Mountain Goats, The - Snow Owl Lyrics

I was lucky to enough to hear this played live, apparently for the first time ever, at the Harvester in Rocky Mount, VA in December 2017. Amazing song.

my favorite part was 0:00 to 2:18

Powerful

Powlerful.

i love this song but all i can think about is how it really kinda sounds like he wants to fuck that owl

1:22 the owlphabet

John can make a song about a fucking owl and make it the most emotional thing you've ever heard

Except it's not about an owl. It's about a person. Read between the lines.

@Nathan Bonnell You are right, but I think we were saying- the angle he came at it with you know? He makes you read between the lines and that is the beauty. I mean look at "Seed Song" you know? it's not really about seeds of course. When I listen to that one I am picturing a farmer's perspective, because why else would the fact that not having rain mean so much haha! -He never actually spells this out in the song but he puts enough dots out there that its easy to connect for yourself.  :)

@D.A. Hammer owls are wicked emotive. I want to fuck one.

no, he isnt right. its about a god damn owl. you fuckers thinking every song is about heroin or w/e are the worst

read between the lines, john. it's about fucking an owl.

me gusta!! hasta hoy desconocia esta banda pero...wow!! me encanto, para esos momentos donde uno necesita hacer catarsis o cambiar de pagina.

D,F,T,B,A!!!!!!!!!!!!!

John Darnielle makes me want to give up on being a musician. Nothing I ever do will amount to the genius he exudes even in his silence. :(

Isn't that the point of art, though? Let's face it, no novelist will ever measure up to Tolkien, no composer to Beethoven, no playwright to Shakespeare. The best an artist can do is be himself or herself, exude brilliance in his or her own right. Draw inspiration from the forefather, don't aspire to be him.

This is five years after you posted this, but I do hope you continued on the whole "music" thing. It'd be a damn shame if we lost another artist. We need those now more than ever.

InexplicableMoose Well said!

Full Force Galesburg

best part of this song: thought i saw a mouse kicking in your beak, it was only a skeleton--BWEEEEEEEEEEEeeEEEeEEEEEEEEEEeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeEEEEEEEEEET

0 people deserve to be shot by poachers

Reminds me of Tesla's feelings for that pigeon.

What cd is this from?

What album is this off of?

I'm a bit late, but Full Force Galesburg

helllll yeah

@smeaglerG Hell yah!

@OhGoditsJoshua can i get a hell yah?

The two best lines in this song; "The dice were loaded against the two of us ever seeing each other, but one of us had no where else to go." and "In your eyes were all the colors that the rainbow forgot." Chills every time.

I've tried so many times to write a comment describing how this song makes me feel and I can never do it justice. Simply beautiful!

This song always takes me back to a very special and very sad place. Thank you for posting!

Oh god. . .that harmonica work near the end. . .simply beautiful.

As a lover of John and the Mountain Goats, as well as a bird lover, this song chills me to the bone.....while also making me feel refreshed and content in its aftermath.

Its been awhile since i have gotten chills listening to a song, but John made that possible :)

hello, your owl song is sweet.

I love this song, love this band. When you make videos, always put the name of the band you use in the background people. It leads to beautiful things.

I love those last two lines...

pretty song beautiful owls. I have an owl guide

thanks =]