“I’ve always viewed the idea of truth itself as something wobbly, always slipping out of our grasp. That’s what the songs are about: a head that is haunted, a society I cannot join, a lover who is perpetually in the act of leaving.” Ezra Furman, 2015.
Ambaiste, ach tá faobhar ar inchinn an amhránaí óig seo as Chicago, Illnois, agus rancás ag baint leis an mélange de cheol doo-wop na 50í, indie-rock smuilcíneach Violent Femmes agus fuaim mhór stóinsithe an E Street Band atá le clos ar Perpetual Motion People.
Trí amhrán isteach sa tríú halbam seo le Ezra Furman, nuair a scaoileann sé leis an líne “I’m having too much fun, my arms around the toilet like a long lost chum”, tuigtear go bhfuil comrádaí nua ceoil casta orainn.
Tá glór Furman féin ina rud tanaí a chuirfeadh an Dylan óg i gcuimhne duit, ach is féidir lorg a shinsearachta cultúrtha déghnéasaí a leanúint ó amhránaithe mar Bobby Conn agus David Bowie siar chomh fada le Billie Holiday féin.
Níos mó de ‘Existential Transgender Blues’ ná ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ a bhfuil i Perpetual Motion People, abair.
Mar a chanann Furman go misniúil, trodach ar ‘Body’,“My body was made in this particular way, there’s really nothing any orthopedician can say, you social police can just get out of my face.”
Pé acu gur áil linn nó a mhalairt, níl an chumhacht chéanna ag an amhrán chun dul i ngleic le tabúnna na sochaí meánaicmí agus a bhí in aimsir Holiday.
Ach ná bíodh sin ina bhac ar theachtaireacht shimplí Furman: dúisigh, is déan do rogha rud féin le do shaol!
Nó, mar a chanann sé ar ‘Hark To Music’, “crawl out your holes, you little wretches, it’s time to crawl out of your holes, and dig out your souls.”
Éiríonn leis bunús a tharraingteachta mar chumadóir a chur i mbeagán focal leis an líne “I’ve got a bright future in music, as long as I never find true happiness” (‘Watch You Go By’).
Gura fada míshuaimhneach, iarghnóch é.
