Tl;dr — Our song, “Seat 16b” found its way into a NYT bestseller. I covered this Mountain Goats song in gratitude. Go read Maggie Smith’s new book.
I read Maggie Smith’s “You Could Make This Place Beautiful” about two weeks ago. I sat with it, and it sat with me. She’s a Columbus writer, and I’ve loved her writing for years. I got to meet her at the release show for our second record, just before covid hit.
In her new book, she mentions our song, “Seat 16b” as part of a playlist that her daughter made for her son of his favorite songs. I remember them all coming to an outside show post-covid, and talking to her son after. We played his favorite song last; what a relief that it was on the setlist at all!
Thanks, Maggie. Thanks for continuing to make space to keep writing, moving, and living. I’m flattered your son is a fan, and touched that your daughter put us on his playlist. And entirely humbled to find our band printed in such a gorgeous book.
I’d recommend buying a copy, or borrowing one from the library, reading it all, and finding us on page 297.
But Sam, why cover this Mountain Goats song?
In the book, she mentioned writing a tweet during the events of the book: “Photo essay that won't happen: Divorced woman drives her rumpled c. 2005 wedding dress across the country and takes photos of it in various locations. It's a metaphorical "Weekend at Bernie's" sans stapled-on toupee and sunglasses, because the dead thing is the marriage.”
John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats picked this up by tweeting, “this would be a song called "Picture of My Dress" imo.” Then, he wrote and recorded it.
So, two weeks ago, I sat in my orange chair, reading this amazing book by a favorite writer, learning that her writing inspired a favorite songwriter to write a song. I suppose inspiration is an endless cycle if we’re willing to kick the ball along when it comes to us.
Here’s to kicking it along.