Who Are Your Bears? Life’s Demons and Contradictions Fill Music and Writing
Lyle Lovett and Steven Fromholz had the best bear song that tells us to “remember that’s a bear there in the bunch with you”
The Bear song is regarded as one of Lyle Lovett’s top five songs. What does it mean?
Some say it is symbolic of the inner beast that lies within us all. Others interpret it as a figurative description of the thorny people and situations we deal with in everyday life. Still, others say it is Steven Fromholz’s sarcastic commentary of a famous musician or maybe a musical agent. Or it may just be a song about bears.
Some folks say there ain’t no bears in Arkansas
Some folks never seen a bear at all
Some folks say that bears go around eating babies raw
Some folks got a bear across the hall
Some folks say that bears go around smelling bad
Others say that a bear is honey sweet
Some folks say this bear’s the best I ever had
Some folks got a bear beneath their feet
Some folks drive the bears out of the wilderness
Some to see a bear would pay a fee
Me I just bear up my bewildered best
And some folks even see the bear in me
Some folks drive the bears out of the wilderness
Some to see a bear would pay a fee
Me I just bear up my bewildered best
And some folks even see the bear in me
So meet a bear and take him out to lunch with you
And even though your friends may stop and stare
Just remember that’s a bear there in the bunch with you
And they just don’t come no better than a bear
Steven Fromholz wrote and sang the original song on his 1976 album, Rumor in My Own Time. If you are not familiar with Fromholz, at one time he was the Poet Laureate of Texas. His music shaped Texas folk and country artists such as Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen. And it was Lovett, in his 1998 album, Step Inside This House, that would make the song famous to a broad audience. Lyle Lovett — Bears — Bing video
The Beauty of Bears
As a writing and as a song, Bears is crafty, cunning, and artful. It is both subtle and symbolic, which most modern writing and music are missing. Unfortunately, we are all taught to write and sound the same. Many of the nuances are missing. Bears is rich with subtlety, symbolism, and nuisance. That is what makes it a timeless work.
