By Carpgate
When my son was very young, we had a favourite game called bear hunt, loosely based on one of our favourite bedtime stories, We’re Going On A Bear Hunt. The game involved us hiding under a duvet pretending we were in caves searching for bears. I would suddenly switch role to a ferocious bear which would result in hysterical giggles from young Carpgate Jnr and happily not screams of terror.
I was reminiscing about this during the topic because one of things that stood out this week is just how many songs for children were nominated as well as numerous songs about bears from children’s fiction. I’d never really thought about it before but it seems really odd considering they are the largest land-dwelling carnivores. Children are surround by images of bears, bear toys and anthropomorphised characters in film and TV. But would you leave your child alone with a bear?
Teddy Bear’s Picnic feels like it should be first, this time by Anne Murray (the original is zedded). It’s a jolly little tune that most of us have known all our lives. Is it me though or is there something slightly creepy about it? Just me then. For shamelessly nostalgic reasons, next comes Jackie Lee with Rupert The Bear. I was intrigued by Rupert’s bizarre adventures as a child, hardly noticing that the strangest thing was that he was a talking bear in stripy trousers.
Loggins and Messian are like me getting nostalgic about a fictional bear, this time reminiscing about Winnie the Pooh and the House At Pooh Corner and pondering the loss of childhood innocence.
Robert Smith of The Cure, despite his goth label, often seems to be trying to hold on to an element of childhood innocence. In Birdmad Girl he wishes he was a polar bear, before sighing “but it’s impossible”. It is, but I could imagine him being a panda quite easily.
No such wistful longing from Shel Silverstein – as far as he’s concerned, he is The Grizzly Bear. “A tad raucous,” commented Loud Atlas. It is and that’s why I liked it!
Even as adults we may wish we were bears then, but the reality of being a bear is often a long way from our fantasies. The Tragically Hip address the true story of Gus: The Polar Bear From Central Park, who was one of the big attractions at Central Park Zoo but went on to be the first animal to be treated with Prozac after he began swimming obsessively for up to 12 hours a day.
Crueller than keeping bears in zoos is forcing them to dance for entertainment. Fred Erickson nominated three versions of Dakota the Dancing Bear, but I particularly liked the thoroughly cynical Dakota The Dancing Bear Part 2 by David Allan Coe. A career in the music business and life as a dancing bear are pretty much indistinguishable it seems.
What about bears in the wild? Nick Cave and Warren Ellis evoke the bear and its wilderness habitat with Les Ours, from a film soundtrack composed for wildlife photographer Vincent Munier. The lyrics are minimal, but the track is full of atmosphere and tension.
You stray into a bear’s territory at your peril. There’s plenty of advice on what to do if you encounter a bear, in fact there’s too much and you need to remember which bit of advice applies to which bear. I don’t think Corb Lund and his hilarious Grizzly Bear Blues will be much help, especially if Corb runs faster than you. Don't expect much help either from Norwegian rockers Mudslide, who greeted by a Bear By The Bonfire will probably just bellow “Are you ready for some gore?” though their 70s-style rock riffage sounds, perhaps loud enough to scare it away. Taking a more understated approach with A Camp , Nina Persson observes someone who is “caught between the ocean and the Bear Upon The Beach”. At least it doesn’t seem to be literal this time.
Of course, while bears are a threat to us if we encounter them in the wrong setting, humans as a species pose a far bigger threat to bears. Christophe Maé & Youssou N’Dour focus on the polar bear in L’Ours and it’s increasingly precarious existence “sitting on a few square meters”.
So, what can be done to protect bears? Former Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg has one idea: rearrange the Second Amendment of the US Constitution so that you have The Right To Arm Bears. The lack of opposable thumbs might mean this is ineffective though. Instead I’ll leave the final word to 80s hard rockers Zebra who in their track simply titled Bears ask you to “find a place in your heart for them”.
Ursine A-List Playlist:
Anne Murray - Teddy Bear’s Picnic (Marconius7)
Jackie Lee - Rupert The Bear (Vikingchild)
Loggins and Messian - House At Pooh Corner (SweetHomeAlabama)
The Cure - Birdmad Girl (Noodsy)
Shel Silverstein - The Grizzly Bear (Loud Atlas)
The Tragically Hip - Gus: The Polar Bear From Central Park (Marconius7)
David Allan Coe - Dakota The Dancing Bear Part 2 (Fred Erickson)
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis - Les Ours (Uncleben)
Corb Lund - Grizzly Bear Blues (tincanman2010)
Mudslide - Bear By The Bonfire (Traktor Albatrost)
A Camp - Bear Upon The Beach (happyclapper)
Christophe Maé & Youssou N’Dour - L’Ours (TatankaYotanka)
Paul Westerberg - The Right To Arm Bears (tincanman2010)
Zebra - Bears (Fred Erickson)
Bruin B-List Playlist:
The Damned - Edward The Bear (Vikingchild)
Arctic Monkeys - Don’t Sit Down Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair (Vikingchild)
Grauzone - Eisbär (Badu)
The Stranglers - Bear Cage (happyclapper)
Future of the Left - A Guide to Men (happyclapper)
Linton Kwesi Johnson - Di Eagle an' Di Bear (Uncleben)
Sugaray Rayford - Sometimes You Get the Bear (And Sometimes the Bear Gets You) (Banazir Galbasi)
C.W. McCall - Convoy (Shoegazer)
Tim Minchin - Bears Don’t Dig On Dancing (Noodsy)
Blancmange - Paddington (Vikingchild)
Nervous Nellie - Eaten By Bears (Banazir Galbasi)
Niños Mutantes - Oso Polar (Maki)
Tall Like Tyrion - The Bear and the Maiden Fair (Suzi)
The Mrs Ackroyd Band - Have You Got Any News Of The Iceberg (Suzi)
Peter Gabriel - Me And My Teddy Bear (RicharDeLyne)
Yoko Ono - Teddy Bear (Uncleben)
The Cosmic Dead - Ursa Major (Banazir Galbasi)
Guru’s Wildcard Picks:
Dismal Abysmals - Hair Bear Bunch
Who are they? Perhaps they are my favourite band in disguise
Bus Station Loonies - Rupert The Bear
Peter & The Test Tube Babies - Bare Necessities
A throwback to the days when I could shoehorn Test Tubes into any topic
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations in response to last week's topic: Press paws, then play: songs about bears. The next topic will launch on Thursday after 1pm UK time.
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