Orange Ball of Love

Orange Ball of Love
Album	Zopilote Machine
Released	1994
Artist	the Mountain Goats
Length	2:12
Previous Track	"Quetzalcoatl Eats Plums"
Next Track	"Orange Ball of Hate"

Orange Ball of Love is the ninth song on the album Zopilote Machine.

Lyrics

When I catch sight of your face
And the late light falling on it
I feel scared and I scope the area out for a good place to hide
When I feel the way your fingers
Wiggle in my palm
I feel warm and I feel good inside

And I know that you're wearing a wire
But as the sun becomes a blazing orange ball of fire
I lose interest in this and other such inconsequential questions

When you kick off your shoes
And I see the wet grass give way underneath your feet
And the sunset rears up once more to its burial ground
Well, you look so sweet

And I know you'll be turning me in
But I also know your real name's not Amy Lynn
And as the orange globe rears up to swallow us, too
I see you look at me and figure out what I know about you
Well, I’m not telling
I'm not telling you anything

 

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song

• "I'll tell you why I wrote this song. It was to make fun of Don DeLillo. 'Cause the sun was an 'orange ball' in about, like, five different instances in the space of fifty pages. I really like his writing, but I thought that was lazy, and so being an arrogant college student, I thought 'Ah, I'll really get him: I'll write some song about it and my obscure little indie rock band will play it, and then we'll see who's funny'. Thus was the Orange Ball series born." -- 2005-07-02 - Old American Can Factory - Brooklyn, NY
• "I had this idea, I thought, ah, wouldn't it be funny if there was, like, somebody who was like, you know, if you, like, had a relationship where, you know, you were in the relationship and you were starting to feel a little suspicious that something was going on, as you do sometimes, you know, you say, oh man, there's gotta be something going on with this person that they're not sharing with me, you know. And then you think about that too much. Right? It doesn't mean you're obsessed, no, you're not that kind of person, but you do spend maybe five minutes too many on, 'Wow, what are they up to that I don't know?' Right? And like, right at that five-minute mark, you thought too long about that question. And then it's only about a sixty-second trip to like, 'Oh, geez, maybe they're recording our conversations? Maybe there's a camera behind this goddamn mirror. Maybe there's shit of mine on some Web site that I don't even know about. Damn, I better look good when I'm shaving, that kind of thing.' Maybe you think about that kind of thing. I know you do. You, you can't lie to me." -- 2007-11-02 - Gardner Lounge - Grinnell, IA

Live Shows this Song Was Played at

• 1995-04-15 - Underground - Cologne, Germany
• 1996-03-16 - Lintfabriek, Kontich, Belgium
• 1996-08-10 - Gabe's - Iowa City, IA
• 1996-09-02 - Tokyo Rose - Charlottesville, VA
• 1997-03-01 - Replay Lounge - Lawrence, KS
• 1997-03-xx - New York University - New York, NY
• 1997-06-16 - Club Laga - Pittsburgh, PA
• 1997-06-20 - The Black Cat - Washington, D.C.
• 1997-06-26 - The Empty Bottle - Chicago, IL
• 1997-12-06 - The Empty Bottle - Chicago, IL
• 1998-02-06 - Cow Haus - Tallahassee, FL
• 1998-04-04 - Duke Coffeehouse - Durham, NC
• 1998-04-17 - Custer Avenue Stages - San Francisco, CA
• 1998-05-15 - The Empty Bottle - Chicago, IL
• 1998-07-31 - The Empty Bottle - Chicago, IL
• 1998-10-10 - The Rocket Bar - St. Louis, MO
• 1999-01-23 - High Hat Blues Club - Athens, GA
• 1999-01-27 - Cat's Cradle - Carrboro, NC
• 1999-07-23 - CBGB - New York City, NY
• 2001-10-19 - Mission Space - Baltimore, MD
• 2004-08-15 - Live at the Wireless - Triple J Session
• 2005-07-02 - Old American Can Factory - Brooklyn, NY
• 2007-11-02 - Gardner Lounge - Grinnell, IA
• 2007-11-11 - Randy Bacon Studio & Gallery - Springfield, MO
• 2009-06-14 - Zoop II - Farm Sanctuary - Watkins Glen, NY
• 2011-05-25 - Koko - London, England
• 2012-05-08 - The Clarendon - Katoomba, Australia
• 2013-10-14 - Luxor - Cologne, Germany
• 2015-11-05 - Big Arts Schein Performance Hall - Sanibel Island Writer's Conference - Sanibel, FL

Videos of this Song

• 2011-05-25 - Koko - London, England