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 [34 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 [34 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]
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
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
posted by missmobtown at 8:54 PM on March 17, 2022
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]