Wolf Kidult Man

Lyrics

[wolf howls]      (1)

Reputation is gone
You're in the clear, boy
Every day of your life
You persevere, boy

Wolf kidult man (2)
Wolf kidult son
Where is your mum?
Your power is gone

Every moment of truth
Is here to stay
Somewhere up in your ear
You're babbling, frantic

Wolf kidult man
Wolf kidult son
Where is your mum?
Your power is gone

You start to walk
Where are you going?
Going to a shop
Your arms limp at your sides
And you've got to embrace this

Wolf kidult man
Wolf kidult son
Where is your mum?
Your power is gone

Reputation is gone
You're in the clear, boy
Every day of your life
You persevere, boy

Taped excerpt from Twilight Zone episode "Printers Devil":

[You put me to] work at once, I think we can save the courier.
How can i put you to work? I can't even pay my bar tab.
Well, that's simple. I'll waive salary until you're in the black.
That's crazy. I might never be in the black.
Well, it's a chance, but it's better than anything you have now.

Notes

1. "Little Red Riding Hood" by 999 famously begins with a wolf howling...so does "The Wolf" by Motörhead, and probably several more...

^

 

2. "Kidult" is a farily recent term for an adult who acts like a child in various ways.  

^

Comments (15)

dannyno
  • 1. dannyno | 23/07/2014
"Kidult", as per note 1.

Well, the earliest citation in the Oxford Dictionary of English is from the Encyclopedia Britannica Book of the Year, 1960, dated to 1958. It was a marketing term that primarily refers to television programmes etc designed and marketed to appeal to children and adults, but then also to adults with "juvenile tastes".
Max Williams
  • 2. Max Williams | 14/03/2018
This is the dialogue from the excerpt of the Twilight Zone episode featured at the end, in case anyone's interested. It sounds like a conversation I can imagine MES having with a prospective band member.

How can i put you to work? I can't even pay my bar tab.
Well, that's simple.
I'll waive salary until you're in the black.
That's crazy.
I might never be in the black.
Well, it's a chance, but it's better than anything you have now.

From https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=the-twilight-zone-1959&episode=s04e09
Max Williams
  • 3. Max Williams | 14/03/2018
Whoops, I just realised I missed the first line off:

(You put me) to work at once, i think we can save the courier.
bzfgt
  • 4. bzfgt (link) | 21/03/2018
Outstanding work, Max.
dannyno
  • 5. dannyno | 27/06/2020
Another song that begins with wolf howling is 999's Little Red Riding Hood.

bzfgt
  • 6. bzfgt (link) | 05/07/2020
Yeah good point, I think that's noteworthy
Ian F
  • 7. Ian F | 26/08/2020
Wolf Kidult Man is essentially the same song, musically, as Youwanner. WKM stands up well when heard in isolation, but comes off as a little anaemic when compared to the aggressive and extended assault of Youwanner.
Ant
  • 8. Ant | 06/11/2020
Doesn't "My White Devil" by Echo and The Bunnymen also start with a wolf's howl?
bzfgt
  • 9. bzfgt (link) | 13/02/2021
And Little Red Robin Hood by Sam the Sham....The Wolf by Motorhead...probably a lot of other things
bzfgt
  • 10. bzfgt (link) | 13/02/2021
Comment 9--I see Dan already mentioned Sam the Sham in comment 5...
Wilhelm Emilsson
  • 11. Wilhelm Emilsson | 10/10/2021
One thing to consider: the song seems to allude to one of Freud's famous cases, The Wolf Man. Here is a helpful description of the case: The Wolf Man
dannyno
  • 12. dannyno | 09/11/2021
Comment #11: Where are you seeing an allusion?
Wilhelm Emilsson
  • 13. Wilhelm Emilsson | 29/05/2022
Sorry for the late reply, dannyno!

I see the allusion in the title itself, i.e. "Wolf Kidult Man" may make readers who know a little bit about Freud think of one of his most famous cases, "The Wolf Man." The "Wolf Man" had a terrifying dream about wolves. The Fall song begins with the howling of wolves. The Wolf Man suffered from depression. The Fall song refers to the Wolf Kidult Man's fragile psychological state and loss of power. There is also a reference to the Kidult Man's mother. Freud's theory is often jokingly summed up as "Tell me about your mother."

The Freud connection should not be pushed too far, though. Mark E. Smith was a modernist/postmodernist poet whose method was to suggest and allude to meanings rather than present clear-cut "arguments" or "messages." Irony, ambiguity, humour, intensity, and subversion were the tools of his trade.
dannyno
  • 14. dannyno | 06/08/2022
There's a book by Joseph Amrito Lal Singh and Dr Robert Zingg, entitled Wolf-children and Feral Man. It has been reprinted a few times. It purports to be case studies written by Singh and translated or repackaged by Zingg.

See: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/pe5dffhj

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amala_and_Kamala

The text is available in the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.158185

Probably not relevant!
dannyno
  • 15. dannyno | 06/08/2022
Wilhelm Emilsson, comment #13.

Thanks. I'm missing the kidult bit in what you say. I wonder if we might look instead at Jung, and Jungian archetypes. I do think MES draws on Jungian themes in his writing more often than is realised.

Thinking about Jung's "puer aeternus" in particular as a possible connection, but also plenty in his writing or connected to it about wolves (cf Jack London, apparently), the Great Mother and so on and so forth.

There's a proper study to be written about the influence of Jung on MES, I reckon.

But it's hard to connect any of this explicitly to the lyric.

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