#he'd read a history of Olympius and his followers and then he turned that history into a song and then after people were putting Meanings o

[ereborne]

Song of the Day: December 22

"Until Olympius Returns" by The Mountain Goats

#song of the day #I enjoy this song for itself--classic Mountain Goats sharp and clever and fun for me to sing #but at the risk of sounding insufferable: this is the song of the day because I like how John Darnielle talks about it #there's an interview (he did it for Bandcamp but I read the quote on genius.com) and he says how the song has a lot of potential parallels #how it could make an excellent metaphor for any number of things--but when he was writing it he was only thinking of the literal story #he'd read a history of Olympius and his followers and then he turned that history into a song and then after people were putting Meanings o #and he doesn't ever say people are wrong for seeing all these parallels and meanings he didn't intentionally write in #what I like is that he says 'I think one of my strengths is that my faith in stories is so strong #that I don’t need to make them be more than what they are. I trust them to do that by themselves' #I like that so much #it's something I struggle with in my own stories sometimes. I get caught up in wanting the audience to know all my themes and shit #and I forget that while themes and narrative structure are a big part of making a good story it still has to be a good story first #I need to make sure it stands on its own first and let people find what they need in it after #and I need to not worry about having somehow done something wrong if what they find isn't what I meant to plant for them