Track of the Moment: Going to Georgia by The Mountain Goats

What do you call someone who was into being a hipster before it was cool? Whatever that was, The Mountain Goats is that.

John Darnielle founded The Mountain Goats in 1991, and released his first album, Taboo VI: The Homecoming. Now, I know what you’re thinking – “How is this in any way Hipsterism?” But let’s look a little deeper: even though the band name is plural, Darnielle was the only member until a few years ago. Also, there is no Taboo 1-5. And, until a few years ago, he recorded solely in lo-fi. Once all of that became mainstream, he started using a real studio and has a steady group of musicians backing him up. This may very well be the first hipster to ever exist.

The other thing I like about The Mountain Goats is how lyric-driven the songs are. Musically, he’s not very complex; his old stuff only had basic chords, progressions, and keys. Recently, with his band mates behind him, the instrumentation has gotten slightly more complex, but that may be just from the increase in instruments playing. But each song, and usually the entire album, tells a story with fantastic detail. It’s amazing the language that Darnielle is able to think of and use in song that makes each one touching, funny, or heartbreaking.

This song is one of my favorites. The way Darnielle yells his sad lyrics over an increasingly roughly strummed guitar. Even the slight mistake at the beginning gives it an honest feel. And with each repetition of “going to Georgia”, you understand more and more of the story, and the metaphor of how he “crossed the Macon County line”.