Howl Lyrics
I held it in but now it seems you've set it running free
Screaming in the dark, I howl when we're apart
Drag my teeth across your chest to tast your beating heart
You are the moon that makes the night for which I have to howl
My fingers claw your skin, try to tempt my way in
You are the moon that breaks the night for which I have to
Howl, howl
My blood is singing with your voice, I want to pour it out
The saints can't help me now, the ropes have been unbound
I hunt for you with bloodied feet across the hallowed ground
I want to find you and tear out all of your tenderness
Howl, howl
Starts so soft and sweet and turns them into hunters
Hunters, hunters, hunters
Hunters, hunters, hunters
Until I wrap myself inside your arms I cannot rest
The saints can't help me now, the ropes have been unbound
I hunt for you with bloodied feet across the hallowed ground
Starts so soft and sweet and turns them into hunters
May still become a wolf when the autumn moon is bright
I held it in but now it seems you've set it running free
The saints can't help me now, the ropes have been unbound
I hunt for you with bloodied feet across the hallowed ground

Agreeing with everyone up their about it being about pure, animalistic, raw, intense passion or lust, sexual awakening etc.
I think it's further enunciated by these lines:
"Be careful of the curse that falls on young lovers Starts so soft and sweet and turns them into hunters
A man who's pure of heart and says his prayers by night May still become a wolf when the autumn moon is bright"
A new relationship may be nice and sweet and then suddenly bam, their want/lust for each other becomes so intense (i.e., the 'curse'). Likewise with the second part, a man who appears to be pure, innocent and religious, may still become overcome by passion and sexual desire for somebody (i.e, become the 'wolf', the animal inside him).
That's just my two cents. What a brilliant song it is!

It's about the sexual awakening of a young, inexperienced girl who becomes obsessed and has her actions dictated by sex. It's a very apt song when it comes to modern sexual attitudes.
I was going to say that, good to know I'm not alone. The song made me think of something different but reading the actual lyrics (couldn't understand them all!) made me feel how basically my first relationship made me crave physical stuff ALL THE TIME, even when we broke up I couldn't go back to how it was before.
I was going to say that, good to know I'm not alone. The song made me think of something different but reading the actual lyrics (couldn't understand them all!) made me feel how basically my first relationship made me crave physical stuff ALL THE TIME, even when we broke up I couldn't go back to how it was before.

i think it's about that attraction you feel towards to your first boyfriend/girlfriend when lust is still new to you

Honestly this is one of my favorite songs ever!
I agree with a lot of the previously posted comments and interpretations. This song is obviously about a woman whose love has crazed her.
I think her love has turned into an obsession because she has lost him. He hurt and her and her love for him is so strong she feels a need to hurt him with hers. "My fingers claw your skin, try to tear my way in"
She wants to punish him and make her love him.
"I held it in but now it seems you've set it running free Screaming in the dark, I howl when we're apart Drag my teeth across your chest to taste your beating heart"
He is obviously gone and now she is realizing the loss of him is affecting her. she is feeling wounded and wants to feel his life and love. There are little hints to suggest she would wound him too. "Drag my teeth" "Claw your skin" "Hunt for you"
She feels that if she is with him again that he will purify her and make her feel loved and that's when she can rest. "The fabric of your flesh, pure as a wedding dress. Until I wrap myself inside your arms I cannot rest"
"A man who's pure of heart and says his prayers by night May still become a wolf when the autumn moon is bright" I think she is hinting at a deception. She thought he was pure and then he revealed he was a wolf.
I know some people may not agree with my interpretions but i just wanted to share
that's exactly what i get from this song, i could never see anything sexual about it, like everyone else is saying
that's exactly what i get from this song, i could never see anything sexual about it, like everyone else is saying
@heyykatee Oooh, whilst I wrote a comment about sexual awakening etc, I do really like your interpretation. :)
@heyykatee Oooh, whilst I wrote a comment about sexual awakening etc, I do really like your interpretation. :)

Reading all these comments makes me feel old, but lucky--lucky because I have lived long enough to experience what this song is really about...PASSION! Pure and simple. It is about the kind of passion not everyone gets to experience; but, if you do, you will understand completely. No one is doing anyone else wrong or leaving or hurting. It is simply about the kind of passion that consumes your every waking moment and makes you think you will go insane until you are together again. It makes you want to crawl inside each other and possess every part of them. Nothing bad about this song, kids. You just haven't been there yet!
:) Thank you for writing this Pauline. I've felt like this too & you've perfectly described it! I'm 25 but feel older because of it.
:) Thank you for writing this Pauline. I've felt like this too & you've perfectly described it! I'm 25 but feel older because of it.

I'm surprised no one's considered the possibility that she's singing as herself about a woman?
The song completely encapsulates both the obsessive desperate longing and the bitter guilt that you feel - it makes you feel like a monster, hence the werewolf refferences. And it's made worse by the fact that she's so virtuous 'pure as a wedding dress'. And of course it's sinful by any religion 'the saints can't help me now'. But ultimatly uncontrollable 'I hunt for you with bloodied feet' ... slightly subtler than 'I kissed a girl and I liked it' ...
Good to see someone else who can interpret symbols and not take everything entirely literally. I think you're getting at the meaning of the song.
Good to see someone else who can interpret symbols and not take everything entirely literally. I think you're getting at the meaning of the song.
OH MY GOD! now that you mention it it makes so much sense there also seems to be a hint of lust perhaps she's also really ashamed of her attraction to this other woman but still feels it it to me would also suggest that they live in a different time from now (i'm gonna say the edwardian period out of my preference) when homosexuality is at the least illegal and for that matter Florence could be singing as a man to another man the wedding dress line could be him wishing that he were female and at least that way they could be lovers...
OH MY GOD! now that you mention it it makes so much sense there also seems to be a hint of lust perhaps she's also really ashamed of her attraction to this other woman but still feels it it to me would also suggest that they live in a different time from now (i'm gonna say the edwardian period out of my preference) when homosexuality is at the least illegal and for that matter Florence could be singing as a man to another man the wedding dress line could be him wishing that he were female and at least that way they could be lovers
Thank you for saying this!! i love you, haha. As a woman who fell in love with someone of the same sex this song perfectly encapsulates so many aspects if it. I can really relate to it. There's the passion and the intense emotion the desperation, neediness, the obsession. But there's also the GUILT. Others haven't really picked up on that as much. Lots of religious imagery, feeling like your a monster, but you just can't control it, like the saints can't help you.. love this song! So intense and POETIC!!
Thank you for saying this!! i love you, haha. As a woman who fell in love with someone of the same sex this song perfectly encapsulates so many aspects if it. I can really relate to it. There's the passion and the intense emotion the desperation, neediness, the obsession. But there's also the GUILT. Others haven't really picked up on that as much. Lots of religious imagery, feeling like your a monster, but you just can't control it, like the saints can't help you.. love this song! So intense and POETIC!!

Has anyone thought of it as maybe trying to get revenge on a man who abused her? Just a thought. I haven't really deeply read the lyrics, but from a quick glance, I see how this might make some sense.

I love the aspect of the beast being there before love released it. It is not as though the romantic connection created the beast.

I think it's about your first love or any true love and how that feeling takes you over, like a wolf during a full moon (the beast you made of me). And once you no longer have that love you're turned into a hunter searching for that love, that feeling you once had. (Be careful of the curse that falls on young lovers Starts so soft and sweet and turns them into hunters)

I'm a Therian, and In my opinion this song would fit a female wolf with no anger issues(the anger issues as the curse) and the guy has anger issues and he got mad at the girl hits the girl and runs off shifted I. His Wolf form that's howhe becomes said wolf in the autum light. But the girl gets lonely and she starts to get weak and Angry that he left her so she became a beast looking for him, but she's only looking for him to tear him apart so she sends a nice message (through howling) to confuse him and she ends up the beast so she becomes a hunter. Make sense? Probably not :p