“Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is in Another Castle,” by the Mountain Goats and Kaki King
John Darnielle specializes in melancholy, sometimes sparse narrative-songs, so no real surprise there, right? But nothing could have really prepared me for this.
Darnielle, better known as the band The Mountain Goats, collaborated with fellow singer-songwriter Kaki King on the video game -themed single, “Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is in Another Castle.” It’s the final track from Darnielle and King’s upcoming vinyl-only (?!) EP, Black Pear Tree.
Apparently this song debuted on Pitchfork late last week. In the accompanying blurb there, Darnielle explains: “The song is sung from the point of view of Toad.”
Stereogum helpfully posted the dates of Darnielle and King’s “Last Happy Night of Your Life” autumn tour, which includes stops in major metropoleis like SF, Chicago, NYC, Austin, and Brooklyn. Concertgoers will be able to pick up the Darnielle/King EP at the shows.
See also
Donkey Kong battles Mario in Bowser’s castle
Calculating gravity (or, rather, acceleration due to gravity) in Mario games
About Jenn Frank:Jenn thinks the Atari 2600, Game Boy Micro, and Apple iPhone are all viable game consoles. Email her at jenn at infinite lives dot net.
Hmm… that is a surprisingly good song for being based off a videogame. I love the genre, but a lot of them can be tacky or simplistic. This is excellent. It helps that Toad is one of my favorite Nintendo characters