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Mountain Goats’ Song to Justin Bieber’s Paparazzi: ‘Don’t Be an Asshole’

Mountain Goats Justin Bieber John Darnielle Paparazzi

Justin Bieber’s name has been showing up in unexpected pairings of late. He had a Twitter feud with the Black Keys Patrick Carney, entered his Axl Rose stage by showing up at a concert two hours late, and last week he called upon the healing sounds of “Janice” Joplin whilst recovering from a lack of oxygen at, of all places, the O2 Arena. Now, in response to the Biebz freaking out on a pushy shutterbug, Mountain Goats main man John Darnielle has recorded “Short Song for Justin Bieber and His Paparazzi.”

The kid has had a pretty gnarly week or so — Gawker has a pretty thorough rundown — and really has become an all-too handy punching bag for haters over the years, so the Beliebers out there will be relieved to know they have an ally in Darnielle. The lead Goat starts his song by singing, “Now on the one hand, it’s hard to feel sorry for the very rich,” but he quickly hacks out a path toward empathy: “Even a rich guy needs some space / And should be able to get to his car without people getting all up in his face / and getting on his case.”

Ultimately, the message is fairly simple — something that we can all get behind whether or not we appreciate Bieber’s Saturday Night Live stint or AMAs appearance: “You don’t have to leave Justin alone, but don’t be an asshole.”