Professional wrestler, Chavo Guerrero Sr. died earlier this month. My first impulse was to listen to this song about him by The Mountain Goats.
I first listened to The Mountain Goats through a happy accident. A friend (hi Glenn!) went to a gig and told me that before they came to the stage they played Ric Flair‘s To Be The Man promo. I asked why and he told me that their most recent album was wrestling themed, Beat the Champ.
While the songs are about wrestling, they are also about death and difficulty navigating through spaces (in the words of frontman John Darnielle) and this shows. This song is about Darnielle singing about his favourite wrestler growing up, but it’s also about his complicated relationship with his abusive stepfather.
The song has a cool video too. The grainy look reminds me of when I watched wrestling as a kid. The video has several wrestlers, like Joey Ryan, Ryan Nemeth and Chavo Guerrero Sr himself.
Angry Spaniard, adoptive Irishman. Writer, reader, tea drinker and video game player/designer.
