Chuck Berry invented rock 'n' roll. He was one of the best songwriters of the 20th century. Ezra Furman More Quotes by Ezra Furman More Quotes From Ezra Furman I think I gravitate towards rock 'n' roll as a playground where I can say anything. Ezra Furman rocks say-anything thinking I'm an amateur at music and an amateur at most things. I like the idea of offering some music and some records and a website to people who feel perplexed. Ezra Furman offering people ideas I think most of the work of songwriting is thinking of great phrases - I'm addicted, always on the hunt for a really great phrase. Ezra Furman songwriting phrases thinking I had so many secrets and so much social repression throughout my life. I guess I'm just a shy person and feel like my true self is unacceptable to most people. Ezra Furman self secret people I think [rock'n'roll] essence is what made it good and has a lot in common with what originally made monotheism good - it's against everything that is fixed, all the social structures that you can't go past. Ezra Furman rocks past thinking What really is wild about rock 'n' roll? Nothing. It's so banal and so part of corporate culture. It threatens to lose all its life. Ezra Furman rock-n-roll rocks culture The Bible was so revolutionary and against all that came before it. It was a force for siding with the oppressed and a rebellion against hierarchical, ancient societies. Now it's institutionalized and all the life has been sucked out of it. Ezra Furman ancient rebellion revolutionary I'm certainly not interested in religion for religion's sake or for some kind of structure or stabilizing force. Religion is supposed to be for God's sake and God is an unpredictable, wild thing. Ezra Furman structure kind sake I thought [ as a kid], "Maybe I don't want to start a punk band necessarily. I just want to learn to be a great songwriter," and got really into trying to figure out how that could be possible. Ezra Furman band trying kids I was like, "Who the hell is Bob Dylan?" I was going to learn one song to appease my mom and alphabetically the first song in the book was "Absolutely Sweet Marie." When I heard it, it was like "Oh, there is something going on here. It's not like my parents' boring music that I don't care about. This is totally electrifying." Ezra Furman mom song sweet I wanted to get a guitar [when I was 13] so I could play punk songs because kid taught me power chords at summer camp. He was like, "You could play all punk songs if you just learn this chord and just move it around on the guitar". Ezra Furman summer song moving Blonde on Blonde by Bob Dylan I heard when I was 13. It was one of those things where it was like, "Hey, the world is much bigger than you imagined as a little kid." Ezra Furman hey blonde kids I'm a shy person whose very presence has become a confrontation. I think that's true of a lot of queer people. Ezra Furman true think shy people Just being gender non-conforming opens you to trouble from strangers. And violence. Ezra Furman strangers you gender violence You have to be an anti-racist to not be racist. Because it's just a cultural tide that will pull you into it if you're not swimming against it. Ezra Furman tide will you swimming It's a good feeling to not tell people what's going on. Ezra Furman feeling good tell people You know, a lot of people have an instinct to downplay the fact that they are performing and be, like, 'There is no theatre here. This is just me playing the songs.' At some point I just realised how much better it could be if you weren't shy about being a performer. Ezra Furman better me you people There is something embarrassing about asking for money, but if I hadn't done that, I would have not continued to be a professional musician. Ezra Furman professional something money done I guess I just do being a man different than some. Ezra Furman some being man different I want to make the greatest record ever made. It's the only thing I can think about. Ezra Furman only think i-can want
