages sutra should have an electric guitar with a "shame shame" chorus, "going invisible" should being "when I rose from a heavy sleep," the rest you probably know in one form or another. ↩

  3. "from the we shall all be healed writing 'sessions' i.e. the period of time spanning from the first good song I wrote for the album to the last. I think we had a studio version of this too. I know we played it live a bit while touring europe especially and I have also done it on some radio sessions. this is the only one of this bunch recorded in iowa you can hear cicadas outside our old window at the beginning." — What's Up You Australians, posted April 15, 2008 10:11 PM, retrieved December 6, 2013. ↩

  4. New World Emerging Blues is part of the informal series of outtakes and informal series of Biblical references. ↩

  5. Mount Fuji is an active volcano and the largest mountain in Japan. ↩

  6. This phrase is similar to lines in Against Pollution, however, it's unclear to me if they have a shared origin somewhere. Given the frequent references to Corinthians elsewhere, and the similar imagery, it's possible that this draws from 1 Corinthians 13:12, although the allusion is not as obvious as in other instances:

    For now we see indistinctly, as in a mirror,
    but then face to face.
    Now I know in part,
    but then I will know fully,
    as I am fully known.

    AKM Adam, a theologian and author of a paper describing the Mountain Goats' usage of scripture, supports this thesis (personal correspondence, July 2014).

    Holman Christian Standard Bible, retrieved July 14, 2014. ↩

  7. "I don't think this song has been heard outside of base camp but I could be wrong - I always forget which songs we put on the Japanese edition of get lonely. at any rate this was one of my favorite songs from the get lonely demos. we had a version in the studio but it just didn't fit in - didn't quite nail it I think. happy to share this because really I think this song is right near the center of what that album was about and it is a personal favorite." — What's Up You Australians, posted April 15, 2008 10:11 PM, retrieved December 6, 2013. ↩

  8. Going Invisible is part of the informal series of outtakes, originally intended for Get Lonely. ↩

  9. "gotta be honest, I don't remember much about this. I think the guitar we're hearing is my '79 Les Paul, which puts this at no earlier than January '03 I think." — What's Up You Australians, posted April 15, 2008 10:11 PM, retrieved December 6, 2013. ↩

  10. A sutra is a kind of holy text in Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism. ↩

  11. A reference to the old saying, "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me." ↩