On "Furr"

I, like many people of my marketing demographic (hipsteroids), enjoy the song Furr by Blitzen Trapper. It is rather silly but enjoyable nonetheless.* The lyrics**, however, are inscrutable.*** If the song is supposed to be an allegory or fable, it utterly fails to convey any kind of coherent point.

The verses and bridge tell this story: a 17-year-old wanders into the woods and turns into a wolf, which he seems to really like. Then, five years later, he meets a (presumably human) girl and raises a family with her on a farm. At some point after that, he "quickly" turns back into a human, but he doesn't really seem to fit in. I am going to assume the story is supposed to be a fable or allegory, because it doesn't really make sense when taken at face value -- for instance, how does a wolf tend to a farm, and what kind of crops does a wolf grow anyway? So maybe the message is as simple as this: the speaker/wolfman doesn't fit in in society. We can all relate to that, I suppose.


But the chorus throws the whole thing into confusion by seeming to offer an interpretive key or moral lesson or something. Here it is: "You can wear your fur like a river on fire, but you better be sure if you're makin' God a liar. I'm a rattlesnake, babe, I'm like fuel on a fire. So if you're gonna get made, don't be afraid of what you've learned." What follows is my best honest attempt at understanding the message of this song.

A river on fire is essentially unaffected by the fire. The river itself is not changed. So whatever one's "fur" is, one can choose not to let it change their core being. BUT one must be careful not to "make God a liar" by denying one's essence. Is that suggesting that the fur/fire could be more central than the one's essence/the river? But our speaker/wolfman is now a rattlesnake (whatever), comparable to fuel on a fire. So ... he is capable of making one's fire stronger (but is destroyed in the process)? That means he personally can effect a change in "your" exterior expression, which "you" are to possibly consider as more important than your essence? And then I have no clue what "if you're gonna get made" etc. could possibly mean.

Anyway, the lyrics of this song are interesting, but I can't think of an interpretation that makes even a tiny bit of sense.

* I think the song's production will "age" terribly, with the artificially-thickened vocals and woodsy sound effects. If you're reading this blog from the year 2014 or later, please confirm in the comments section.

** By the way, have I mentioned how much I hate improperly transcribed lyrics? How fucking stupid do you have to be to think "droned into the words" makes more sense than "drove into the woods" in a song that is largely about living in the fucking woods?

*** People get really irrational when you insult music they like, especially if they know the musicians involved. So, if you are a huge Blitzen Trapper fan or friend of the band, please take no stock in my banal ramblings. I could never write a song as good as Furr.