Prana Ferox
Lyrics
I went down to the basement
To check up on the sour mash
I looked down to the nonreactive ceramic tub
It was bubbling
I had stirred up the dust on the stairs coming down
I saw the dust devils swarming around
Incoming sun beams cut them apart
And I watched a shadow pass across my heart
You were upstairs in the kitchen with your head against the sink
Trying to cool down
Trying to cool down
I know you don't believe me, but I could hear you breathing
I looked into the tub and there the mixture was seething
With new life
New life all around
I had stirred up the dust on the stairs coming down
You were upstairs in the kitchen with your head against the sink
Trying to cool down
Trying to cool down
Yeah
Banter
- You know when were in love, and the person with whom you were in love was also in love? And then, one or both of you depending on who you ask about the subject years later was possessed by demons and began to change in the blackest and most horrible ways, but not so much so that they didn't recognize that what was happening was horrible beyond description, but yet there was some magnetic pull to the relationship so nobody ever left? (1999-10-09)
- This is a song about alcohol, and the wondrous things it can, you know, the ways it can bring a relationship to a place that it mightn't've gone before. Right? A bad place, but a place that it mightn't've gone before. (2003-06-27 - Mains d'Oeuvres, Paris)
- Lotta early Mountain Goats songs seem to take place in a cellar someplace, where two people who either should or shouldn't be sleeping together, and are, or aren't, are trying to map out the coordinates of the room. This is one of those. (2021-12-16)
- I had a neighbor in the building where I was writing these songs. Karen, I hope you're doing alright. (2023-10-28 Longhorn Ballroom)
Live Performances
Footnotes