Lyrics for Furr as interpreted by airwolf queen

Furr Lyrics
Yeah, when I was only seventeen
I could hear the angels whispering
So I drove into the woods
And wandered aimlessly about
Until I heard my mother shouting through the fog
It turned out to be the howling of a dog
Or a wolf, to be exact
The sound sent shivers down my back
But 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 hills
Yeah, we would gladly get our fill
Howling endlessly and shrilly at the dawn
And I lost the taste for judging right from wrong
For my flesh had turned to fur
Yeah, and my thoughts they surely were
Turned to instinct and obedience to God

You can wear your fur
Like a river on fire
But you'd better be sure
If you're making God a liar
I'm a rattlesnake, babe,
I'm like fuel on fire
So if you're gonna get made
Don't be afraid of what you've learned

On the day that I turned 23
I was curled up underneath a dogwood tree
When suddenly a girl
Her skin the color of a pearl
She wandered aimlessly, but she didn't seem to see
She was listening for the angels just like me
So I stood and looked about
I brushed the leaves off of my snout
And then I heard my mother shouting through the trees
You should have seen that girl go shaky at the knees
So I took her by the arm
We settled down upon a farm
And raised our children up as gently as you please

And now my fur has turned to skin
And I've been quickly ushered in
To a world that, I confess, I do not know
But I still dream of running careless through the snow
Through the howling winds that blow
Across the ancient distant flow
To fill our bodies up like water till we know

You can wear your fur
Like a river on fire
But you'd better be sure
If you're making God a liar
I'm a rattlesnake, babe,
I'm like fuel on fire
So if you're gonna get made
Don't be afraid of what you've learned

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DoingWellLately.
09-11-2008

Rated -1 
i'm going to go out on a limb here and say this song is exactly what it sounds like.
like, maybe a strange dream... i don't know.
because i have no idea what else it could be.

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pimpmyliz
09-13-2008

Rated 0 
:) its awesome.

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SarenceCourbe
09-19-2008

Rated +1 
story of religious conversion?

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Jovet
10-05-2008

Rated 0 
It's about a shapeshifer/werewolf. He follows the call of his mother - literal or figurative - and lives as a wolf for a few years. Then he meets a girl, falls in love, and becomes human. Still, he misses running wild as a wolf. It's a new take on an old theme, of a magical shapeshifter who loves a human and gives up their wildness.

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spongeyguy
10-10-2008

Rated +1 
Pretty obvious what the story IS Jovet, but what it MEANS is entirely different. I suspect SarenceCourbe is close with the religious conversion, but it could be any drastic life-changing event...

Then again, it could just be a story.....

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thenor9
10-13-2008

Rated +4 
To me this song is about the speaker looking for something, answers, an new life, and when he meets this "pack" he leaves his old ways and adopts the lifestyle of a wolf, relying on instinct, chasing desires, and traveling with them from place to place. it isn't until he meets a girl that he then lets go of his wild lifestyle and settles down. He still dreams of his days as a wolf and while he knows he can't go back, he's still glad that it happened and isn't "afraid of what [he] learned" at least that's how I interpreted it. It also has a 'being one with nature' kind of feel to it which is really cool imo, great song.

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rsuavenator
11-18-2008

Rated +3 
I think thenor got it right.
Being a wolf and sporting fur, seems to be symbolic of an instinctual, hedonistic almost childlike lifestyle. One where he was just looking out for himself not thinking about other because "I lost the taste for judging right from wrong." He seems to connect "my mother shouting through the fog" with temptation. When he sees the girl presented with temptation he "rescues" her and settles down with her. This settling down, and change of lifestyle causes him to lose his metaphorical fur. What he's learned is that you cannot solely devote your life to hedonistic pursuits, but you can still dream about them, and occasional sport the "fur." Hedonistic seems a little harsh because the fur could also be a sign of childhood, and childhood memories ("But I still dream of running careless through the snow"), so this song could just be about growing up.

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abodyofenglish
11-28-2008

Rated 0 
I think this is someone's imagination and a pen put down on paper.
It's well-written and very clever.
All in all, it's a nicely put together song - quite great. :)

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1 Reply
LucaBrasi
12-04-2008

Rated +1 
Excellent song. I agree with most of you to some extent. Around 17, like most kids, he left his mothers watchful eye, got caught up in a wild lifestyle for some time while he grew up, met a girl that reeled him back in, and settled down. He knows it's best for him, but sometimes he still responds to the call of the wild. I think it's a rite of passage (especially for guys) these days.

This song is about myself, and about 90% of my married/involved or aging friends that still miss the "good ole' days" sometimes.

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wanderlove
12-09-2008

Rated 0 
Not sure is it's a metaphor or actually a story about a man who turns physically turns into a wolf, though I have to admit I prefer the latter. Either way, excellent song. I'm curious, however, to know if anyone knows why "Furr" is spelled the way it is. I think it may be possible that's an intentional misspelling to show that it wasn't actually fur, supporting the metaphor theory. Probably it's completely arbitrary or something else entirely. If anyone actually knows or even just has a good theory, I'd love to hear it.

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SledCatcher
12-12-2008

Rated 0 
I fell in love immediately with this song when I heard it on the radio. To me it talks about leaving mainstream society and living simply, (I cringe typing the next part cause I don't want it to take on a sappy Save The World feeling, though I'm afraid it will) getting back to nature, as in, like they say, going by instinct and obedience to god (nature). Living saturated in nature and nature only, being part of the balance, no phones no lights no motor cars, not worrying about what comes next, doing what makes you feel good, not worrying about what the next guy thinks of you. Then he meets the girl and for her he allows himself to partially be dragged back into regular society, where he's not quite comfortable.

I've been there, heck imo I am there. I went from living (by choice) in my tent and a very rustic cabin in northern MN last summer and winter where my companions and coworkers were 100 sled dogs (hence my handle) to now where I'm living 2 miles from downtown St Paul and trying to fit in to a world where people judge you by your car and your clothes and think you're strange if you'd rather be camping than at the club on the weekends.

-----

Wanderlove, I caught an interview of Blitzen Trapper on our awesome public radio station 89.3 The Current here in Minnesota. They explain that they spell Furr with the extra 'r' just because "it's like the sound of growling, 'rrrrrrrr,' y'know, like 'furrrrrr.'" And it's also how some of the trappers used to spell the word in letters they wrote.

Here's the link to the interview, if interested:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/11/08/blitzen_trapper/
The song Furr starts at about 7:30 into the interview and they talk a little about it afterward.



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summerlover0092
01-06-2009

Rated -1 
OMG! Jacob Black anyone??? =)

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2 Replies
nickliv
01-13-2009

Rated 0 
this song is about the change from the innocence of childhood into adulthood. the fur can be made to represent youthful freedom, running though the fields. eventually, it must turn back into skin so that one can find themself. it has a very catcher in the rye-esque feel to it. i would wager that holden caufield's angst had a very strong impact on the creator of this song.

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edwartica
01-23-2009

Rated 0 
I think its easy to get hung up on asking if the speaker is just using a metaphor or if this really happened to the speaker (not the author, the speaker).

So....I think the meaning can be found in the refrain (as often times happens); Specifically the lines "You'ld better be sure / If you're making God a liar" and "If you're gonna get made / don't be afraid of what you've learned."

In this case, I think God does not actually mean God. I think God is a symbol for the way we're supposed to act. Then again, it doesn't quite fit with the line about "obedience to god." But I'm reading this as "this is how the humans do things - their society's rules, even if they seem alien and foreign, and this is how animals do things - they follow their instincts and pleasures and whatever suits them the best."





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Bluewaves
01-24-2009

Rated 0 
Excellent song. At first I thought the lyrics were a little weird (a folk song about a werewolf?) but then I got the metaphorical meaning of it.

Nice to see some good work by a fairly new band. I must admit that today's music doesn't thrill and amaze me very often. This one at least made me sit up and take notice.

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fastmotion123
03-06-2009

Rated 0 
i got the feeling of childhood dreaming. pretending to be a wolf. the animal seems to be a metaphor for a child sort of. just the whole aspect of not caring about human things.

And now my fur has turned to skin
And I've been quickly ushered in
To a world that, I confess, I do not know

that bit is wonderful. like he's grown up, out of his imagination.
i think we all want to be a child again to some extent :(

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jsquad
04-10-2009

Rated 0 
I see this song, simply, as a comparison of the subjective human nature and the objective natural balance. When he says,

"And I lost the taste for judging right from wrong
For my flesh had turned to fur
Yeah, and my thoughts they surely were
Turned to instinct and obedience to God"

He is making a wonderful distinction between the polarity of human motivation and natural instinct. A brilliant Taoist principle that i find to be extremely relevant, push and pull. I actually think that this doesn't have much to do with philosophy on a personal level but rather and larger scale. You see, he starts his instinctual journey (so to speak) when he is 17, not much of a child if you ask me, and the only thing that would rip him away from this voluptuous trans is love, one of the most powerful characteristics that both man and nature seem to share.
Overall, a breathtaking song with extremely poetic and meaningful lyrics.



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SingingStormWind
04-15-2009

Rated 0 
I think it's a metaphor for the wild sort of years of early adulthood, and then being tamed and settling down later on in life, for love.

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Rossmcd
05-03-2009

Rated 0 
I think several of the commenters here have nailed it. Being a werewolf is a metaphor for giving in to wanderlust, hedonism, the "search"

This theme (lyrically, not musically) reminds me of "The Rainbow Connection" from the muppets http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/108571/

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Pentecost
05-07-2009

Rated 0 
As has been said above, it's a well crafted metaphor for the rough and hedonistic (and fun) years you go through after you turn (about) 17, when right and wrong doesn't seem particularly relevant. But then you meet that girl, and life ceases to become all about you, but you still occasionally yearn for those wild days.

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Althea6
07-24-2009

Rated 0 
I just found this song and I love it! I was thinking recently about this very topic and losing my taste for judging right from wrong. Great lyrics.

Like most of the comments, I believe the fur is symbolic of being wrapped up in yourself. When he is a wolf, he is child-like and fearless. He posesses a wild sense of adventure. Then he grew skin. He got married and began living life as a grown up. His skin is symbolic of living a life that God intended for him. But, he misses his carefree days of running with the pack.

Maybe he then does something that makes him start growing fur again. He crosses over- back into the wild territory of his youth and it made him feel alive and young. But, he realizes after much time, that he must go back to living his life the way God planned for him. He is now making the transition from wolf back to man. The only problem is the fur. His mind is strong in knowing how to proceed with hia life, but the damn fur is difficult to get off his skin.

He is now, after this experience, half wolf and half man. But he has learned many lessons.

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daegwyrd
10-20-2009

Rated 0 
From this perspective it seems as though this story is about a young man, who in the pursuit of something divine "angels voices", found himself scared by his own natural instinct. Nature being represented as a she-wolf (a wild and dangerous but familial) that he mistakes for his mother. He explores a wilder perhaps more animal/natural side of himself, which causes him to shed his skin (or self-image/ego) for the symbolic fur.

As jsquad mentions above:

"I see this song, simply, as a comparison of the subjective human nature and the objective natural balance. When he says,

'And I lost the taste for judging right from wrong
For my flesh had turned to fur
Yeah, and my thoughts they surely were
Turned to instinct and obedience to God'

He is making a wonderful distinction between the polarity of human motivation and natural instinct."

At a more mature age, this man encounters a woman similarly inclined to the pursuit of some divine understanding. She is frightened by the dangerous side of nature, and he sacrifices his wild life and family to "settle down" and attain the "gentle" one. Thus, he loses the fur (symbol of is wild nature), and regains his skin. However, years of distance from that gentle life have made him feel alienated, and he dreams of the carefree nature of his experience in the wilds of self. This he feels has connected him to something larger, primal; an ancient flow, which may illuminate inner truth.

You may be as wild/natural as you can get,
But you better make sure that your preconceived notions of what is right and wrong don't cause trouble for you when you're engaging a experience where natural law dictates right and wrong.
He's full of a dangerous/wild/passionate nature,
So if you're going to abandon the man made world for the natural one,
Don't be afraid to come to new conclusions and truly experience it.



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kewlkaty
12-13-2009

Rated 0 
I'm thinking this song (and this is a pretty big reach) may be inspired by the myths of Lycaon and the ancient greek initiation ritual of young men practiced by the Arcadians.
A boy would strip his clothes, lay them on a tree, swim across a lake or river, supposedly physically transform into a wolf, live amongst a pack, and return 9 year later, putting his clothes back on as a re-transformed human, and return to society as a man, eligible for marriage. Central to this myth was that if a man ever tasted human flesh during his 9 years in wolf form, he would never transform back into a human, and live out his days as a beast- outsides matching the beast within.

The myth that accompanied this ritual was of Lycaon- grandfather of the Arcadians, an area of Ancient Greece. According to the story, Zeus was living among the Arcadians, disguised as a human, and everyone was suspecting that he was in fact a divine being. Lycaon decided to test Zeus and prove he was not divine, and served Zeus his own murdered child in the feast (in some versions he murders and serves a foreigner), knowing that an ordinary person would not be able to detect the human flesh in the stew- but Zeus did. Zeus was furious and revealed his true form, destroying Lycaon's home and transforming him from a human into a wolf permanently- the beast form reflects the beast within.

So, overall I say that this song is about making the transformation from boy to man, and retaining your humanity along the way to experience love and devotion, and become an adult.

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predicate
01-13-2010

Rated 0 
"OMG! Jacob Black!"

.....please tell me you're joking.

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