Ox Baker Triumphant

Ox Baker Triumphant
Album	Babylon Springs EP
Released	2006
Artist	the Mountain Goats
Length	2:40
Next Track	"Alibi"

Ox Baker Triumphant is the first track from the Babylon Springs EP. A demo of it was posted on the Mountain Goats forums on by John Darnielle on April 15, 2008 along with several other demos to make up for the cancellation of their 2008 Australian tour.

Lyrics

I will rise from the swamp where they dumped my private plane
I'll be clutching the life preserver in my teeth
And I will find the highway
And I will flag down a truck 
Worry lines on my forehead, blank stare underneath 

And when I come back to town 
I'm gonna cast my burden down
A little worse for wear
Practically walking on air

I will thank my ride and crawl my way back inside 
To the guts of the building where my enemies
Hide in the dark like roaches
And I will signal the camera crew 
And everyone will do what he's been trained how to do
Sweat dripping from my face as my moment approaches

Click your heels, count to three
I bet you never expected me
A little worse for wear
Practically walking on air

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song

• "This song is my dream of Ox Baker being forced to leave town and then coming back to his normal arena to seek revenge on those who would wrong him." -- 2012-06-27 - Swedish American Hall - San Francisco, CA

Things Referenced in this Song

• Ox Baker was an American professional wrestler known for his catchphrase "I love to hurt people!"

Live Shows this Song Was Played at

• 2008-12-18 - San Francisco Bath House - Wellington, New Zealand
• 2009-02-24 - Herbst Theatre - San Francisco, CA
• 2009-02-25 - Swedish American Hall - San Francisco, CA
• 2009-03-07 - Harvest of Hope Festival - St. Augustine, FL
• 2009-03-18 - The Grey Eagle - Asheville, NC
• 2009-03-21 - Sixth & I Historic Synagogue - Washington, D.C.
• 2009-03-26 - Donovan's Pub at Colgate University - Hamilton, NY
• 2009-04-03 - Mission Creek Music Festival - The Mill - Iowa City, IA
• 2009-04-06 - Buskirk-Chumley Theater - Bloomington, IN
• 2012-06-22 - Rio Theater - Vancouver, British Columbia
• 2012-06-25 - Mission Theater - Portland, OR
• 2012-06-27 - Swedish American Hall - San Francisco, CA
• 2012-09-07 - Hopscotch Festival - Fletcher Opera Theater - Raleigh, NC
• 2012-10-10 - Ottobar - Baltimore, MD
• 2013-05-01 - Legends Club at Appalachian State University - Boone, NC
• 2013-06-03 - 9:30 Club - Washington, D.C.
• 2013-06-04 - Strand-Capitol Performing Arts - York, PA
• 2013-06-07 - Center Church on the Green - New Haven, CT
• 2013-06-08 - Port City Music Hall - Portland, ME
• 2013-06-17 - Lincoln Hall - Chicago, IL
• 2013-06-19 - The Record Bar - Kansas City, MO
• 2013-06-24 - Culture Room - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
• 2013-06-27 - New Brookland Tavern - West Columbia, SC

Videos of this Song

• 2009-02-25 - Swedish American Hall - San Francisco, CA
• 2013-06-17 - Lincoln Hall - Chicago, IL
• 2013-06-19 - The Record Bar - Kansas City, MO

Internet releases by John Darnielle

Exclusive: "Acceptable Damages Sutra" • "All Devils Here Now" • "Ballad of the Errant Scallop" • "The Big Unit" • "Brandy Let's Go" • "Bride" • "Counting Song for Bitter Children" • "Cut Off Their Thumbs #1" • "Deserters" • "Down Here Where the Bullet Bills Are" • "Extreme South #1" • "Flower Song" • "For the Krishnacore Bands" • "From TG&Y" • "Going Back to California" • "Going Invisible" • "Hye Kye" • "New Mountain Goats Tape Song" • "New World Emerging Blues" • "Pure Crystal" • "Short Song for Justin Bieber and His Paparazzi" • "Shot, Repeatedly, At Close Range, In the Chest, By Your Love" • "Sign of the Crow 2" • "Song for Sasha Banks" • "There Is Power in a Union" • "Thucydides II-58" • "Tyler Lambert's Grave"• "The Ultimate Jedi Who Wastes All the Other Jedi and Eats Their Bones" • "You and Me and a High Balcony" Released elsewhere: "Alibi • "Daniel 12:8 (first)" • "Exegetic Chains" • "For the Snakes" • "If You See Light" • "Let Me Bathe in Demonic Light" • "Michael Myers Resplendent" • "No Children" • "Ox Baker Triumphant" • "Surrounded" • "Until Olympius Returns" • "Wait for You"