Blitzen Trapper :: Furr

This past fall I remember a short chat with fellow student Ben about music and he recommended Blitzen Trapper. I finally picked it up and have been enjoying this January. This song, "Furr" is my favorite. Check out the video:



Also, check out this interview/live in studio on MPR::The Current

It's that precious time of the year when Middlers are about to discern internship and Seniors are about to discern assignment. Even Juniors aren't left out with CPE applications and decisions and Greek and Hebrew parsing swimming about in their psyche. Dates fill our minds and questions of vocation can swim about. I've been thinking about this song as of late and the worry of "making God a liar" looms large. I don't think that's what the song is about, but maybe this coming of age, growing up and finding one's place is part of it. Some sort of transfiguration or transformation; first naivete, second naivete...growth, progress, process.

The best thing I learned on internship is that process is no longer a bad word; the call to be a pastor, teacher, youth minister, church leader...is not met in one day, but over a lifetime. We will grow and change and develop; we are not the people we will be with experience, further knowledge, and yes, some dark nights of the soul...joys and frustrations...all part of the process. Okay, so we all know that, but, it's really good to hear that. First call is first call. Internship is internship. You get the point. You will hopefully get through both, and if not, well, you'll learn more about yourself in the process than the rest of us. Oh, becoming.

Lyrics:

Yeah, when I was only 17,
I could hear the angels whispering
So I droned into the words 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 hill, 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 better be sure
if you're makin' 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 with skin the color of a pearl
She wandered aimlessly, but she didn't seem to see
She was listenin' 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
An' through the howlin' winds that blow,
Across the ancient distant flow,
It fill our bodies up like water till we know.

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 fire
So if you're gonna' get made,
Don't be afraid of what you've learned