Mountain Goats Write Song for "Super Tuesday"
2/4/2008 By Cam Lindsay

Preparing for Tuesday's "history making" day in U.S. politics, the Mountain Goats have written a song for public radio show Weekend America to commemorate the electoral showdown.

Titled "Down to the Ark," the John Darnielle-penned ditty uses all sorts of cryptic wizardry to basically say, "Just get out there and vote, even if the candidates are all vampires," or something along those lines. Have a listen in the player below.

Here are the lyrics:

"Down to the Ark"

The candidates met up in North Dakota
And they donned their black robes there in the chapel hall
They said a brief invocation to their cloven-hoofed prince
And they signed their names in blood on the vestry wall

In Christ you know there's neither high nor low
And the void will claim all creatures small or bright
Seal up the borders or let everybody in
In the order of the serpent, there'll be neither left nor right

And we pull down our blindfolds
And we reach out for the lever in the dark
Get a sticker for our shirts as we head into the sun
Proudly bearing the mark
Headed down to the ark

The applicants went down to Oklahoma
And they hired an accent coach to teach them the western twang
And several post-born babies learned the hard way:
Vampires only kiss you if they've sharpened up their fangs

And as Minnesota fell, so went Missouri
We met at VFWs in the snow
And we voted down the tax codes, and we voted down the war
A many names to choose from, just one way to go.

In other Goaty news, the band will release their 16th album, Heretic Pride through 4AD on February 19.

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