You must try to lead a good life. What that means will depend on your, and John Darnielle's, opinion on the following: St. Augustine, the distribution of prasadam at a Krishna-catered wedding, the history of diet culture, and those magnificent peanuts from Singapore.

Show notes

The Annotated Mountain Goats page, gathering many of John’s own reflections on ‘Golden Boy’: http://web.archive.org/web/20200920010914/https:/kylebarbour.org/tmg/ghana.html#fnref:goldenjohn

Beer Frame zine: http://web.archive.org/web/20200926194716/http:/www.core77.com/inconspicuous/

Food Republic interview with Matt Rodbard (1 of 2): https://www.foodrepublic.com/2012/09/25/john-darnielles-passion-of-the-popcorn-part-i/

Drew Millard interview for Vice (2017): https://www.vice.com/en/article/d7wnem/john-darnielle-is-the-voice-of-outcasts-and-weirdos-everywhere

Gabriella Paiella interview for Electric Lit (2014): https://electricliterature.com/interview-john-darnielle-author-of-wolf-in-white-van/

Gabriella Paiella interview for British GQ magazine: https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/lifestyle/article/mountain-goats-fitness

Men’s Health interview about John’s running regime: https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a34438996/john-darnielle-the-mountain-goats-running-interview/

Fan lists of food songs: https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/mountain/eating-jam-out-of-a-jar-food-in-mountain-goats-lyr/
https://www.reddit.com/r/themountaingoats/comments/11lhrv/mountain_goats_songs_with_references_to_food/

‘Rescue Breathing’ on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjl2tqDr3gI

I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats Episode 203: ‘Done Bleeding’ – featuring discussions of self-harm: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6FguuVWylhnxsYsOmPDSTu?si=20347653616f4980&nd=1

A tweet where Darnielle addresses his own experiences of disordered eating: https://twitter.com/mountain_goats/status/1358824136445992960

Geoff Sanborn’s newsletter, All Hail the Mountain Goats: https://allhail.substack.com/p/introduction

Pitchfork interview with Tom Breihan: https://pitchfork.com/news/36406-john-darnielle-tells-the-story-behind-the-mountain-goats-biblical-new-lp/

Christianity Today interview with Kate Shellnutt: https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2016/august-web-only/mountain-goats-john-darnielle-loves-amy-grant-rich-mullins-.html

Imogen West-Knights on ‘treat brain’ in the Financial Times: https://www.ft.com/content/3ed08931-80b0-43a0-9bba-6c4bcc1b3e70

Krishna.org article on prasadam: https://krishna.org/prasadam-what-is-it-and-why-we-should-not-eat-anything-else/

Tony Burke on the Apocryphal Apocalypses of John: https://www.apocryphicity.ca/2013/06/24/more-secret-scriptures-3-the-apocryphal-apocalypses-of-john/

And the Apocrypals episode on these texts: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5TZrZRHQpb2dnTaUI1fias?si=c84259d985e94dcc&nd=1

Books

Saint Augustine, Confessions. Translated with an introduction by R. S. Pine-Coffin, Penguin, 1961.

Amy Erdman Farrell. Fat Shame: Stigma and the Fat Body in American Culture. New York University Press, 2011.

Laura Waddell, ‘The Pleasure Button: Low Income Food Inequality.’ Know Your Place: Essays on the Working Class, by the Working Class. Edited by Nathan Connelly, Dead Ink, 2017.