Coyotes in popular culture

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The coyote is a popular figure in folklore and popular culture. References may invoke either the animal coyote (a wild canine native to North America), or the mythological figure Coyote, common to many myths of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Traits commonly described include inventiveness, mischievousness, and evasiveness.

Contents 1 In folklore 2 In literature 3 In song 4 In comics, manga, and cartoons 5 In motion pictures and television 6 In sports and games

[edit] In folklore

Main article: Coyote (mythology)

Coyote is a mythological figure common to many Native American cultures, based on the coyote animal. This character is usually male and is generally anthropomorphic. The myths and legends which include Coyote vary widely from culture to culture. He can play the role of trickster or culture hero (or both), and also often appears in creation myths and just-so stories.

[edit] In literature

• In The Book of Sorrows by Walter Wangerin Jr., sequel to the award-winning The Book of the Dun Cow, the coyote Ferric is a skinny, scared creature struggling to feed his wife Rachael and their three pups, and to protect them from the cruel, wild world outside the den. As he travels far from home looking for food in the barren winter, he accidentally sets in motion a chain of events that bring Heaven and Hell crashing down upon him, and on every living thing in the land.
• In Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore, Coyote the trickster appears as the companion of the protagonist, Samuel Hunter, a Crow Indian insurance salesman. A number of traditional Crow stories about Coyote are used as vignettes in the narrative.
• In Buffalo Gals by Ursula Le Guin, Coyote the trickster and creator is a central character.
• In Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King, Coyote again appears as the trickster
• In Sky Coyote by Kage Baker, the role of "Sky Coyote" is taken on by the cyborg Joseph in order to convince a Chumash community in California to evacuate before Europeans could wipe them out in 1700.
• In New Coyote by Michael Bergey, Coyote appears as the main character.
• In Summerland by Michael Chabon, Coyote is the primary antagonist, trying to destroy the world, by attempting to poison the collossal invisible tree that makes up the universe. His motive for doing this is so that he can destroy "Mr. Wood", the creater of the universe, along with everything else, except for himself. His reasoning for this is so that he can go from his "Changer" (trickster) status, to Maker status and make a universe all of his own.

[edit] In song

• "Coyote", a song on the 1976 Joni Mitchell album Hejira
• "Coyote", a song on the 1977 Country Joe and the Fish album Rock and Roll Music from the Planet Earth
• "Coyote", a song on the 1983 Bill Staines album Sandstone Cathedrals
• "Coyote", a song on the 1987 Bill Harley album Coyote
• "Coyote", a song on the 1993 Velvet Underground album Live MCMXCIII
• "Coyote", a song on the 1995 Better than Ezra album Deluxe
• "Coyote", a song on the 2002 Mark Knopfler album The Ragpicker's Dream
• "Coyote", a song on the 2005 Jenny Owen Youngs album Batten the Hatches
• "Coyotes", a song on the 1998 Don Edwards album Best of Don Edwards; also on the soundtrack of 2005 movie Grizzly Man
• "Coyote Love", a song on the 1992 Joe Walsh album Songs for a Dying Planet
• "Coyote Serenade", a song on the Sons of the Pioneers album Symphonies of the Sage
• "Coyote Wind" from the R. Carlos Nakai album Mythic Dreamer
• "Double Coyote", a song on the 1991 Damn Yankees album Don't Tread
• "El Coyote", a song on the 1986 Kris Kristofferson album Repossessed
• Ghetto Kyote is a popular title for Freestyles in English Hip Hop, especially by the artist Kano.
• "Light Rail Coyote", a song on the 2002 Sleater-Kinney album One Beat
• "Old Coyote Town", a song on the 1987 Don Williams album Traces
• "The Beauty Way", a song on the Eliza Gilkyson album Delirium Tremlors
• "True Men Don't Kill Coyotes", a song on the 1984 RHCP album, The Red Hot Chili Peppers

[edit] In comics, manga, and cartoons

• Wile E. Coyote is a Warner Brothers cartoon coyote who is endlessly trying to catch and eat an extremely fast Road Runner with his tricks, many of which involve technology or Rube Goldberg machines. His efforts are always futile, and he usually harms himself in the effort. It is likely that the stereotype of Coyote-as-trickster helped form the basis of this protagonist. The cartoon character Wile E. Coyote has a comically exaggerated nose, tail and ears, inspired by the appearance of the real animal. (Many of the other Warner Brothers cartoon characters also share some qualities with the trickster Coyote, especially Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny.)
• In the Disney cartoon show Gargoyles, Coyote is the name of a series of robots of human level intelligence created by Xanatos and having his personality. Also, the mythical Coyote the trickster makes an appearance in the episode "Cloud Fathers", and is portrayed as one of Oberon's children.

• Tommy the Coyote is a character in the animated television series Father of the Pride. He is voiced by David Spade.

• In the animated movie Barnyard: The Original Party Animals, a pack of coyotes are the main antagonists. The pack is lead by a villainous coyote named Dag, who is voiced by David Koechner.

[edit] In motion pictures and television

• The Simpsons, Episode 3F24 ("El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer") - A coyote voiced by music legend Johnny Cash plays the role of Homer Simpson's Spirit Guide. Homer refers to his Spirit Guide as the "Space Coyote." When Space Coyote instinctually starts gnawing on Homer's leg he quickly stops and apologizes by saying, "Sorry. I am a coyote."

• In the movie Coyote Ugly, Lil, the bar owner, explains that she named her bar after the slang term "coyote ugly", which refers to the feeling of waking up after a one night stand and discovering that you are beside someone who is so physically repulsive that you would gladly gnaw off any of your limbs that he or she is sleeping on just so you can get away without being discovered. Many wild animals, including coyotes, will gnaw off limbs in order to escape traps.

[edit] In sports and games

• The San Antonio Spurs NBA basketball team has used a coyote as its mascot for more than 22 years. The character was created by Tim Derk.
• The Phoenix NHL ice hockey team is the Phoenix Coyotes.
• The University of South Dakota athletic teams are also called the Coyotes.
• In White Wolf, Inc.'s roleplaying game Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Coyote is a Totem for the Garou (werewolves) and even more so for the Nuwisha (were-coyotes).