Furr (Live at KCRW)

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 higher still
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 twenty-three
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 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've 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 runnin' careless through the snow.
And 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