Chile de Árbol ^{1 2}

Chile de árbol, Spanish for tree chili, is an extremely spicy pepper native to Mexico. ↩

On the Protein Source of the Future... NOW! compilation liner notes, John writes:

These songs would all sound great in the hands of '80s new wave bands — not New Wave proper, you understand, but the commercial aftermath: Adam and the Ants, Duran Duran, Kajagoogoo, Thomas Dolby, and so forth. Is there any sacrifice I would not make to hear Spandau Ballet doing "Bill the Kid's Dream of the Magic Shoes"? No, No, there is not. ↩

Geoffrey Chaucer was an extremely influential English poet from the 14th century. His most significant work, The Canterbury Tales, quoted here, is a frame tale in which a group of pilgrims to Canterbury Cathedral compete in a storytelling contest. Specifically, the Reeve's Tale ridicules a thieving miller who receives his comeuppance amid gratuitous sex.

A modern English rendering of this stanza is as follows:

It ever pricks our will just like a nail
To have a hoary head and a green tail,
As does a leek. Although our might is gone,
Our will is that the folly carry on.

Ecker RL, Crook EJ (1993). The Canterbury Tales: A Complete Translation into Modern English. Palatka: Hodge & Braddock. ISBN 0-9636512-3-4 ↩

In Spanish, "Hear us, many thanks." ↩

Barry Sanders was a running back for the Detroit Lions, one of the best players to ever hold the position and holder of numerous awards. ↩

Our Lady of Guadalupe is a term for Mary, the mother of Jesus, originating from a famous painting of Mary in a church in Mexico City, associated with multiple purported miracles. ↩

Translated from Spanish, "Leti, Mark Givens who painted the escolas, Dennis, Tim, E.F. who taught us the Latin language, Bob Durkee, Barry Sanders powerful master, and the Holy Virgin of Guadalupe for her eternal intercession." My best guess is that escolas is a misspelling of escuelas, and thus means schools. ↩

In Latin, "Hey, Pamphila!" While I could not find this exact line in his works, Pamphila appears as a minor character in Plautus' work Stichus. Pamphila could also refer to Pamphila of Epidaurus, an Egyptian historian of Greece living in the first century AD.

Ullman BL (1916). Proper Names in Plautus, Terence, and Menander. Classical Philology, 11(1), 61 – 64. ↩

Titus Maccius Plautius, more frequently, Plautus was a prolific Roman playwright, often writing comedies, from the second and third centuries BC. ↩

Night of the Mules is part of the informal series of Biblical references. ↩

Given the references to holly and mistletoe, prayer, kings, starlight, and mules or donkeys, it seems likely that this song describes the Nativity of Jesus. ↩

While the source of this recording is unknown, the speaker is quoting Genesis 18, in which Abraham begs God to spare the city of Sodom, if a few good people can be found there. As God agrees to spare the city for even fewer and fewer people, Abraham is satisfied at ten people:

And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake.

If you know where this recording is from, please let me know!

Genesis 18:32, Holman Christian Standard Bible, retrieved October 28, 2014. ↩

Going to Malibu is part of the Going to ... series. ↩

Malibu is a city in Los Angeles County, California. ↩

Billy the Kid, born William McCarty, was a notorious outlaw in the 19th century American West, killing 8 – 21 people. Another Mountain Goats song, Catherine Antrim's Kid, is also about Billy the Kid, and similarly uses the special shoes motif. ↩

This is a perplexing line. Special shoes show up in multiple songs, including Catherine Antrim's Kid, the other song about Billy the Kid, but also in The Day the Aliens Came, implying that perhaps this has a deeper meaning. On the other hand, it could be interpreted at face value.

To take a long chain of reasoning, Lon Chaney, Jr. (the subject of Rotten Stinking Mouthpiece) played a role in a 1941 film about Billy the Kid. Two years previously, he had worn height-increasing shoes on Of Mice and Men, and purportedly his tremendous increase in height was reported for many years. While this link strikes me as being tenuous, it also would not surprise me, even if at present I think there's no reason to believe this connection to be valid.

Beck, Calvin Thomas (1975). Heroes of the Horrors. New York: Collier Books. ↩ ↩²

The Easter Bunny is a popular symbol for Easter dating back to the 17th century, depicting a rabbit bringing eggs and candy to children on Easter. Originally the rabbit behaved like an Easter Santa Claus, judging children for being good or bad. However, I'm not aware of any stories in which the Easter Bunny carries a red book, that may be a Mountain Goats invention. ↩

"I ripped off the chord progression of that from something that was on the Electric Company. You can barely hear it. Something to do with water." — Dennis Kucinich benefit, San Francisco, February 11, 2004

John confirms that this is an Alpha song at Hopscotch, Durham, September 8, 2012. ↩

Alphabetizing is part of the Alpha couple series. ↩