Post 9-11 / Iraq war-era music has been hitting different these days. When I hear this song now, I can't help but wonder if younger generations really understand the impact of what was happening around the time this song was written. The Iraq war really was the first "televised war." We watched Operation Shock and Awe (google it) happen live during the morning announcements my sophomore year of high school. There'd been war footage on TV before this, but it was weeks old by the time people saw it. Millennials were force-fed images of people dying in real time, which seems almost normal these days but at the time it wasn't and people, like Conor, were affected.

ANDREW ELDRITCH IS GOING BACK TO LEEDS: There's indifference on the wind But a faint gust of hope At a club nobody goes to With a musty velvet rope Guys in Motorhead jackets Who knew him way back when Haven't raised a drink in years But now meet up again To remember how it was when they all thought they'd move away Ridin' Lotus Sevens through the London streets one day Nobody ever gets away Even the best of us come back someday To the unmarked rooms where the dry dust breeds Andrew Eldritch is moving back to Leeds There's a rusted fog machine In a concrete storage space Letter-number combinations With no meaning on its face They won't make these anymore It's a wooden coach-and-four No one will even steal it if you leave it by the door With no sign to mark its going, no tombstone for its grave There will be goodbyes by dozens, so practice being brave No one anticipates the rush The breezy feeling of the faceless crush At the end of things where the selvage bleeds Andrew Eldritch is moving back to Leeds They don't throw him a parade He just comes in on a train One suitcase in his hand And an old army backpack From the second World War From a Leipzig second-hand store Pick the keys up from the agent Everything's been taken care of No big changes in the roadways Since you left, that I'm aware of A few old buildings gone to dust And some new ones in the way They'll look just like the old ones when the winds have had their say See the children bound for London You'll all be back too Everybody tests the membrane But no one pushes through Come on boys, that'll be enough You'd think your old friends wouldn't play so tough Like a basket by the Nile hiding down among the reeds Andrew Eldritch is moving back to Leeds

RAIN IN SOHO: No one knows where the lone wolf sleeps No one sees the hidden treasure in the castle keep No one learns the secret name No one burns in the absent flame No one broke D.B. Cooper’s fall No one hopes to hear the bagman call Children piping in the main square But no one’s dancing No one’s dancing down there The river goes where the water flows But no one knows when the Batcave closed The river goes where the water flows But no one knows when the Batcave closed No promise sweeter than a blood pact Nothing harder to go through with than a vanishing act No morning colder than the first frost No friends closer than the ones we’ve lost Nothing sharper than a serpent’s tooth Nothing harder than the gospel truth Though you repent and don sackcloth and try to make nice You can’t cross the same river twice The river goes where the water flows But no one knows when the Batcave closed The river goes where the water flows But no one knows when the Batcave closed There’s a club where you’d like to go You could meet someone who’s lost like you Revel in the darkness like a pair of open graves Fumble through the fog for a season or two No town more barren than our town No haven safer than the one they tore down No greater love than to lay my life down for a friend No sweeter pleasure than to see the credits clear through to the end No one knows where the lone wolf’s gone No one sees him camped out right there on the front lawn We played for you but you would not sing No one was gonna get away with anything The river goes where the water flows But no one knows when the Batcave closed The river goes where the water flows But no one knows when the Batcave closed

Absolutely beautiful song!

And the little fucker shot me dead

This is one of the best music ever playing of all time and only 123 views?? Wtf with world !!!

Is he drunk?

the first song is The Cascades

Get past it my friend

Hi, I have only just found your video, I don't suppose you still have those other recordings do you? Icd be very interested and know a few other people who would be too! Thank you for this, and the 2 Kristin Hersh ones!🖤

Amazing Felice Brothers song

Legends …….

Great video thank you

Heartfelt - Heartthrob 💜🎉🙂

Wow, that would be amazing to have seen live!

The guy filming singing it adds so much comfort to this song

Oh god it's horrible when he absolutely adds random fluff to the song. I'm a big fan of this song, but dude, please stop adding in exclamations and random words in an attempt to emphasize feelings. You're not doing it well at all. It just 'breaks' the flow of the song.

un fucking believeable -- beautiful genius

Ugh, that ending… his voice cracks and he’s in obvious tears with anguish bleeding off his tongue… We love you Conor.

hello be, you are bright from eyes - but the crow of the night does not raven like the rapture. elle for loca

Funny.

rad

it hurts so bad..it burns..ahhh

One of the most honest songs xx

This is the most accurate recollection of my the 15-20 Conor shows I've been to. Drunk, rambling, often losing the crowd, but then plays a song they love to their bones. They want so badly to sing sing, but he changes the lyrics and cadence when playing live, and you just have to go with it.

They shouldn't be singing that song. It doesn't belong to them.

This performance is great! This song is great! Hope Ian treats us to another solo album sometime in the near future.

this song is just so much better live

Gutted you stopped filming before the end of the song :(

Muito Bom.

It's heartfelt and honest, which is why you like Okkervil River.

Buenardo

"So I'm up at dawn, putting on my shoes I just want to make a clean escape I'm leaving but I don't know where to I know I'm leaving but I don't know where to"

Great song...too much fucking talk...why do songwriters feel they need to think anyone gives a shit how they think or wrote the cut of a thing..

Hated this until he said, "I'm more of a Wales man myself." =) ...and screw the dude who keep shouting "you know nothing". That guy never got the point.

You’re the yellow bird that I’ve been waiting for

GODDAMN - I SAY GODDAMN... amazing (as we all know)

really cool how he mentions the song title "possum on the porch" during the banter between the songs! wonder if that eventually evolved into "possum by night" on in league with dragons

Goths is their best album, FIGHT ME

All those careful words will turn back into dreams.

Some Godspeed you vibes at points.

I love this song more with every listen.

Fantastic cover!

Emily Lee (keyboards) just tweeted your video!

I discovered the mountain goats a few days ago and they are officially now one of my favourite bands of all time

please stop singing, you're ruining it all including your reputation ! Just carry on as a musician albeit a fantastic one, our ears will thank you.

He then was as old as I am now. And I am living with his music für 15 years now. This feels so strange. There have been so many moments where his music has been wooven into my memories.

Shut the fuck up dude singing

Love how everyone knows the words by heart, you know they've been looking forward to this.

I was at this gig, fucking love this song