Thursday, August 22, 2013

“Some folks say he’s a lot like me”



What is it about goofy camp songs that gets in our blood and embeds so powerfully in our memory?  I don’t know what year I first heard “Slew Foot,” the song about a marauding bear with supernatural  speed and leaping ability. But I chalked it up to Scout camp fun and never really thought about it much. 

But it stuck there in my subconscious. So when I saw it on the track listing for James McMurtry’s 2005 CD “Childish Things,” I was floored. As I recall, I first saw it on a preview, a month or two before the album’s release. (Why do we still call them albums? Is a CD an album? Perhaps so.) I played the sample track and realized it was indeed the song I’d heard at a Philmont campfire as a camper – pre-staff days.

Here’s what I’ve learned since:

1. If you Google “Slew Foot” you’ll get a slew of hits about a hockey play that involves a player tripping up another player with his skates – a dangerous move that can lead to serious injury.

2. If you Google “Slew Foot Bear Song” you’ll get references to a 1950s Johnny Horton rockabilly song. I had no idea. That version ain’t bad. There are others, too.

3. Google “SlewFoot Bear” and you’ll come up with what I assume must be the base inspiration for the song: “The Yearling.” From Wikipedia: ”A subplot involves the hunt for an old bear named Slewfoot that randomly attacks the Baxter livestock.

Anyway, I was pretty jazzed that one of my favorite musicians had a rendition of “Slew Foot” on his new album. Give it a listen, it’s a pretty fun tune.

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