In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Say, say, my playmate
Won't you lay hands on me
Mirror my malady
Transfer my tragedy?
Got a curse I cannot lift
Shines when the sunset shifts
When the moon is round and full
Gotta bust that box, gotta gut that fish (my mind's aflame)
We could jet in a stolen car
But I bet we wouldn't get too far
Before the transformation takes
And blood lust tanks and
Crave gets slaked
My mind has changed
My body's frame, but, God, I like it
My heart's aflame
My body's strained, but, God, I like it
My mind has changed
My body's frame, but, God, I like it
My heart's aflame
My body's strained, but, God, I like it
Charge me your day rate
I'll turn you out in kind
When the moon is round and full
Gonna teach you tricks
That will blow your mongrel mind
Baby doll, I recognize
You're a hideous thing inside
If ever there were a lucky kind
It's you, you, you, you
I know it's strange, another way to get to know you
You'll never know unless we go, so let me show you
I know it's strange, another way to get to know you
We've got 'til noon, here comes the moon
So let it show you
Show you now
Dream me, oh, dreamer
Down to the floor
Open my hands and let them weave onto yours
Feel me, completer
Down to my core
Open my heart and let it bleed onto yours
Feeding on fever
Down on all-fours
Show you what all the howling is for
Hey, hey, my playmate
Let me lay waste to thee
Burned down their hanging trees
It's hot, hot, hot, hot here
Got a curse we cannot lift
Shines when the sunset shifts
There's a curse comes with a kiss
The bite that binds, the gift that gives
Now that we got gone for good
Writhing under your riding hood
Tell your grandma and your mama too
It's true, true, true, true
We're howling forever, oh, oh
We're howling forever, oh, oh
We're howling forever, oh, oh
We're howling forever, oh, oh
We're howling forever, oh, oh
Won't you lay hands on me
Mirror my malady
Transfer my tragedy?
Got a curse I cannot lift
Shines when the sunset shifts
When the moon is round and full
Gotta bust that box, gotta gut that fish (my mind's aflame)
We could jet in a stolen car
But I bet we wouldn't get too far
Before the transformation takes
And blood lust tanks and
Crave gets slaked
My mind has changed
My body's frame, but, God, I like it
My heart's aflame
My body's strained, but, God, I like it
My mind has changed
My body's frame, but, God, I like it
My heart's aflame
My body's strained, but, God, I like it
Charge me your day rate
I'll turn you out in kind
When the moon is round and full
Gonna teach you tricks
That will blow your mongrel mind
Baby doll, I recognize
You're a hideous thing inside
If ever there were a lucky kind
It's you, you, you, you
I know it's strange, another way to get to know you
You'll never know unless we go, so let me show you
I know it's strange, another way to get to know you
We've got 'til noon, here comes the moon
So let it show you
Show you now
Dream me, oh, dreamer
Down to the floor
Open my hands and let them weave onto yours
Feel me, completer
Down to my core
Open my heart and let it bleed onto yours
Feeding on fever
Down on all-fours
Show you what all the howling is for
Hey, hey, my playmate
Let me lay waste to thee
Burned down their hanging trees
It's hot, hot, hot, hot here
Got a curse we cannot lift
Shines when the sunset shifts
There's a curse comes with a kiss
The bite that binds, the gift that gives
Now that we got gone for good
Writhing under your riding hood
Tell your grandma and your mama too
It's true, true, true, true
We're howling forever, oh, oh
We're howling forever, oh, oh
We're howling forever, oh, oh
We're howling forever, oh, oh
We're howling forever, oh, oh
Lyrics submitted by SphagnumEsplanade, edited by Uranium, Icarus42, shadowboxerxxx, rosieroys
Wolf Like Me Lyrics as written by Jaleel Bunton Babatunde Omoroga Adebimpe
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Hipgnosis Songs Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think it's using the "werewolf sex metaphor" to say... "I want to know all your secrets, the things you wouldn't tell anyone. I want that kind of open love, where we know so much about each other that we're one." And I think the howling in the end isn't like howling of despair...but maybe they're howling together, because they feel bad and good things together? I dunno. This is my favorite song right now.
the song is about sex... pure... animal... carnal... sex.
Reminds me of that "Hungry like the Wolf" song.
@wolvesinthewater yup this is it exactly. Any deeper meaning is not its intent. That's part of what makes this song great is its simplicity and strength of subject matter
"just ate my baby" LOL WTF LOL.
I think a shady fellow (the werewolf!) is showing a virginal girl, a Little Red Riding Hood type, that there's plenty o' pleasure in being bad. He's trying to convince her that deep down she's a wolf, too, which I so get! We, people, pretend to be so civilized and wear suits and ties and glasses to make ourselves different from lions, who spend all their days rolling around with each other and killing their enemies in a way that to us is not dignified of a human, but sometimes our caveman selves escape us, like the fight or flight instinct coded into our DNA that does not succumb to our "modern" selves. No matter how sweet Little Red Riding Hood appears, she's transparent to the Wolf, who sees she's "a hideous thing inside." I think that when the song reaches "dream me, oh dreamer" and it gets all slow and dazed, that's when they're both giving in to their animal selves, and probably having hot wolf sex. I mean, "open my hands and let them weave onto yours"? They're holding hands. He's awakening her with her own animal truth, she's becoming poisoned by the werewolf's bite, and they both are slaves to the full moon and nature. "Show you what all that howlin' is for" = lolz, she's howling... get it!? And, also, I think "the bite that binds the gift that gives" is pretty cool-sounding grammar-wise. THE bite THAT binds THE gift THAT gives.
Gah, what a great song.
@earthstar_puffball I love this! If you were a big boy, I'd wanna hit it.
I think it's about a sex addict. "Got a curse I cannot lift." "When the moon is round and full" he goes through a transformation and can't control himself. "Charge me your day rate" makes me thinks he hired a hooker and he taught her tricks that blew her "mongrel mind."
At the end, he turns a girl into a sex addict "got a curse we cannot lift."
Think about it and read the lyrics. I'm not saying I'm right, it's just my interpretation.
It's told from the point of view of someone corrupting someone else, having sex with them, then telling them how their old selves are gone forever. And now they bask in corruptness, yay! too lazy for more explanation, but read the lyrics and it makes sense. [i think the werewolf part is metaphor]
You too, get over it. The song is about sex.
"writhing under your riding hood tell your gra'ma and your mama too"
I love the Little Red Riding Hood reference.
Could be about tripping, though I always thought this song is about animalistic lust. The werewolf is an allegory for the animal inside us all that comes out when we feel passion for another person.
The shift/transformation is the moment when you go from being your normal self to the someone driven by lust.
The curse he can't lift is the 'curse' we all bear- we all have that side to us which is pure sexual feeling, without rationality. He talks about this in the lines:
Mongrel mind/ Baby doll, I recognize / You're a hideous thing inside
Again emphasising the power of lust lies inside all of us. When these powers take over- his 'mind changes his body's frame', we find ourselves out of control, but still enjoying it. I see that this could be about drugs too- although I think the effects of drugs and sex are arguably similar so an argument for one interpretation supports the other anyway.
I think the imagery behind weaving/bleeding into each other, howling/writhing and being down on all fours is fairly obviously sexual. As is the use of 'playmate'.
Sometimes songs are just about drugs or sex, or in this case, both. I think it's about a couple wherein one introduces drugs to the other very early on in the relationship, which transforms both the other person and the relationship. The song tells the story in order, from beginning to end.
The slowdown in the middle is the peak of the drug abuse and the animalistic sex that comes of it. It's downhill from there. They're stuck with each other, woven together by the drug abuse and the guilt, shame, fear, and especially the anger that comes of it. They're stuck together, howling forever. The blame obviously goes to the wolf
It's kind of like... there's some bad people out there, but they hide very well that they're bad people, kinda like they're werewolves. And you can get to know them to a certain point, just well enough so that they can corrupt you, but well enough so that you can't get out, and you're stuck "howling forever," corrupt.
Dude,<br /> <br /> This song is about SEX. Period. Get over yourself.
You sound like one of those commoners who thinks every song ever made is about drugs. Don't come on here telling people what the song is about until you give out an actual source. If you can't find a source anywhere - that means the artist doesn't want anyone to know or they decided to keep it up to interpretation.<br /> <br /> Get over yourself, kid, you just ain't got it.
it's a very interesting take on the lyrics. i may not agree one hundred per cent but i really enjoyed reading this, gives a person a lot to think about.
Allan Ginsberg poem "Howl"
"... fell off the bed, and continued along the floor and down the hall and ended fainting on the wall with a vision of ultimate cunt and come eluding the last gyzym of consciousness"