Wolf Like Me

TV on the Radio

Say, say, my playmate
Won't you lay hands on me
Mirror my malady
Transfer my tragedy?

Got a curse I cannot lift
Shines when the sunset shifts
When the moon is round and full
Gotta bust that box, gotta gut that fish

My mind's aflame

We could jet in a stolen car
But I bet we wouldn't get too far
Before the transformation takes
And blood lust tanks and
Crave gets slaked

My mind has changed
My body's frame, but, God, I like it
My heart's aflame
My body's strained, but, God, I like it

My mind has changed
My body's frame, but, God, I like it
My heart's aflame
My body's strained, but, God, I like it

Charge me your day rate
I'll turn you out in kind
When the moon is round and full
Gonna teach you tricks that'll blow your mind
Mongrel mind
Baby doll, I recognize
You're a hideous thing inside
If ever there were a lucky kind, it's
You, you, you, you

I know it's strange another way to get to know you
You'll never know unless we go so let me show you
I know it's strange another way to get to know you
We've got till noon, here comes the moon
So let it show you
Show you now

Dream me, oh dreamer
Down to the floor
Open my hands and let them
Weave onto yours

Feel me, completer
Down to my core
Open my heart and let it
Bleed onto yours

Feeding on fever
Down all fours
Show you what all that
Howl is for

Hey, hey, my playmate
Let me lay waste to thee
Burned down their hanging trees
It's hot here, hot here, hot here, hot here

Got a curse we cannot lift
Shines when the sunshine shifts
There's a curse comes with a kiss
The bite that binds the gift that gives

Now that we got gone for good
Writhing under your riding hood
Tell your gra'ma and your mama too
It's true, true, true, true
We're howling forever, oh, oh
We're howling forever, oh, oh
We're howling forever, oh, oh
We're howling forever, oh, oh
We're howling forever, oh, oh


Lyrics submitted by SphagnumEsplanade, edited by Uranium, Icarus42, shadowboxerxxx, rosieroys

Wolf Like Me Lyrics as written by Jaleel Bunton Babatunde Omoroga Adebimpe

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management

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Wolf Like Me song meanings
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106 Comments

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  • +7
    General CommentI think it's using the "werewolf sex metaphor" to say... "I want to know all your secrets, the things you wouldn't tell anyone. I want that kind of open love, where we know so much about each other that we're one." And I think the howling in the end isn't like howling of despair...but maybe they're howling together, because they feel bad and good things together?
    I dunno. This is my favorite song right now.
    t0d0on September 17, 2006   Link
  • +6
    General Commentthe song is about sex... pure... animal... carnal... sex.
    Reminds me of that "Hungry like the Wolf" song.
    wolvesinthewateron July 02, 2007   Link
  • +5
    General Comment"just ate my baby" LOL WTF LOL.

    I think a shady fellow (the werewolf!) is showing a virginal girl, a Little Red Riding Hood type, that there's plenty o' pleasure in being bad. He's trying to convince her that deep down she's a wolf, too, which I so get! We, people, pretend to be so civilized and wear suits and ties and glasses to make ourselves different from lions, who spend all their days rolling around with each other and killing their enemies in a way that to us is not dignified of a human, but sometimes our caveman selves escape us, like the fight or flight instinct coded into our DNA that does not succumb to our "modern" selves. No matter how sweet Little Red Riding Hood appears, she's transparent to the Wolf, who sees she's "a hideous thing inside." I think that when the song reaches "dream me, oh dreamer" and it gets all slow and dazed, that's when they're both giving in to their animal selves, and probably having hot wolf sex. I mean, "open my hands and let them weave onto yours"? They're holding hands. He's awakening her with her own animal truth, she's becoming poisoned by the werewolf's bite, and they both are slaves to the full moon and nature. "Show you what all that howlin' is for" = lolz, she's howling... get it!? And, also, I think "the bite that binds the gift that gives" is pretty cool-sounding grammar-wise. THE bite THAT binds THE gift THAT gives.

    Gah, what a great song.
    earthstar_puffballon June 30, 2007   Link
  • +5
    My InterpretationI think it's about a sex addict. "Got a curse I cannot lift." "When the moon is round and full" he goes through a transformation and can't control himself. "Charge me your day rate" makes me thinks he hired a hooker and he taught her tricks that blew her "mongrel mind."

    At the end, he turns a girl into a sex addict "got a curse we cannot lift."

    Think about it and read the lyrics. I'm not saying I'm right, it's just my interpretation.

    JeffJeckalon March 02, 2009   Link
  • +2
    General Comment"writhing under your riding hood
    tell your gra'ma and your mama too"

    I love the Little Red Riding Hood reference.
    Fantineon December 27, 2006   Link
  • +2
    Song MeaningCould be about tripping, though I always thought this song is about animalistic lust. The werewolf is an allegory for the animal inside us all that comes out when we feel passion for another person.

    The shift/transformation is the moment when you go from being your normal self to the someone driven by lust.

    The curse he can't lift is the 'curse' we all bear- we all have that side to us which is pure sexual feeling, without rationality. He talks about this in the lines:

    Mongrel mind/ Baby doll, I recognize / You're a hideous thing inside

    Again emphasising the power of lust lies inside all of us. When these powers take over- his 'mind changes his body's frame', we find ourselves out of control, but still enjoying it. I see that this could be about drugs too- although I think the effects of drugs and sex are arguably similar so an argument for one interpretation supports the other anyway.

    I think the imagery behind weaving/bleeding into each other, howling/writhing and being down on all fours is fairly obviously sexual. As is the use of 'playmate'.
    mega_megaon September 05, 2012   Link
  • +2
    General CommentSometimes songs are just about drugs or sex, or in this case, both. I think it's about a couple wherein one introduces drugs to the other very early on in the relationship, which transforms both the other person and the relationship. The song tells the story in order, from beginning to end.

    The slowdown in the middle is the peak of the drug abuse and the animalistic sex that comes of it. It's downhill from there. They're stuck with each other, woven together by the drug abuse and the guilt, shame, fear, and especially the anger that comes of it.
    They're stuck together, howling forever. The blame obviously goes to the wolf
    Seedlesson August 28, 2016   Link
  • +1
    General CommentIt's told from the point of view of someone corrupting someone else, having sex with them, then telling them how their old selves are gone forever.
    And now they bask in corruptness, yay!
    too lazy for more explanation, but read the lyrics and it makes sense.
    [i think the werewolf part is metaphor]
    Seatbelton December 19, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General CommentIt's kind of like... there's some bad people out there, but they hide very well that they're bad people, kinda like they're werewolves. And you can get to know them to a certain point, just well enough so that they can corrupt you, but well enough so that you can't get out, and you're stuck "howling forever," corrupt.
    jonbashon December 26, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General CommentAllan Ginsberg poem "Howl"

    "... fell off the bed, and continued along
    the floor and down the hall and ended fainting
    on the wall with a vision of ultimate cunt and
    come eluding the last gyzym of consciousness"
    Xodarapon March 10, 2009   Link

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