Night Light

Lyrics

Pull my mask so tight
Til it pinches my skin
Nerves strung so high
I am a mandolin
Jenny calls from Montana
She's only passing through
Probably never see her again in this life** I guess
Not sure what I'm gonna do

Plug a night light in
Leave the porch light on
Because the small dark corners have designs on me
Live like an outlaw
Clutching gold coins in his claw

Room full of ambitious young policemen*
Everybody trying to make his mark
I was a red dot blinking on a screen up overhead
And then the room went dark
Dream of maybe waking up someday
And wanting you less than I do
This is a dream though
It's never gonna come true

Plug a night light in
Leave the porch light on
Because the small dark corners are establishing a colony
Live like an outlaw
Clutching gold coins in his claw

Can't ever set aside the sweetness
Of the days before the crews put up the border
Fields full of wet rain***
Cling tight to their memory forever
Think about Montana when I close my eyes
Possibly Jenny's headed east
Count a couple of^^ stray hopes out loud
May^^^ their numbers one day be increased

Plug a night light in
Leave the porch light on
Because the small dark corners breathe like heavy animals^
Live like an outlaw
Clutching gold coins in his claw

Banter

This song is about the sort of paranoid state you get into if you sit around contemplating the wrong thing for too long, which is sort of how I came to look at my own past, like, you have to be a careful steward of your brain and your thoughts, because no one else can help you out with them. (2012-06-27 Swedish American Hall)
"It's about the last nagging bit of a memory you can't seem to erase, that just sort of sits there, like a, like a, like, if you had a chalkboard and you - and there was one piece of chalk they didn't warn you wouldn't erase. And you only used it briefly once, because it felt different when you wrote on the chalkboard, so you stopped, but by then you had already written. And that mark will not go away. And that's what the song is about. (2018-04-21 Upstate Concert Hall)
(off mic) It helps so much to be in the right key. (on mic) You hear, I won't name any names, but you hear about singers who have had their songs pitched lower as they age. Three weeks ago I sent an email to the band saying, can we play that one a step higher. Score one for the Mountain Goats, minus one for all the other bands. My new brand is hating on all the other bands. (2023-10-02 Belly Up Tavern)
[JD starts playing Night Light, stops suddenly] Oh, that's right, I'm capoing up, huh. Disaster averted there. Half a step or a whole step? [Matt or Peter, off mic: whole step] The thing is, I'm very proud that you get to know that I'm capoing up. Because most of the other singers as they age, they tune down. The Mountain Goats go the other way. (2023-10-29 The Heights Theater)
When you meet a bunch of people who are showing you a good time, you say hey, I wanna reward you with a song about the encroaching paranoia of wondering where somebody is. [I've] got a good bassist by the name of Peter Hughes who reminds you to put your capo on. Got a good friend. I'm the guy who capoed the song up a half step. (2023-12-02 The Queen)

Live Performances

Footnotes

* Variant: "detectives" instead of "policemen". (2023-10-02, 2023-10-05, 2023-12-02)
** Variant: "world" instead of "life" (2023-10-05, 2023-10-07, 2023-12-02)
*** Variant line: "but those days are gone now" (2023-10-05, 2023-10-07), and "let me cling tight" (2023-10-07)
^ Variant line: "heave and breathe down there like wretched animals" (2023-10-05), "heave and breathe down there like heavy animals" (2023-10-07, 2023-10-29, 2023-12-02)
^^ Variant: "a dozen of" instead of "a couple of" (2023-10-07)
^^^ Variant: "pray" instead of "may" (2023-10-07)