Learning to Hunt
"Learning to Hunt" is one of the sweetest songs in Robert Pollard's catalog. It's clearly a song about a father coming to grips with his child growing up. Against a background of spacey, phased guitar sounds (probably made by dragging a pick up and down the strings) and some light picking, he sings in the first verse about his reservations:
"You were a child reaching out brave and true
for big things in the next room
and I couldn't step into such open sky
where on the crest of uncertainty you loom."
In the second verse, he seeks assurance from his child that things won't change too much:
"Say that you'll never run too far away
even with all the answers out there
where it's brighter but no one will care
half as much as I care about you."
As each verse closes, he assures his child that "I'm learning to hunt for you," which can be taken two ways. He might be learning how to provide for the child, acknowledging his role in the father-child relationship, or he might be saying he is preparing to look for the child, to seek him or her out if they wander. Either way, it's the rare truly gentle song from Pollard's pen, and a quiet little gem on the otherwise rocked-out Mag Earwig.
"You were a child reaching out brave and true
for big things in the next room
and I couldn't step into such open sky
where on the crest of uncertainty you loom."
In the second verse, he seeks assurance from his child that things won't change too much:
"Say that you'll never run too far away
even with all the answers out there
where it's brighter but no one will care
half as much as I care about you."
As each verse closes, he assures his child that "I'm learning to hunt for you," which can be taken two ways. He might be learning how to provide for the child, acknowledging his role in the father-child relationship, or he might be saying he is preparing to look for the child, to seek him or her out if they wander. Either way, it's the rare truly gentle song from Pollard's pen, and a quiet little gem on the otherwise rocked-out Mag Earwig.
Labels: Mag Earwhig
posted by John at 7:10 PM
5 Comments:
is it confirmed that he's singing to his son? certainly makes sense, but i always saw it as a love song, and would prefer to continue seeing it that way. even if it is definitely for cool pollard, i'm gonna keep thinking of it as a love song. ;)
that said, this is my sixth favorite song of all time, and GBV's top entry on my top 100 -- so i suppose that officially makes this my favorite GBV song, too. no surprise there...how many people have ever written a song better than this? it's so simple and understated, but that's what makes it flawless.
i think there's something extremely special about the song that extends past the heartsick lyrics. the chorus -- "i'm learning to hunt for you" -- i interpret that as learning to hunt for food, to sustain a family. there's something about that simple statement that harkens back to the dawn of man, the common thread of all our ancestors and the beginning of humanity itself. and at the same time, the minimalist arrangement seems to mirror the sentiment -- that crying slide guitar and the atmospheric synth sound like the soundtrack for a vast, open field somewhere in africa, ancient pollard and his lover sitting by the starlit fire, he reassuring her that he's doing his best to learn how to provide for her. the fact that the music matches the already heartbreaking lyrics so damn well is what really puts it over the top for me. thank god for music.
It's certainly not confirmed as such by me, and maybe my interpretation is colored by the fact that I have a son moving into toddlerhood who is already exerting a bit of independence. Either way you read it, it's a beautiful song.
In GBV: A Brief History (and a few interviews), Bob has said that he's singing to himself. In that sense, it seems to be another case of the "Bob of old" in conflict with Pollard's desire to grow as an artist and grow in terms of financial success.
I kind of wish I hadn't found out that he's singing about himself. Being a new father myself, it would be even sweeter for this song to be about fatherhood. Either way, it's a beautiful song.
One of Bob's best. It always reminds me of "Julia" by the Beatles.
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