THE CALL OF THE WILD AKA The Bigfoot Song

FOREWORD The Call of the Wild (AKA The Bigfoot Song) Deep in the forest, something is moving. You don’t see it at first. You feel it. A heavy bass beat comes pounding from beneath the music—slow, powerful and deliberate—like the enormous footsteps of Bigfoot himself stomping through the woods. With every beat, the creature seems to move a little closer. GRRRR-OOOOOOH! AWWWW-WOOOOOO! And The Call of the Wild begins. This song was never intended to be a serious scientific examination of Bigfoot. It is folklore turned into theater: part monster story, part comedy, part primal mating call, and entirely willing to have fun with one of America’s most enduring legends. The extended arrangement makes the forest itself part of the performance. That deep, recurring bass gives the listener the sensation of a huge creature moving somewhere beyond the trees. The instrumental breaks allow that atmosphere to breathe before the unmistakable Bigfoot cries return. But then the song reveals its joke. Perhaps those terrifying noises aren’t warnings from an angry monster at all. Perhaps Bigfoot isn’t hunting. Perhaps Bigfoot is courting. Suddenly those growls, howls and pounding rhythms acquire an entirely different meaning. What sounded threatening becomes the ancient language of attraction—and the audience is given one very important piece of wilderness advice: “You don’t come a-knockin’ When Bigfoot is a-rockin’.” That is the mischievous heart of the song. The deeper it ventures into the woods, the more outrageous the mythology becomes. Ancient DNA supposedly allows certain human males to understand Bigfoot’s secret language, and what they discover is considerably less frightening—and considerably more entertaining—than anyone expected. By the final Tag, there is no ambiguity left: “He ain’t huntin’... He’s ah MATE-ING!!!!!” Then the great creature’s calls return one last time, leaving Bigfoot somewhere out there in the darkness—howling, stomping and apparently having a considerably better evening than the terrified humans hiding from him. The Call of the Wild is campfire folklore with a bass line, a wink, and a very adult punch line. So if you’re ever deep in the woods and the ground begins to shake beneath your feet... If you hear that enormous bass-like THUMP... THUMP... THUMP... followed by— GRRRR-OOOOOOH! AWWWW-WOOOOOO! Don’t investigate. Don’t interrupt. And whatever you do— DON’T COME A-KNOCKIN’. — Irvin McWhorter Songwriter & Virtual Artist