Just One Song: The Trapper’s Pelts — Yard Act
Since I’ve returned from SXSW a month ago, I think I’ve played this song about 1,000 times.
It’s one of the most impactful songs I’ve heard in a long time.
It’s primitive, guttural, provocative, haunting, and extremely well put together.
https://open.spotify.com/track/6eehXqhtf4jYX4c1HW9Lje?si=0Z2SFitLRFuI7qkNzvZ3wA
Lyrics
What a day to be alive!
The state of everything
I know you saw the sign in the window
The braying fist on hollow wood
Sticky fingers on sugar glass
Are you really so? (desperate desperate desperate)
All that divides us is evil
All that unites us is evil
No, all that really divides is the binary hive mind
And the restraint that it takes, not to stick ourselves
Into every abstract object on the gallery shelves
Then the trapper came around
He was trying to sell me pelts
It was midday on a Monday
So all the smart people were at work
Trap music blaring from his furry boombox
The trapper tripped, I laughed he flipped, said
Shut your fucking trap!
Or I’ll eradicate nature, right now forever
Or I’ll eradicate nature, right now forever
So I bought all his pelts (all his pelts!)
At a bulk buy discount
I took out a small business loan
And I bought all his pelts
I threw them in the boot of my car and drove downtown
I pitched up a stall, outside the office blocks
And come five o’clock, it was so cold
That everybody needed one, everybody wanted two
So I upped the price and I bled them dry ’cause that’s what you do
And come six o’clock, I’d oversold
And my smile was made of solid gold
Solid gold
Of solid gold
Of solid gold
I collapsed under the weight of my own success (yes)
And driving away with my grapes, my many women
And my ginormous mountain of never ending blow
I saw the trapper disappear from my rear view mirror
With no pelts to call his own
Shivering, naked and alone
In the snow
The senseless charm, the gnawing guilt
(The trapper’s pelts, the trapper’s pelts!)
The senseless charm, the gnawing guilt
(The trapper’s pelts, the trapper’s pelts!)
The senseless charm, the gnawing guilt
(The trapper’s pelts, the trapper’s pelts!)
The senseless charm, the gnawing guilt
(The trapper’s pelts, the trapper’s pelts!)
H.M.R.C (pay as you feel)
So, why does this stick in my head so solidly?
- It’s a raw story, with lyrics so well crafted and e-NUN-ci-a-TED by front man James Smith. I’m about half deaf, and don’t generally pay much attention to lyrics, but Smith’s staccato style makes it unavoidable. And his messages are anything but subtle.
- The orchestration and interplay between Smithand his three band mates is perfect. Their timing is spot on. The coordination of piercing guitar blasts, the primitive pounding of tom-tom drums, and Smith’s impassioned storyline is exquisite.
I’m sure I’ll log another 1000 plays this month.