Mountain Goats, The - Going To Georgia Lyrics






The most remarkable thing about coming home to you
Is the feeling of being in motion again,

It's the most extraordinary thing in the world.
I have two big hands
And a heart pumping blood
And a 1967 Colt .45
With a busted safety catch.

The world shines
As I cross the Macon county line,
Going to Georgia.

The most remarkable thing about you standing in the doorway is that it's you
And that you are standing in the doorway

And you smile as you ease the gun from my hand
I am frozen with joy right where I stand.
The world throws its light underneath your hair.
40 miles from Atlanta, this is nowhere.

Going to Georgia

The world shines
As I cross the Macon county line,
Going to Georgia





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Mountain Goats, The Going To Georgia Comments
  1. G.... S....

    plz come to georgia :D:D:D:D:D:D:D

  2. L.... D....

    Song to bring forgotten pieces of soul together by. Knitting in the bones

  3. d.... z....

    how tf do you even go about writing a song like this edit: i mean that in a good way

  4. J.... W....

    Today I learned Soupy didn't write this song!


    both are great versions

  5. K.... N....

    sadly, there arent many more good songs on the album. this is TRULY the one that sticks out, the rest is not so good, marginally listenable, in fact

  6. S.... P....

    Just played this to my 1 hour old daughter Georgia.

  7. Z.... ....

    It's funny how much he hates this song now.

    Z.... ....

    haha what? no way, really?

  8. S.... M....

    Macon is awesome. I should have divorced my wife who liked wearing all black a bit too much and stayed in Macon when I was asked.

  9. M.... L....

    top five i've heard in my life.

  10. L.... L....

    This was playing in a cafe

  11. A.... o....

    Check out the version by atom and his package!

  12. A.... F....

    John is a coward for disliking this song. Stand by the stories you tell.

    A.... F....

    I disagree :)

  13. S.... M....

    I had a chance to stay in Macon. I should have settled down and raised a family in Macon.

    S.... M....

    Con ruled. I've had a few wonderful bosses. Hand. Con. Tawn. You won't know who was great till it's too late. If you are a crybaby superstar.

  14. H.... B....

    Still going to georgia

  15. K.... ....

    Apparently John hates this song

    K.... ....

    he just hates playing it

  16. J.... E....

    John is the GOAT

  17. S.... M....

    So the writer of the song is of the opinion that this is misogynistic, and the way he he explains it I agree but my interpretation of the song I had in my mind is wildly different. What do you think?

    S.... M....

    I always saw the narrator as delusional and drives to her house with a wildly self-absorbed idea to earn her back by threatening to kill himself cause "that's how much he loves her"
    He's having fantasies of what will happen is his mind. He sees himself as the hero when in reality he's an ass. But it's a phenomenal song with intense emotions and lots of misplaced passion.
    I understand why Darnielle dislikes it but he doesnt give his audience enough credit. We know the narrator's not a good person so he's not glorifying abuse. It's a very good song and Darnielle's performance is too good to keep from his audience. That's how I feel.

  18. j.... w....

    I miss the super low-fi three chord days.

  19. l.... r....

    🎒💭🦊⚖️🦋

  20. M.... ....

    Adam West brought me here, but don't tell him I let you know or he'll track me down with his cat launche--OH CRAP THERE HE IS I GOTTA GO!

  21. A.... C....

    Greatest song ever recorded.

    A.... C....

    I honestly do believe it is in the top 100 songs of all time.

  22. B.... B....

    No one brought me here. Where am I? Please send help.

    B.... B....

    /r/fifthworldproblems

  23. s.... y....

    How the hell is such a simple song so fucking brilliant?

  24. C.... F....

    I can see myself moshing to this song

  25. f.... ....

    if you know me through this song, then i died. I enjoyed this song more than the entirety of your interactions.

  26. D.... E....

    The most remarkable thing about coming home to you
    Is the feeling of being in motion again,

    It's the most extraordinary thing in the world.
    I have two big hands
    And a heart pumping blood
    And a 1967 Colt .45
    With a busted safety catch.

    The world shines
    As I cross the Macon county line,
    Going to Georgia.

    The most remarkable thing about you standing in the doorway is that it's you
    And that you are standing in the doorway

    And you smile as you ease the gun from my hand
    I am frozen with joy right where I stand.
    The world throws its light underneath your hair.
    40 miles from Atlanta, this is nowhere.

    Going to Georgia

    The world shines
    As I cross the Macon county line,
    Going to Georgia

  27. l.... k....

    Bless your tiny depressed hearts--get back with me in twenty years

  28. M.... B....

    Satan brought me here

  29. L.... B....

    Still can't understand why the writer hates this song it's good

    L.... B....

    @Feck Eric-Schmidt As a feminist: no... I just...no.

    And I sincerely doubt his wife had much to do with the decision. His own growth and maturity, yes. It is possible for someone to change their views independently even when in a partnership.

    I feel like I'm taking the bait, possibly, but with that in mind, I still feel compelled to say something, even if it makes no difference to you.

    L.... B....

    @Bioluminescent Banana Slug "I still feel compelled to say something, even if it makes no difference to you."

    You telling me how personally convinced you are is meaningless; I still feel compelled to say THAT. I was hoping you'd present an argument to support your assertions.

    L.... B....

    @Feck Eric-Schmidt Naw man. It's pointless with you and I'd prefer to direct my energy elsewhere. Anything I say, you're gonna disagree. So bye. If you need to feel like you got a win, take it. You seem like you could use it

    L.... B....

    @Bioluminescent Banana Slug For me to "win" would require you to develop a fundamentally different perspective on a gender you've never lived, a complex set of emotions you've never felt and a real facet of human experience you'll never have anything but contempt for.

    So no. I didn't "win". Neither of us did. And we're both worse off. Have a good one.

    L.... B....

    @Feck Eric-Schmidt   Well shit. I expected this to be a comment to roll my eyes at and move on, but hell, I completely agree with you.

    You completely encapsulated my feelings about how I'm looking at this issue. Yeah, neither one of us wins. Our perspectives are nearly impossible for both of us to understand, and YET... there's a common ground here.

    I'm not being sarcastic or throwing shade. I read your comment and went "Damn. Yes."

    Thank you.

  30. O.... F....

    powerful awesome song

  31. A.... H....

    i love this dumb song

    A.... H....

    hahah brilliant. It is totally dumb, too. Beautifully, brilliantly instinctively bad stupid ideas. I'm glad the woman had the sense to settle him down. I believe John referred to this as the "I love you, you love me, let's light ourselves on fire" school of relationships.

  32. J.... P....

    Why is this song so fucking awesome?

    J.... P....

    That'd be the manic sincerity.

    When Darnielle starts channeling emotion, you buckle up and marvel.

  33. i.... d....

    Casey Bolles does a solid cover of this.

  34. D.... ....

    i love how young he looks on this picture

  35. S.... E....

    GOAT band

  36. C.... H....

    Was there ever a truer voice, or a surer strum? This guy has a huge chunk of my heart. <3

    C.... H....

    Claire Hamilton I don't wanna ruin your goats experience, but I noticed that his singing kinda resembles Steve Carell when screaming

    C.... H....

    Hehe luckily I'm quite fond of Steve Carell too. :) Give me an honest scream over plastic Auto-tuning anytime.

    C.... H....

    Darnielle's singing voice is nothing to write home about. Except for the cadence attached to the words, the words themselves, the meaning of the words, the metaphorical significance and the absolute, utter jaw-dropping sincerity of the man's words.

    The actual singing is a bit shrill. He wouldn't hack it on American Idol. And I'll fight any Hells Angel who wants to say John Darnielle is not a perfect musical artist.

  37. S.... R....

    I didn't know John was friends with Eyedea.

    S.... R....

    Love obscure artist references

    S.... R....

    How did you arrive with this info?

    S.... R....

    That definitely could be eyedea smoking on the right , rip =(

    S.... R....

    i think that's peter hughes

  38. K.... K....

    17 people live 40 miles from Atlanta.

  39. C.... A....

    my girlfriend moved me down to Georgia, away from a piece of shit broken home in Missouri. most of that car ride down was filled with singing the mountain goats off key as i built up hope for a new life.

  40. p.... ....

    Me being from Atlanta I will say that 40 miles out of town is nowhere. If y'all come to Atlanta do not, I repeat, DO NOT cross over I-285.

    p.... ....

    porkinwitz yes. I live in Illinois now

    p.... ....

    Zachary Morris Covington is where dreams go to die haha

    p.... ....

    Everywhere else is the same. I'm from Covington. Spent my whole life trying to leave. Been to 42 states. Lived in 18 of them. Home where you go to die. That'll be Covington for me.

    p.... ....

    porkinwitz You can't cross 285 because the roads are broke.

    p.... ....

    I prefer the country over the city.

  41. J.... D....

    I think we all know who bought me here

    J.... D....

    Brought*

    J.... D....

    +Candyfloss FG I don't, but I'd like to know

    J.... D....

    +Qalasoul Aaron west

    J.... D....

    +Jack Sb SAME

  42. R.... B....

    It's become apparent to me that some of best songs are always the shortest.

    R.... B....

    Mood for a day ain't that long

    R.... B....

    Most definitely. An amazing example that comes to mind is "Little Wing" by Jimi Hendrix

    R.... B....

    @Dani California Do you even Jethro Tull "Thick As A Brick?"

    R.... B....

    Yeah. I mean my two favorite genres, indie and punk, are perfect examples of this

    R.... B....

    Rebekah Brunson punk 101

  43. N.... N....

    the holy spirit sent me this to behold and to make believe that my dream lived there. She was in the doorway all along, the foyer of god's dipping pond

  44. B.... S....

    The fucking mountain goats and good music brought me here

  45. c.... ....

    I brought myself here.
    Through youtube.

  46. d.... ....

    is this a place

  47. C.... ....

    I think this song is actually improved by low-bitrate encoding.

    C.... ....

    Like all old modest mouse songs

    C.... ....

    Oh fucking hell yes. The best part is that it's not even intentional. This is one of the songs John wrote in his apartment before The Mountain Goats became a thing. All he had was a boombox and a lo-fi cassette recorder. Thats the weird mechanical noise you hear in the background of a lot of their older songs. The whirring of the tape as it's recording them.

    C.... ....

    double lo fi

  48. C.... ....

    the "you smile as you ease the gun from my hand" line reminds me of dale & andrea

    C.... ....

    never thought of that.

  49. V.... H....

    Aaron west traveled to Georgia, therefore he covered it and damn :') my hometown

  50. J.... N....

    Was someone supposed to bring me here?
    Either way I like it.

  51. A.... ....

    My old English teacher played this on the guitar today during study hall as he ate my flamin' hot cheetos. Matthew Horne brought me here.

    A.... ....

    Fair enough

    A.... ....

    Sounds like me... back when I still had faith enough in the system to work with it. Kudos to Mr. Horne for keeping the faith.

    A.... ....

    what is it with english teachers introducing past students to the mountain goats? (also my tmg origin story!)

  52. Z.... H....

    John Darnielle brought me here.

    Z.... H....

    @Zackery Hobler You're the only respectable person here.

    Z.... H....

    Zackery Hobler
    Tampa brought me here

    Z.... H....

    Sounds fake

  53. A.... K....

    John Darnielle is the most real and superb artist making music and no one can capture human emotion like him.

    A.... K....

    (two years later*)
    Towns Van Zandt, good day

    A.... K....

    Townes was great. Townes shunned the spotlight, though and was a hardcore self-abuser. Same as Nick Drake, Elliott Smith and a bunch of other really great guys I'd put on the same level. Darnielle is from the same seed. He has escaped his demons and can thus write about them.

  54. G.... G....

    Nash Bozard brought me here

  55. E.... B....

    I love this.

  56. r.... ....

    Hayley from Pass The Camera brought me here

  57. Z.... B....

    Nik Clay's cover of this is amazing. Way more powerful in my opinion.

  58. I.... ....

    Aaron West brought me here.

    I.... ....

    As a longtime TMG fan, I'm ashamed to say "same". Being from outside US, I didn't have a chance to listen to all his albums, had no idea this gem was in the first one :(

    I.... ....

    And what did you think of this version?

    I.... ....

    @Dangshnizzle I too was brought here from Aaron west and I had no idea that this was a TMG original. This one gave me chills all over again. Geniuses the both of them

  59. G.... ....

    Really can't decide whether I like, the Sledding with Tigers, or Atom and his Package's version better.

  60. t.... ....

    A Walking Dead photo montage should be the official video for this awesome song!

    t.... ....

    i don't mean to be a dick but...F*** the Walking Dead - the most overrated show on TV. The Mountain Goats are far better than this show could ever imagine. Please, Mountain Goats, never sell your music to this show!!!

    t.... ....

    @Jupiter Botz Don't know if you know this, but... "Up The Wolves" was used in the Walking Dead.

    t.... ....

    @wbalmung but this song would work really well.

    t.... ....

    Why? it is a love song -.-

    t.... ....

    Arian hmn
    In reality It's a one sided love song and while the feelings are intense and passionate and you can really get into the song, the narrators an ass

  61. D.... ....

    i'm in love with this song

  62. B.... H....

    Fucking hipsters can only talk about the walking dead.

    B.... H....

    Brian Hartson pretty sure only hipsters listen to TMG though

  63. d.... ....

    That's the best idea ever.

  64. M.... A....

    This song should play after the walking dead finale.

  65. V.... P....

    This is sad for I live in the state, and love the song. I never saw the girl as being impressed with his actions though. I imagined the cat was fairly delusional and the song kind of riffed on that.

    V.... P....

    Victor P
    You're supposed to see the narrator as a misguided self obsessed ass so you're on to something

  66. J.... V....

    I'm pretty sure John predates NMH

  67. T.... ....

    I think it's silly that he's only capable of ascribing that particular interpretation to this song especially considering the thing doesn't once mention the gender of either participant, but I guess getting locked into one interpretation is bound to happen if you're the one who wrote the song.

    T.... ....

    I completely agree, however in the events that transpire it’s an unhealthy relationship regardless, my immediate interpretation of the song was that someone driving to Georgia (to kill them self) is remembering the last time they tried when someone came and stopped him.

  68. G.... ....

    He doesn't like the song anymore, so I'm glad you caught him before he had his moral epiphany.

  69. k.... ....

    You should probably see a dermatologist.

  70. L.... ....

    I've been listening to The Mountain Goats for eight hours straight and I still get goosebumps. And then I hear this song, and I get goosebumps on my FACE, and I didn't know that was possible.
    Friggin fantastic song.

    L.... ....

    sad part is that 8hours is not enough to listen to all of the goats songs

    L.... ....

    8 hrs isn't even enough to listen to the best goats songs tbh

  71. N.... ....

    When I discovered the Mountain Goats, I was in high school and depressed as hell. I didn't know what I was gonna do in college, I was struggling in a few subjects, and I didn't have a girlfriend. Listening to their discography made me realize that I was gonna be okay, and I graduated with honors. I later met John at a concert, and gave him a hug while crying, thanking him for getting me through high school in one piece.

  72. B.... G....

    I realized he featured in Aesop Rock's song, "Coffee" when I heard him say, "Colt 45." Can't believe I didn't realize this earlier...

  73. v.... ....

    I tried to sell this album on a professor I had a few years back. He didn't bite. I thought back then that it was a timeless piece of folk music. These songs came from the recesses of cultural memory, making every chord and fervent line seem old and familiar, yet new again.

  74. R.... ....

    Unbelievable. I only wish I could perform music even half as well. Just incredible.

  75. T.... ....

    that made me lol i needed that thank you

  76. w.... ....

    Mike seems like a pretty cool guy

  77. D.... F....

    I find myself saying this every couple of days.

  78. t.... ....

    hahaha, awesome line

  79. F.... ....

    Hah...cup of tea...

  80. I.... ....

    Atom covered it. This was written by the Mountain Goats in 1994 and was covered by Atom about a decade later.

  81. I.... ....

    You must be new here.

  82. n.... ....

    low bitrate; didn't listen

    n.... ....

    nostalgicdrummer
    It's supposed to be low bitrate.....

  83. E.... S....

    I love this....song?

  84. R.... L....

    Because he's from the west coast.

  85. t.... ....

    Need a push with your music career? indie-push dot kom

  86. c.... ....

    west siddeeeee

  87. M.... W....

    this is the song i want to hear in the last two minutes before i die. its short and frantic, grasping for some kind of meaning before it abruptly ends, somewhat like life. every time i hear there is a sense of wholeness i feel afterwards, which i can only hope is the feeling i leave this world with. thank you that is all.

  88. T.... C....

    I heard this on a podcast on NPR once...So happy to find it again!

  89. C.... K....

    Its on Zopilote Machine

  90. G.... K....

    Hey, can anyone tell me what album/cassette/compilation this one's on? It's such classic Mountain Goats, and I'd like to own the original physical copy. Thanks!

  91. H.... ....

    I'm confused about what you're trying to say here. I read Bossman's comment as him saying that all Mountain Goat music sounds the same, at which point he goes on to compare it to rap or country.

  92. b.... ....

    The speaker, not the songwriter. Maybe the songwriter and the speaker are the same person, but not necessarily.

  93. S.... ....

    Do you? Because either you think that Bossman's view is that all rap and country music sounds the same which is, frankly, ignorant or that he is saying that ten mountain goats music sounds like a mixture of the two genres which is confusing and highly arguable.

  94. B.... A....

    I'm confused. Did Atom write this song? Or did he cover it?

    B.... A....

    Brandy Roesch
    Whoever atom is, it must be a cover this song is originally off the zopilote machine album (1994?) By The Mountain Goats

  95. C.... ....

    It's funny, I know the story to thus song... The songwriter was broke and down on his luck in the music industry in Asheville, NC and his girlfriend realized this, so she went home to her parents in Georgia. Late one night he called her and some how found out that she was with another man. He got completely drunk and drove into Georgia with full intentions to shoot her for cheating on him. However, as the song goes, she talked him out of it and he forgave her.

  96. S.... B....

    I'm angry that this song isn't longer because I want to listen to it constantly, but at the same time, I'm not, because it's perfect as is

  97. H.... ....

    ...I don't think you understand what he said.

  98. D.... M....

    @kriztuhfuh82 People hate that cover, I kill those people.