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This is a Tomorrowlands universe story; they are listed at http://www.tomorrowlands.org/story/stories.html.

© 2001, Tad "Baxil" Ramspott 

"THREE WOLVES" -- Dark Eyed Cats

(CHORUS)
Three wolves went to the city,
From the woods where they were born
Three wolves went to the city,
On a night of rain and storm
Three wolves went to the city,
Not knowin' just what they hunted for

One wolf turned to his brother,
We'll meet here in morning light
One wolf turned to his brother,
You take left, and I'll take right
I can smell the scent of prey, boys,
So we'll have some fun tonight

(CHORUS)

One hunted at the factory,
'Cause it wasn't all that far
One hunted at the factory,
Stopped to hang out at the bar
Say last month he made supervisor,
Got a wife and kids and car

(CHORUS)

One wolf went into politics,
Thought that he could get it all
One wolf went into politics,
Saw the blood upon the wall
He got eaten by the deer herd
On the steps of City Hall

(CHORUS)

One wolf stuck to the alleys,
To the darkness and the sin
One wolf stuck to the alleys,
Lookin' dangerous and grim
Say he wandered to the East Side,
That's the last they heard of him

(CHORUS out)


-- 1998, Marlys King

ABOUT THE SONG AND BAND

The Dark Eyed Cats, a (human) fusion jazz band, recorded this song in a traditional blues style for their 1999 album "Hot Tin Roof," jamming through only two takes after only six hours of practice. It became something of an underground hit, even peaking out low in the Billboard 100 after several weeks. Part of the appeal of the music might have been the song's poignant backstory.

Two nights before the band hit the studio to record the album, lead singer Marlys King was out drinking. He introduced himself to Sh'ree, a young woman sitting by herself at the end of the bar. They started talking, hit it off with each other, and after a few more beers his recollection became somewhat dim:

It was only after I'd lost count of my bar tab that she turned to me and said, "Listen, Marle, I got sum'n to tell you. I'm, you know, a unicorn." Well, shit. We'd gotten to exchanging hard-luck stories, and right there I knew she'd won. "Bartender," I said, "everything she's drunk tonight is on me." ... And she went on to give me my money's worth. I was sittin' there bawling on her arm. Man, if I'd been any less drunk I'd've had a whole album from her stories. ... As it is all I remember is about her two brothers.

When Sh'ree turned into a unicorn, the neighborhood started to wonder about her family. She found her younger brother dead out back of their house one day, cut open head to toe. The cops came by -- they'd been over a couple of times before, seems like that house was the first stop every time they wanted to shake up the block -- and just arrested her older brother without a word. Dragged him off, managed to come up with just enough evidence to frame him for it, even though some other guy in the neighborhood died the same way after they took him in. So, Sh'ree says, she up and moved out. Stayed in Memphis for a while, settled in Atlanta, took a job on the line, didn't say anything about bein' a unicorn to anyone. She said the world was a dirty enough place without somethin' so clean bein' around to make things seem that much worse.

And all I could think was, "Is this what we're doin' to theris? Or is this just what we're doin' to ourselves, and theris are just too good to know any better?" ... I had to write this song to get that out of my system, and once it hit paper, I knew we had to put it on the album.


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Page last updated Apr 11, 2001. Design (c) 2001 Tad "Baxil" Ramspott.