"Furr" - Blitzen Trapper

"So I says to Mable I says.."

For someone that used to want to be IN radio, I really don't like/listen to it all that much.  I prefer to have my own radio show, and by radio show I mean my Ipod.  My music saavy neighbor, (I know that guy has got to start paying me for all these plugs) suggested I listen to CBC: Radio 2.  I was like right,  It sounds like something my Grandma might listen to before bed.  I was kind of right, because their late shows consist of alot of old people material and jazz etc., but before/after work they have some solid programming.  They play a beauty of a mix of classics, indie and new music.  Their hosts actually have interesting material.  They don't just talk about getting drunk and their sexual escapades with various radio groupies, they spout endless trivia about musicians, songs and the industry in general.  I effing love it to be honest.

Even Dwight loves Blitzen Trapper

One day in particular they played "Furr" by Blitzen Trapper, and led in with a story about how Rainn Wilson (Dwight, from The Office)  loves this band.  "Furr" sounds like it was written back in the 70's when Dylan and Young reigned supreme. Surprisingly the song was just released back in 2008.  Blitzen Trapper has managed to replicate the feeling and sound of an era that pre-dates them. When I suggested it to a friend he said, "It sounds like Folk Fest".  Well, that pretty much sums up exactly what it sounds like.

What a happy little Werewolf

Blitzen Trapper in the flesh

It has the classic folk song elements; it tells a ridiculous story, has an easygoing harmony and a simple kind of charm.  In a supernatural obsessed society it seems like the thing to do to write about Werewolves.  "Furr" tells the story of a young boy who wanders into the woods and soon realizes when he hears, "the howling of a dog.. a wolf to be exact", that he is a creature, partly of the four legged variety.  What I like best about the song is that Blitzen Trapper takes the werewolf, which by any definition is a terrifying, violent, beast, and humanizes it.  The Werewolf is accepted into the pack and spends his days, "howling endlessly and shrilly at the dawn."  He has a happy, wolf-type of life and then one day meets a girl, falls in love, "settles down on a farm" and "raises children up as gently as you please."  Then as our happy ending, falling in love turns our guy back into a human, "my fur has turned to skin". Don't you worry he hasn't forgot his beastly past, he "still dreams of running carelessly through the snow."  I guarantee that if you DON"T like Twilight you will definitely like this Wolfy, feel-good, fuzzy song.




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