Getting Into Knives

I hit the cul-de-sac on the spiritual path
Retraced my steps back home
But the house burned down before I got there
And I found myself alone

I tried to keep things in perspective
As I hunted down the perpetrator
Loaded up my toolkit with every hateful instrument
Now here we are thirty years later

I'm getting into knives
I'm getting into knives
I've been up and down the buffet several different times
I'm adjusting my focus, I'm getting into knives

I sought wisdom from the sages
Consulted with master tacticians
Met up with some guys who wouldn't tell me their last names
They specialized in non-conventional munitions

Stayed on the scent like a bloodhound
Followed the clues where they led
Taste of hot ashes on my tongue all day
I took my rifle with me to bed

But I'm getting into knives
I'm getting into knives
It's a gift to be simple, it's a gift to be free
I'm adjusting my focus, I'm getting into knives

Held to my vision all these days
While stray signals kept flooding the switchboard
Came all this way for hunger
May I be worthy of my reward

I stood at the door, and I listened
Rustled through my rucksack as quiet as I could
You can't give me back what you've taken
But you can give me something that's almost as good

I'm getting into knives
I am getting into knives
Behold, I stand at the door, and I knock, and then I knock twice
I've adjusted my focus, I'm getting into knives

Album Credits

Getting Into Knives

RECORDED AT
Sam Phillips Recording, Memphis, Tennessee
March 1-6, 2020

John Darnielle: vocals, guitars, piano
Peter Hughes: electric and upright bass
Matt Douglas: wodwinds, guitars, accordion, backing vocals
Jon Wurster: drums and percussion

JOINED FOR THE OCCASION BY
Bram Gielen: piano, guitars, keyboards
Chris Boerner: guitars
Charles Hodges: Hammond B-3
Sam Shoup: Mellotron
Tom Clary: horns
Reba Russell: backing vocals
Susan Marshall: backing vocals

PRODUCED BY
Matt Ross-Spang, the man himself, the dude with the heater in the basement,
the fellow you know from the back room, the man who will not personally sell you any knives
but can direct you to a guy who has at least three, two of them quite exotic

ENGINEERED BY
Matt Ross-Spang, I just told you about him, he can see the holograms in the hidden hallways,
he can spot the stars in the scatter-shot, he's got the eye

MIXED BY
Matt Ross-Spang, you may recognize his name, if at this point you don't
perhaps cut back a little on the paint thinner, he's a man you don't meet every day

ASSISTED BY
Wesley Graham, known to many as Mister Wesley and rightly so,
invaluable with the mic locker, inimitable on the placement, indespensable in the clutch

WITH, IN THE ROLE OF STUDIO ATTACHÉ, NONE OTHER THAN
Matt Denham, the guy who gets it done,
on the scene with a laser beam

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS ARE SHORED UP, REINFORCED, AND MADE ROAD-READY BY
Ryan Matteson, the hidden hand, the presence in the shadows, the voice in the darkness,
the power from beyond space, the Man from Madison, without whom we would have all
gotten stuck at the NC-TN border trying to locate Memphis

KNIVES PROVIDED BY
Knives International,
a wholly-owned subsidiary of Knives Worldwide

If I told you how much fun we had making this one
you wouldn't even believe me but we hope it comes through

Dedicated to the secret priests of the Bell Swamp,
those oracles of Brunswick County, wizards of "Winnabow"
night lords of the thousand acres: whose domain yet grows,
may its borders encompass the sky and all beyond

Mastered by Brent Lambert at The Kitchen Mastering,
Carrboro, North Carolina

Design by Daniel Murphy

All words & music by John Darnielle
©2020 Cadmean Dawn, ASCAP
administered worldwide by Pacific Electric Music Publishing

Footnotes

This song has a music video. ↩

Wesley Willis was an outsider musician and visual artist from Chicago. ↩

"So Wesley’s songs, Wesley has I think three templates… one of them is, well I mean his are almost all in the second person like that, where he says, some of them are addressing enemies in real life, whether he’s in the hospital or he meets them on a bus, it’s like, ‘You caused me to go on a hell bus ride! You interrupt me while I am listening to my headphones.’ Other one’s he’s addressing bands, he’s like: ‘You played at The Empty Bottle on March 23, 1993! You whipped a camel’s ass with a belt! The audience was rocking! Urge overkill, urge overkill!’ Right? But he’s always in [second] person. Wesley does not sing, he does not say, ‘Oh I went down…’ Wild Sage, all first person, right? ‘I leave the house,’ right? That’s Wild Sage. Wesley doesn’t do that. Wesley’s like, ‘YOU. I met YOU on a bus.’ Wesley Willis posits an entire method of songwriting where you are talking only to and about the listener." Studio Milwaukee Session, Raleigh, NC, December 4, 2020. ↩

This song was inspired by an exchange with the poet Maggie Smith on Twitter.

Smith: "photo essay that won’t happen: Divorced woman drives her rumpled c. 2005 wedding dress across the country and takes photos of it in various locations. It’s a metaphorical Weekend at Bernie’s sans stapled-on-toupee and sunglasses, because the dead thing is the marriage."

Darnielle: "this would be a song called 'Picture of My Dress' imo" ↩

There are several Gordon Avenues this could be referring to. A few Gordon Avenues are near places where John has lived: one in La Habra, California, one in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and one in Des Moines, Iowa. Whether any of these are the one mentioned in the song is purely speculation. ↩

There is an area called Bell Swamp in North Carolina. ↩

Getting Into Knives

Liner Notes

Table of Contents

Corsican Mastiff Stride

Get Famous 2

Picture of My Dress 4

As Many Candles As Possible

Tidal Wave

Pez Dorado

The Last Place I Saw You Alive

Bell Swamp Connection 6

The Great Gold Sheep

Rat Queen

Wolf Count

Harbor Me