In support of their new album, Transcendental Youth, the marvelous Mountain Goats’ frontman, John Darnielle, showed up on WNYC’s Soundcheck series to render a poignant solo-piano reading of their new song, In Memory of Satan.

Darnielle had this to say about the song recently for Rolling Stone:  “Mid-tempo and piano-based, it’s a look at the process of someone becoming a borderline recluse, getting inside their head and looking out at a world that seems too much to take. Everyone has spent those years, or maybe entire seasons, indoors where you don’t really leave,” Darnielle said. “That’s when you go into the inner realms of the spirit. This guy’s in hiding, and it’s this most spiritual realm. That old saying holds here, that you can’t be in a cave unless there’s an exit, or else it’s a grave.”

The song’s lyrics follow the Soundcheck performance below.

“Got my paintbox out last night
Stayed up late and wrecked this place
Woke up on the floor again
Cellphone stuck to the side of my face

Dead space on the other end
Perfect howl of emptiness
Cast my gaze around the room
Someone needs to clean up this mess

Tape up the windows
Call in a favor from an old friend

Make some scratches on my floor
Crawl down on my hands and knees
In old movies people scream
Choking on their fists when they see shadows like these
But not one screams cause it’s just me
Locked up in myself
Never gonna get free

Something sacred something blue
Cannons in the harbor dawn
Crawled down here to dig for bones
One more season then I’m gone

Black drapes over the crosses
Call in a favor from an old friend”