Collected and annotated lyrics from one of music’s most visionary bards, John Darnielle. A work of rapturous beauty, This Year: 365 Songs Annotated celebrates the creative life and the musical genius of John Darnielle through his most meaningful songs. From his early days recording on a boom box, through the evolution of the Mountain Goats from a solo project to a full band, to his continued influence on indie music, This Year pairs the definitive texts of 365 John Darnielle songs with first-person commentaries on his life and music.

These commentaries reveal how the songs came to be and the people who inspired them: his family and friends; his wife, Lalitree Darnielle; his longtime collaborator, Peter Hughes; and even his literary heroes, among many others. Here are the origins of ‘This Year’, ‘No Children’, ‘The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton’, and ‘Up the Wolves’, as well as Darnielle’s literary influences, including Flannery O’Connor, Jorge Luis Borges, and Stephen King. This Year, spanning decades, becomes the definitive literary record of one of the greatest songwriters and musical creative forces of all time.