Up the Wolves Lyrics
There's bound to be a ghost at the back of your closet
No matter where you live
There'll always be a few things, maybe several things
That you're going to find really difficult to forgive
There's gonna come a day when you feel better
You'll rise up free and easy on that day
And float from branch to branch
Lighter than the air
Just when that day is coming, who can say? Who can say?
[Chorus]
Our mother has been absent ever since we founded Rome
But there's going to be a party when the wolf comes home
[Verse 2]
We're going to commandeer the local airwaves
To tell the neighbors what's been going on
And they will shake their heads and wag their bony fingers
In all the wrong directions
And by daybreak we'll be gone
I'm going to get myself in fighting trim
Scope out every angle of unfair advantage
I'm gonna bribe the officials
I'm gonna kill all the judges
It's going to take you people years to recover from all of the damage
About
“Up the Wolves” was featured prominently in an episode of the fourth season of the AMC horror series, The Walking Dead. Both the song and the episode are about coming into one’s own as an adult, regardless of the difficulties you have faced in the past. For Darnielle, this song, much like the rest of The Sunset Tree deals with the subject of moving on after the death of his physically abusive step father and reflecting on his life during his years as a teenager.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
I’m always trying to figure out what to say about this god damn song. Part of me wants to say look it’s about revenge, but as soon as I say that… no, that’s not quite it. Part of me wants to say it’s about the satisfaction of not needing revenge… and I say no, that some new age stuff. I think it’s a song about the moment in your quest for revenge when you learn to embrace the futility of it. The moment when you know that the thing you want is ridiculous and pompous and a terrible thing to want anyway. The direction in which you’re headed is not the direction in which you want to go, yet you’re going to head that way a while longer anyway cause that’s just the kind of person you are.
- 2.Broom People
- 3.This Year
- 4.Dilaudid
- 5.Dance Music
- 7.Up the Wolves
- 8.Lion’s Teeth
- 10.Magpie
- 12.Love Love Love