Homo homini lupus est . . .

Carter Howling at the Moon?
Williamsburg Circle
Photo from Terrance Lindall

Other than in T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock," I've not heard mermaids singing, but I never thought that they would sing to me, and I also hadn't expected to hear Carter Kaplan singing -- and I've still not heard -- but as you see from above, he does sing, or maybe howl, for if you click on his image, you'll see in his eyes that he's transforming into a wolf.

I ought to have expected some shape-shifting from this man since his novel Tally-Ho, Cornelius! makes use of the motif, though not werewolves! Weresquid, perhaps.

I should also have expected to encounter a werewolf, for only two days ago, I was editing an article about Angela Carter's short story "The Company of Wolves," a rewriting of the fairy tale known as "Little Red Riding Hood" that recovers the suppressed but latent story of sexual awakening in a girl who encounters a wolf, a meaning never quite lost on adults, as this song reminds us:

Li'l Red Riding Hood (1966)
Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs

Owoooooooo
Who's that I see walkin' in these woods
Why, it's Little Red Riding Hood
Hey there Little Red Riding Hood
You sure are looking good
You're everything a big bad wolf could want
Listen to me

Little Red Riding Hood
I don't think little big girls should
Go walking in these spooky old woods alone
Owoooooooo

What big eyes you have
The kind of eyes that drive wolves mad
So just to see that you don't get chased
I think I ought to walk with you for a ways

What full lips you have
They're sure to lure someone bad
So until you get to grandma's place
I think you ought to walk with me and be safe

I'm gonna keep my sheep suit on
Until I'm sure that you've been shown
That I can be trusted walking with you alone
Owoooooooo

Little Red Riding Hood
I'd like to hold you if I could
But you might think I'm a big bad wolf so I won't
Owoooooooo!

What a big heart I have -- the better to love you with
Little Red Riding Hood
Even bad wolves can be good
I'll try to keep satisfied just to walk close by your side
Maybe you'll see things my way before we get to grandma's place

Little Red Riding Hood
You sure are looking good
You're everything that a big bad wolf could want
Owoooooooo
I mean baaaaaa
Baaa?
Baaa

I first heard this song on the radio late at night in the basement of my grandma's place when I was a nine-year-old boy, and I sensed there was something thrilling about the lyrics that was just slightly beyond my ken . . .

Was Carter Kaplan singing this song last Saturday?