Blitzen Trapper//Furr

Listen, don't judge a song by its title. When James and I rode to work together, we used to hear this one a lot on the indie rock satellite radio station. I was pretty much hooked the first time it played, although I haven’t thought about it in a while.

Reading that Blitzen Trapper has some shows coming up (tonight and tomorrow at Webster Hall) reminded me to relisten. I’ve actually heard some other Blitzen Trapper songs and was not wild about them, but they got this one so right…and lucky for you, they’ll almost certainly play it live.

The lyrics seem to revolve around a boy being raised by wolves or some other kind of wild dogs. The narrator embraces the primal nature of running with the wolfpack, but eventually is re-civilized and settles down with a girl on a farm. Maybe the whole thing is just some kind of elaborate metaphor for entering and passing through adolescence, but it’s plenty poetic along the way. Think: The Jungle Book + Creepy Magical Realism + Country Friend Indie Folk = Fur with Two Rs.



Furr.mp3

I was drawn into the pack and before long,
They allowed me to join in and sing their song.
So from the cliffs and highest hill, yeah,
We would gladly get our fill,
Howling endlessly and shrilly at the dawn,
And I lost the taste for judging right from wrong.