Sing Along: A Werewolf's Been There

"A Werewolf's Been There" was one of the first new songs written for RESCUE.  As an album opener, it is supposed to have a nefarious-sounding opening (being the spiritual lead in from the previous album INVITES ) and then transition to a glorious, rocking, anthemic opening for an album about redemption, love, and friendship.  It is a song sonically inspired in equal parts by Billy Joel, Vampire Weekend, and Queen.

The nefarious-sounding opening:

I don’t normally place a lot of serious weight or depth into the lyrics for the songs.  If I say or think something interesting (not common) I use it as a jumping-off point and kind of “fill in” the rest.  This is a weakness in my songwriting, but this method has kept me (for the most part) out of inspirational ruts.  Like a lot of songs, many shitty first drafts preceded what ended up on the record (and I’m not entirely sure the words to these songs won’t change further).

The title comes from the opening lines:

My bathroom looks like a werewolf's been there.
I think I'm starting to shed.

The imagery here is about looking at the bathroom sink and seeing both the "shed" hair from male pattern baldness and the hair from shaving my beard.  This is a thematic nod to the act of growing older, more weary, and slowly trying to conform to the appearance and spirit of a world that is sometimes hostile towards our wild natures.  The vocal harmonies interrupting each of the verses are intended to sound like wolves howling (nearly perfect-sounding harmonious wolves that is).  The big damn chorus in this song features some electric guitars playing a harmony line to give the BDC a little bit more emotional impact.  If you listen, you can hear what they add to the tune.

You can listen to “A Werewolf’s Been There” in it’s entirety from my new album available at https://holliswebb.bandcamp.com/.