You are unfortunate in my judgement, if you have not been unfortunate.
– Seneca, from On Providence
I don’t know how to describe how flippin’ brilliant Gang of Youths are and how bloody excellent their latest album is. So I’ll just demonstrate with a real life story, written in a way like I don’t know how to English and have never done the English before:
My friend=Prue. Prue went concert. Concert=Gang of Youths. Prue love Gang of Youths. Prue excited for concert. Concert start. Gang of Youths play the musics. Gang of Youths=good. Prue sing. Prue dance. Prue love Gang of Youths concert. Prue go crazy at concert. Gang of Youths lead singer=Dave Le’aupepe. Dave Le’aupepe throw jacket in crowd. Prue friend catch jacket. Prue cry. Friend give Prue jacket. Prue eyeballs head and heart explode. Prue=happy girl person woman. Okay the end bye bye.
This is also why and why I might’ve also cried if Dave Le’Aupepe threw his jacket to my friend.
Or this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZVl29c9mwM
The greatness of Go Farther in Lightness
My favourite album of the last year is this. It is incredible. And it’s too much to feature in one post, so I’m going to be going on about a shitload over the next few days.
Dave Le’aupepe wrote this album after the implosion of his marriage and for anyone who’s been suddenly rocked by sudden, unexpected events that tested you, Seneca’s On Providence is the perfect and most powerful book for it, and this album, Gang Of Youths Go Farther in Lightness is the album.
Persevere
Legacy, fame and status don’t matter shit. All that matters is living life how you want to. And doing the right thing by you, the people around you and the environment you live in. All the other stuff is bullshit.
And here’s the lyrics:
I never got to kiss your head, ah, Emme
And the call came the week I got divorced
I thought I had a real understanding then of loss
But I didn’t know a thing ’til you were gone
And I’m tired of trying to find some sort of meaningful thing
In making sense of such unspeakable loss
But as I’m staring at your folks, the sweetest people I know
I get a glimpse of what it is to be strong
Just holding hands and sobbing with sunglasses on[Chorus]
‘Cause nothing tuned me in to absurdity as fast
As a gravestone with the name of a baby that has passed
I used to wanna be important, now I just wanna be alive
And without fear
You got to persevere[Verse 2]
I couldn’t count the times I’ve ragged on heaven
As an opiate invented by the weak
It’s an argument I hate ’cause I’m content to love the fates
But it comes up a lot with Emme’s dad and me
So I’m shotgun in the car and we’re just shooting the shit
And predictably, the talking turns to God
So I throw him forty lines how I don’t think he exists
And he just smiles and takes a dignified pause
Says, “It’s okay to feel unbelievably lost”[Chorus]
But God is full of grace and his faithfulness is vast
There is safety in the moments when the shit has hit the fan
Not some vindictive motherfucker, nor is he shitty at his job
What words to hear
And I’m a mess by now
‘Cause nothing tuned me in to my failure as fast
As grieving for a friend with more belief than I possessed
“It’s not some disembodied heaven,” he assured me
Then he laughs and says through tears
“You got to persevere”
Persevere
Persevere
Persevere[Instrumental break][Outro]
We threw a party up in here, but God, it was bittersweet
I live hard ’cause I am scared that I won’t mean anything
So now I’m praying to the ceiling, to the windows, to the walls
Against this sudden sinking feeling that there’s nothing there at all
And still
We just persevere