Every Song's a Trans Song If You're Doing It Right: The Definitive List of Trans Mountain Goats Lyrics

	A	B	C	D
1		P=dysphoria? S=dissociation? D=duality? I=invisibility? B=instability? T=transition? X=other	lyric or concept (can be omitted if it's the entire song)	additional notes

2	Notes:
3	Content warning: Expect content in this sheet that relates to self-harm, body dysphoria, and trauma.
4	Try to ground any commentary in the text of the song and/or stage banter or interview comments about the song.
5	Some trans references can be trauma references, and vice versa, because being trans is traumatic. That's okay.
6	Lyrics have multiple interpretations and mean different things to different people, because that's what lyrics are for. That's okay. There is no one correct interpretation, nor is there (usually) a wrong interpretation.
7	These are not "canonically trans" songs or anything (although we joke about that); think of this list as a list of things you can do with songs.
8	This list was compiled mostly in September 2017, so it doesn't include anything released after Goths. Suggestions welcome.
9	Codes in column 2: (I made up these categories, it's not an official list of elements of being trans)
10	Dysphoria: internal, often physically grounded feelings of disconnection between your body and your emotional and psychological expectations (can include self-harm references when there's other supporting evidence in the text)
11	Dissociation: the experience of disconnection between your mind and body; has many different shapes, but it can feel like watching yourself from the outside, "static" interfering with the signal connecting your mind and body or your awareness and the outer world, or an experience of being "frozen" or "numb"
12	Duality (split existence): the feeling that you have two selves, one of which you have to hide; or that you have multiple sides that are at war with each other, or trying to or succeeding at killing off one of your selves, specifically when you're uncomfortable with this and would reveal your true self if it was safe to. I made up this word because I don't know a better one -- the healthy version of this is called "plurality" (when you have multiple selves but are comfortable that way.)
13	Invisibility: the feeling that other people don't see who you really are. Includes intense relationships with a person who does see who you really are, and losing those relationships. Can involve assuming a disguise either because you don't want your real self to be seen, or because you don't feel it's possible for your real self to be seen and want to control what people do see.
14	Instability: literally or metaphorically changing shapes, turning into a monster, "being made a new creature" in a sad or frightening way (especially a way that's sad or frightening because of dysphoria or dissociation.) Instability means changing from one state to another, duality means feeling like you're in more than one state at once.
15	Transition: the process of changing one's own life with the intent of mitigating dysphoria, dissociation, duality, invisibility, or instability, or the hope of potentially being able to make that change.
16
17	Minnesota	S	"While we stay here, we imagine we're alive"
18	every Alpha Couple song	D
19	Sail Babylon Springs	D
20	Isaiah 45:23	P	"I am not this body that imprisons me"
21	Tulsa Imperative	P	alien spaceship as metaphor for body
22	Absolute Lithops Effect	T	"I will bloom here in my room"; "I am going to find the exit"
23	Broom People	I	"but down in your arms, in your arms / I am a wild creature"
24	Never Quite Free	SBT	most of the song describes moving from a dissociative state into a more comfortable one; "When you see him, you'll know" suggests instability (if "him" and "you" are the same physical entity)
25	Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod	T	"One of these days, I'm going to wriggle up on dry land"
26	Prowl Great Cain	SD	The narrator "can't feel ashamed" (dissociation); the narrator and subject may be the same person (duality)
27	Song for an Old Friend	SI	the narrator can "feel the glaciers melting" as a result of the subject's love for them, suggesting a shift out of dissociation brought on by someone who is able to see them
28	Outer Scorpion Squadron	D	"don't let anybody call them ugly" refers to multiple selves, I think
29	Heel Turn 2	T	while superficially about becoming evil, I think it's about deciding to do what is right for you and not what other people think you should do	Particularly feels like finally deciding to transition despite social pressure otherwise. "Stay good under pressure for years and years and years. President of the fanclub, choking on his tears"
30	From TG&Y	T	"hang onto your dreams"	The line "Halfway through her metamorphosis" is also suggestive, though in concert JD has sometimes sung this line as "Halfway through her sad metamorphosis", which doesn't suggest transitioning
31	Black Pear Tree	P
32	Damn These Vampires	DB	Somewhere in between having a side you reject or consider bad, and turning into something you reject or consider bad (specifically a vampire)
33	Romans 10:9	PS
34	In Memory of Satan	PD	"Make some scratches on my floor" as self-harm reference; "Satan" as metaphor for a part of you that you visit every so often
35	Estate Sale Sign	D	feels like it's about getting rid of the trappings of a self you are trying to get rid of
36	You Were Cool	I	The subject of the song is a person who is bullied for wearing spiked heels
37	Beautiful Gas Mask	SD	"never sleep" as in staying connected (to yourself); losing a part of yourself, if the "I" and "you" are the same person
38	We Shall All Be Healed	PT	"someday we will all feel at home in our new skin"; "we shall all be healed" as promise of a better day
39	Dilaudid	P	"you just can't do what your body isn't meant to"
40	In the Shadow of the Western Hills	PS	"paint my vision on my body"; narrator is unable to feel tired or hungry (dissociation)
41	Attention All Pickpockets	B	transformation (not necessarily good)	comment from Mimi: "To me it feels like t4t relationship and companionship during the transformation -- I did not read the transformation itself negatively but just neutral! It's like... "And us two, not the same people that our old friends knew" <-- not necessarily good nor bad but a secret third thing. a mystery ;3 We are witnesses of each other's transformation and recognizes each other as still fundamentally ourselves ("you" and "I" )"
42	Transcendental Youth	IT	"dusky diamonds" -- your "true self", out there somewhere, and the hope of finding it
43	New Zion	T	waiting for transformative change
44	The Ballad of Bull Ramos	PD	"Keep my hair nice and long"; "Yes sir, that's me, I'm him" as the ghost of a cast-off self
45	Steal Smoked Fish	D	"vanishing into the night" as casting off an unwanted self
46	Unicorn Tolerance	D
47	Wear Black	I	(disguises). "See me, I can't blend in. See me, I'm young and ravishing" - being trans in public
48	White Cedar	BT	"I will be made a new creature, one bright day" -- both involuntarily transforming (e.g. while you're at the bus stop) and the hope that someday things will be better
49	Genesis 30:3	P	A couple can't have a baby and enlist a third party to get pregnant on their behalf
50	Night Light	D	The narrator misses Jenny, perhaps, either because she stands in for a part of their own self or because she was able to see the narrator for who they are
51	Slow West Vultures	I	"Smiling faces flawlessly rehearsed" -- putting on a disguise
52	Hebrews 11:40	PT	"If not by faith then by the sword / I'm going to be restored"
53	Birth of Serpents	PS	"See that young man who dwells inside his body like an uninvited guest"
54	Song for My Stepfather	S	"the replica where my body used to be"
55	The Young Thousands	P	"The dull pain that you live with isn't getting any duller"
56	Straight Six	SD	"Jenny's on the cellular" - if Jenny is some signal within the narrator themselves that they're tuning into, but someone who's quite far away...
57	Cobscook Bay	D	the list of people who died = past versions of the narrator's self that they have lost
58	Love Love Love	I	"Now we see things As in a mirror dimly Then we shall see each other Face to face"
59	High Doses #2	P	"Claw marks on our little faces"
60	Nine Black Poppies	B	the subject is changing into somebody else
61	Store	S
62	Whole Wide World	T	The "repercussions" line makes me think of transitioning from something worse to something better
63	West Country Dream	S	the whole "static interference" metaphor
64	The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton	IT	being sent to a school where they teach you that you aren't who you say you are; triumphing over it eventually
65	Keeping House	D	"the ghost on your doorstep" as an abandoned self
66	Hail St. Sebastian	T		(St. Sebastian is considered a gay icon)
67	Daniel 12:8 (third)	PDI	narrator doesn't want to face the source of their pain (dysphoria and dissociation); secrets/hidden things/darkness (your true self "half-buried like trinkets")
68	Tribe of the Horned Heart	SIB	"get[ting] sick" (i.e. turning into something else), trying to hear voices through "the generator's hum", i.e. signal through noise (dissociation), secret/unseen things (invisibility)
69	Brisbane Hotel Sutra	T	"let the light rise from the darkness"
70	The Day the Aliens Came (Hawaiian Feeling)	PIT	"nice white tuxedo"/"dark sunglasses" as both wanting to look different, and wanting a disguise; hope for a better time. "my memories gonna vaporize itself" creating a completely new identity/life.
71	Lakeside View Apartments Suite	S
72	Liza Forever Minnelli	S	"The compasses I came into this world with never really worked so good" (dissociation, or at least disorientation)
73	Until I Am Whole	PSD	not being whole / having different parts that aren't integrated the way you want them to be
74	Linda Blair Was Born Innocent	S	"empty hearts on fire"
75	New Britain	S	"I can feel you in my arms, but you're hardly even with me"
76	Autoclave	SDIB
77	There Will Be No Divorce	SDT	dissociation ("static"); duality (the old voice breaking through); good transformation ("rising from the grave")
78	Surrounded	SDI	dirty secrets; static; wanting to be around machines because people don't see you anyway
79	How to Embrace a Swamp Creature	PS	title suggests dysphoria; being out of your element; "could not remember my own name" (dissociation)	"I made it through town somehow, but who's gonna save me now" - nervousness about being yourself and out in public
80	1 Samuel 15:23	I	"I sewed clothes for them: cloaks and capes"
81	Home Again Garden Grove	I	"Don't let anyone see that you're bleeding"
82	Scavenger Babies	T
83	In the Hidden Places	I	"The flowers that hide from the light"
84	Animal Mask	DI
85	Werewolf Gimmick	B
86	Dinu Lipatti's Bones	I	"we sealed our selves away from view"
87	Song for Lonely Giants	IB	Simultaneously being a monster, and being someone nobody sees
88	Used to Haunt	D	The subject could be the person you once were and wouldn't mind being again
89	Lovecraft in Brooklyn	SDI	"Woke up afraid of my own shadow"
90	Jaipur	I	"I am the killer dressed in pilgrim's clothing"
91	Heretic Pride	I	narrator may or may not be a monster, but they're getting treated like one
92	The Last Limit of Bhakti	ST	The idea of "bhakti" has to do with uniting the mind and body
93	New Star Song	SDI	There's a missing person
94	Masher	S	"losing control of the language again"
95	Wizard Buys a Hat	I	"Easy to recognize / Black bandages on my eyes"
96	Orange Ball of Love	I	"I know your real name isn't Amy Lynn"
97	Cao Dai Blowout	D
98	Going Invisible	SDI
99	Going to Cleveland	SD	"That's not my name anymore"
100	Half Dead	I	losing the person who saw you as you really were