My Top 1000 Songs #453: Half Dead

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

This is my second pick off the Mountain Goats' 2006 "break-up" album, Get Lonely. And like "Woke Up New," it's a harrowingly detailed account of the morning after. "Half Dead" is only marginally less devastating, but again the beauty of the song--gently strummed guitars, the longing in John Darnielle's vocals, those bells in the bridge--and the signs of light at the end of the tunnel, make it endlessly re-listenable.

"It was raining outside, so I cleaned house today. Spent half of the morning throwing old things away... Whole boxes of memories wrapped up at the curb. I sang songs to myself, didn't have any words. Can't get you out of my head. Lost without you, half dead."

Live 2006:

Live 2009: