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Jim Fertall - Bear 141

from Covers for Bears to Dance to by Joel Murray

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about

i wrote "bear 141" about one of my favorite movies: werner herzog's 2005 documentary "grizzly man," which chronicles the life and death of grizzly bear enthusiast timothy treadwell. the lyrics are from the perspective of bear 141, the grizzly that killed timothy & his girlfriend amie huguenard in 2003, after he'd spent 13 summers living among the grizzlies of katmai national park in alaska. imagining bear 141 realizing after the attack that he'd killed the person who loved & wanted to protect his kind made me really sad, so i figured it'd make a fun song.

"timothy lies restless in his bed" = refers to treadwell struggling to fit into modern society, ultimately feeling compelled to live in nature with the bears

"cheers the day we lived in shallow skins / caused to choke the whale that swallowed him" = here i'm sorta sarcastically/bitterly pointing the finger at society as the real monster ("the whale") that initially tried to "digest" timothy; he was bullied as a kid & felt rejected - that shallowness & cruelty helped drive timothy out into the wilderness

jim's cover is simply incredible, i basically cried with happiness the first time i heard it. his use of dynamics is perfect & his full-band arrangement still manages to surprise me, even though i wrote the damn song! follow jim on instagram - www.instagram.com/_jimi_thing/ - for the occasional face-melting guitar sesh & extoll him to release some of his most excellent secret songwriting, which i've been lucky enough to be privy to & is INCREDIBLE

lyrics

see the trees sway lonesome in the wind
back and forth and back and forth again
i wish we could start over again

outside monsters slumber in their dens
timothy lies restless in his bed
i wish we could start over again

cheers the day we lived in shallow skins
caused to choke the whale that swallowed him
i wish we could start over again

blind but now i see
blood that stains my teeth
the hunger's left me
oh god
oh woe is me

hear his heart beat somewhere in my chest
screams for help on video cassettes
i wish we could start over again

struggling alive inside of me
the monster he swore i'd never be
i wish we could start over again

blind but now i see
blood that stains my teeth
the hunger's left me
oh god
oh woe is me

let your tears fall on his empty grave
as his ghost haunts fields where foxes play
we can never start over again

credits

from Covers for Bears to Dance to, released December 7, 2018

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Joel Murray image

Joel Murray Nashville, Tennessee

Husband & wife indie folk-pop duo. Making music our dog hates since 2012.

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