Songs About Werewolves?
March 17, 2022 1:05 PM Subscribe
Looking for songs about werewolves, either explicitly or implied. For example, Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" and Toto's "Africa"
I also feel that John Wesley Harding's cover of Roky Erickson's If You Have Ghosts contains a werewolf what with the "don't let my fangs get too long" and the emphasis on the moon. Might be a vampire but I feel that a vampire's fangs pretty much are what they are and of course the moon would be a matter of indifference.
posted by Frowner at 1:15 PM on March 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Frowner at 1:15 PM on March 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
Michael Hurley's Werewolf Song, and Cat Power's cover.
posted by happyfrog at 1:20 PM on March 17, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by happyfrog at 1:20 PM on March 17, 2022 [4 favorites]
I promise I won't just comment about random werewolfery, but it turns out that Paul Simon (!) has a newish album with a song about a werewolf on it - a female werewolf as a figure of apocalypse and social vengeance. Not totally my type of song - very boomery in a left-leaning way - but it seems pretty good to me.
posted by Frowner at 1:24 PM on March 17, 2022
posted by Frowner at 1:24 PM on March 17, 2022
TV on the Radio: "Wolf Like Me"
also i would LOVE for you to expand on how "Africa" is about werewolves
posted by dismas at 1:28 PM on March 17, 2022 [35 favorites]
also i would LOVE for you to expand on how "Africa" is about werewolves
posted by dismas at 1:28 PM on March 17, 2022 [35 favorites]
Shakira had one called “She Wolf.”
posted by Mister Moofoo at 1:29 PM on March 17, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Mister Moofoo at 1:29 PM on March 17, 2022 [4 favorites]
Doubt this counts, but Popular Monster by Falling in Reverse music video contains a badass werewolf and the song is about being a monster, though the lyrics alone are not specifically werewolf.
posted by Crystalinne at 1:34 PM on March 17, 2022
posted by Crystalinne at 1:34 PM on March 17, 2022
(if you're willing to expand scope slightly, a song not about werewolves but the music video features one: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Heads Will Roll"
posted by dismas at 1:34 PM on March 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by dismas at 1:34 PM on March 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Fan theory about Toto’s Africa
posted by migurski at 1:35 PM on March 17, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by migurski at 1:35 PM on March 17, 2022 [3 favorites]
You're a Wolf by Sea Wolf
Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf) by AWOLNATION
Animal by Miike Snow
posted by BrashTech at 1:39 PM on March 17, 2022
Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf) by AWOLNATION
Animal by Miike Snow
posted by BrashTech at 1:39 PM on March 17, 2022
King Harvest "Dancing in the Moonlight"
Bonus Muppets version
posted by indexy at 1:43 PM on March 17, 2022 [4 favorites]
Bonus Muppets version
posted by indexy at 1:43 PM on March 17, 2022 [4 favorites]
Phish - Wolfman's Brother (it's really about their drummer)
posted by bondcliff at 2:01 PM on March 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by bondcliff at 2:01 PM on March 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
One of the most cheerful breakup or brush-off songs ever, "Werewolf" by Fiona Apple.
(I thought of a song to contribute for the express purpose of vouchsafing my real reason for posting, which is to beg you to please share more about your interpretation of "Africa")
posted by superfluousm at 2:05 PM on March 17, 2022 [4 favorites]
(I thought of a song to contribute for the express purpose of vouchsafing my real reason for posting, which is to beg you to please share more about your interpretation of "Africa")
posted by superfluousm at 2:05 PM on March 17, 2022 [4 favorites]
The Mountain Goat's album "Beat the Champ" has a song on it called "Werewolf Gimmick" about a pro wrestler who may be taking his in-ring persona a bit too seriously....
posted by Ipsifendus at 2:05 PM on March 17, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Ipsifendus at 2:05 PM on March 17, 2022 [4 favorites]
TV on the Radio: "Wolf Like Me"
There's a pretty good cover of this by Lera Lynn.
posted by slkinsey at 2:05 PM on March 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
There's a pretty good cover of this by Lera Lynn.
posted by slkinsey at 2:05 PM on March 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
Loup Garou by Willy Deville
I Was a Teenage Werewolf by The Cramps
Howl by Florence and the Machine
Feral Love by Chelsea Wolfe
posted by helloimjennsco at 2:08 PM on March 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
I Was a Teenage Werewolf by The Cramps
Howl by Florence and the Machine
Feral Love by Chelsea Wolfe
posted by helloimjennsco at 2:08 PM on March 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
Also: Rasputina does a great cover of Bad Moon Rising.
posted by helloimjennsco at 2:10 PM on March 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by helloimjennsco at 2:10 PM on March 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Blitzen Trapper's Furr
When I Was a Boy I Watched the Wolves (Grace Slick/Paul Kantner)
"Werewolf Inspired Songs for Werewolves" megalist
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:19 PM on March 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
When I Was a Boy I Watched the Wolves (Grace Slick/Paul Kantner)
"Werewolf Inspired Songs for Werewolves" megalist
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:19 PM on March 17, 2022 [2 favorites]
If the judges will accept "Hungry Like the Wolf, " I'll submit Howlin' for You, by The Black Keys, Full Moon Man (Grace Slick, again), & Li'l Red Riding Hood, by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs.
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:30 PM on March 17, 2022
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:30 PM on March 17, 2022
Halloween Surfboard has Wolf Man hanging ten.
Big Bad Wolf- Bunny and the Wolf Sisters (Teenwolf)
posted by ActingTheGoat at 2:47 PM on March 17, 2022
Big Bad Wolf- Bunny and the Wolf Sisters (Teenwolf)
posted by ActingTheGoat at 2:47 PM on March 17, 2022
Where Oh Werewolf from MST3K - Not only about a werewolf, but about "Werewolf"
posted by subocoyne at 2:52 PM on March 17, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by subocoyne at 2:52 PM on March 17, 2022 [4 favorites]
Brandi Carlile - Mama Werewolf (where being a werewolf is used as an extended metaphor)
Styx - Witch Wolf (which is told from the werewolf's point of view)
posted by box at 3:11 PM on March 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Styx - Witch Wolf (which is told from the werewolf's point of view)
posted by box at 3:11 PM on March 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Toto's "Africa," is about werewolves?
posted by chocolatetiara at 3:12 PM on March 17, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by chocolatetiara at 3:12 PM on March 17, 2022 [4 favorites]
The Guess Who - Clap for the Wolfman (about Wolfman Jack, seems like kind of a 'Cover of the Rolling Stone' situation)
posted by box at 3:14 PM on March 17, 2022
posted by box at 3:14 PM on March 17, 2022
Raffi has a great French song about zombies and werewolves. Les Zombis (et let loups-garous)
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 3:16 PM on March 17, 2022
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 3:16 PM on March 17, 2022
Best answer: Everything about this ask and this thread is magnificent, good work team.
migurski had it above but please also enjoy the original "Toto's Africa Is About a Lovesick Werewolf" Twitter thread. Unless you like the mystery! Then please enjoy the mystery.
posted by jameaterblues at 4:53 PM on March 17, 2022 [5 favorites]
migurski had it above but please also enjoy the original "Toto's Africa Is About a Lovesick Werewolf" Twitter thread. Unless you like the mystery! Then please enjoy the mystery.
posted by jameaterblues at 4:53 PM on March 17, 2022 [5 favorites]
Bright Paper Werewolves - Guided By Voices. Typical GBV impressionistic lyrics, so not really a song about werewolves. Still, a brief gem of a tune.
Animal - LUMP.
'Hair on the pillow
Blood on the shirt
Pieces of love
Traces of dirt
Cry at the window
Using your words
All that you want
Is to be heard.'
A decent enough description of a werewolf, although that's not the subject of the song, which is about desire.
posted by pipeski at 4:58 PM on March 17, 2022
Animal - LUMP.
'Hair on the pillow
Blood on the shirt
Pieces of love
Traces of dirt
Cry at the window
Using your words
All that you want
Is to be heard.'
A decent enough description of a werewolf, although that's not the subject of the song, which is about desire.
posted by pipeski at 4:58 PM on March 17, 2022
Werewolf, by Cocorosie
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 5:09 PM on March 17, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 5:09 PM on March 17, 2022 [3 favorites]
Since TV on the Radio's Wolf Like Me was already mentioned upthread, I wanted to plug Anna Calvi's doomy/tortured cover of their song.
posted by missmobtown at 8:54 PM on March 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by missmobtown at 8:54 PM on March 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Aurora -- Running with the Wolves, got used as a song in the Wolfwalkers animation movie.
Hedningarna -- Vargtimmen (translation)
posted by foxfirefey at 10:30 PM on March 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Hedningarna -- Vargtimmen (translation)
posted by foxfirefey at 10:30 PM on March 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Someone needs to sing "Africa" as if they were wolfing out during the song and put it on YouTube.
Next best thing?
posted by rhizome at 1:24 AM on March 18, 2022
Next best thing?
posted by rhizome at 1:24 AM on March 18, 2022
"Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)" by The Wombats.
posted by h00py at 2:48 AM on March 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by h00py at 2:48 AM on March 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
More "big bad wolf" than werewolf, but:
Radiohead's Wolf at the Door
Radiohead's Wolf at the Door
I keep the wolf from the door but he... calls me up! Calls me on the phone tells me all the ways he's gonna mess me up.posted by pjenks at 4:59 AM on March 18, 2022
Personality Crisis by the New York Dolls isn't really about werewolves, but it does have this lyric:
And you're a prima ballerina on a spring afternoon
Change on into the wolfman howlin' at the moon, ooh
posted by bdk3clash at 9:15 AM on March 18, 2022
And you're a prima ballerina on a spring afternoon
Change on into the wolfman howlin' at the moon, ooh
posted by bdk3clash at 9:15 AM on March 18, 2022
If you want to stack covers of Michael Hurley's 'Werewolf,' there's also one by the Violent Femmes.
Doja Cat f Tay Hundreds - Werewolf
Sky Ferreira - Werewolf
Five Man Electrical Band - Werewolf
posted by box at 9:34 AM on March 18, 2022
Doja Cat f Tay Hundreds - Werewolf
Sky Ferreira - Werewolf
Five Man Electrical Band - Werewolf
posted by box at 9:34 AM on March 18, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Frowner at 1:10 PM on March 17, 2022 [2 favorites]