Is it appropriate to talk about this album once again? I believe so. And the reason is very simple. More than two years after its release, we can finally assert that it can be considered a classic. Bold? Perhaps, everything can be. How many albums from this century can be said the same? Few, undoubtedly. It seems to me that this one has all the hallmarks for the aforementioned definition to be accepted. Let's see.
The songwriting. Pianistic. Traditional. We are always in the realm of verses and choruses, rarely does a bridge precede the refrain; Antony is more likely to go directly, skipping it. Nothing new. Everything has been heard before. Yet, it's hard to understand where, when, in which other album. A simplicity that is not minimalism, but a search for essentiality, liberation from the superfluous, a tension towards the absolute.
The arrangements and production. Electric guitar and brass in just one track. For the rest, strings. Never overwhelming, always respectful of Antony's writing, his voice, and his piano. It is evident that Thomas Newman has worked mostly for cinema. He knows when the sound needs to be drier and when fuller, when it should engage and when it should allow the protagonist's breath to be heard.
The singing. I can confidently say that Antony is an extraordinary singer. There are incredible guests, considering it's the album of a near beginner. From Antony's childhood idols (Boy George) to those who helped him (Lou Reed) to his friends (Devendra Banhart) yet Antony outshines them all (except perhaps Rufus Wainwright, in the short "What Can I Do", but it ends in a draw). The comparison, among those circulating and which seems to me the most apt, is with Nina Simone. A woman's voice that seems like a man's, for a man who tries to be a woman.
The cover. "Candy Darling On Her Deathbed", a photograph by Peter Hujar from 1974. A portrait in a hospital taken a few days before Candy Darling (the one from "Candy Says", to be clear, and also a star in a couple of Warhol films) died of leukemia. A poignant black and white that perfectly captures not only the music it contains, but I believe also Antony's state of mind. A body so difficult to accept, that death at certain moments can seem the only way out of the suffering of living.
The lyrics. That this is an album that narrates an invincible struggle with sadness seems evident to me. At the same time, there is always such a will to fight, which nonetheless instills optimism. Like the music, the lyrics are simple and direct, yet effective. The condition as a transgender is narrated by Antony without any pretense, but with a purity that involves us. "One day I'll grow up, I'll be a beautiful woman, I'll be a beautiful girl, but for today I'm a child, for today I'm a boy".
In conclusion. There are, I believe, some questions that those who have been listening to music for many years, occasionally ask themselves. The main one is whether one will still be able to be moved and touched when listening to a new album. Whether it is possible to write songs that one hasn't already heard thousands of times. Whether someone can express their art, raw and unadulterated, for what it is, without considering whether their albums will sell or their videos will be aired on MTV. Antony and the Johnsons tell us yes. And for this, we are grateful to them. Because they still make us believe.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Hope There's Someone (04:21)
Hope there's someone
Who'll take care of me
When I die, will I go
Hope there's someone
Who'll set my heart free
Nice to hold when I'm tired
There's a ghost on the horizon
When I go to bed
How can I fall asleep at night
How will I rest my head
Oh I'm scared of the middle place
Between light and nowhere
I don't want to be the one
Left in there, left in there
There's a man on the horizon
Wish that I'd go to bed
If I fall to his feet tonight
Will allow rest my head
So here's hoping I will not drown
Or paralyze in light
And godsend I don't want to go
To the seal's watershed
Hope there's someone
Who'll take care of me
When I die, Will I go
Hope there's someone
Who'll set my heart free
Nice to hold when I'm tired
02 My Lady Story (03:33)
My lady story
My lady story
My lady story
Is one of annihilation
My lady story
Is one of breast amputation
My lady story
My lady story
I'm a hole in love
I'm a bride on fire
I am twisted
Into a starve of wire
My lady story
My lady story
Lie in road for you
And I've been your slave
My womb's an ocean full of
Grief and rage
My lady story
My lady story
My lady story
My lady story
And still you're coaxing me
To come on out and live
Well I'm a crippled dog
I've got nothing to give
My lady story
My lady story
My lady story
My lady story
I'm so broken babe
But I want to see
Some shining eye
Some of my beauty
My lostest beauty
My lostest beauty
03 For Today I Am a Boy (02:36)
One day I’ll grow up, I’ll be a beautiful woman.
One day I’ll grow up, I’ll be a beautiful girl.
One day I’ll grow up, I’ll be a beautiful woman.
One day I’ll grow up, I’ll be a beautiful girl.
But for today I am a child, for today I am a boy.
For today I am a child, for today I am a boy.
For today I am a child, for today I am a boy.
One day I’ll grow up, I’ll feel the power in me.
One day I’ll grow up, of this I’m sure.
One day I’ll grow up, I know whom within me.
One day I’ll grow up, feel it full and pure.
But for today I am a child, for today I am a boy.
For today I am a child, for today I am a boy.
For today I am a child, for today I am a boy.
For today I am a child, for today I am a boy.
For today I am a child, for today I am a boy.
For today I am a child, for today I am a boy.
For today I am a child, for today I am a boy
05 You Are My Sister (03:59)
You are my sister, we were born
So innocent, so full of need
There were times we were friends but times I was so cruel
Each night I'd ask for you to watch me as I sleep
I was so afraid of the night
You seemed to move through the places that I feared
You lived inside my world so softly
Protected only by the kindness of your nature
You are my sister
And I love you
May all of your dreams come true
We felt so differently then
So similar over the years
The way we laugh the way we experience pain
So many memories
But theres nothing left to gain from remembering
Faces and worlds that no one else will ever know
You are my sister
And I love you
May all of your dreams come true
I want this for you
They're gonna come true (gonna come true)
08 Spiralling (04:25)
Well and I can and I die
I can, I die
Well and I'm freezing
I'm freezing
Well it's a sly curse
A sly curse
Well and I'm spiralling
I'm spiralling
In the broken heart game
I've got all my files
I've got all my ones to choose from
I gave waiting for you
Waiting for you
I'm ravage like a dog in heat
I'm gone, gone
???
I am, I'm undone
I am undone
Where go, where now
I can't stand
If I can, I can die
I'm freezing
It's like us
I'm spiralling
In my cruel life God poisoned
I was born old
Not a girl and not a jewel
I am,I am some son
I am some bum
Where go, where now
I can't stand
If I can, I can die
I'm freezing
It's like us
I'm spiralling
10 Bird Gerhl (03:14)
I am a bird girl now
I've got my heart
Here in my hands now
I've been searching
For my wings some time
I'm gonna be born
Into soon the sky
'Cause I'm a bird girl
And the bird girls go to heaven
I'm a bird girl
And the bird girls can fly
Bird girls can fly
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Other reviews
By sodo_caustico
Antony has a wo-n-der-ful voice, Lou Reed called it 'angelic.'
Recommended: to those who welcome anyone with open arms, without knowing their name.
By Leroy Jones
Your heart, after listening, will never be the same.
Perhaps a single word can encapsulate the essence of this album: unique.
By anitaerrabunda
This album encapsulates the story of a child, perhaps recounted by a kind of Pierrot, on a rainy night in the warmth of circus caravans.
It is one of the most moving albums I’ve heard lately.
By Mariaelena
Antony’s voice is not only inimitable but also of a painful, unparalleled beauty.
His music is a continuous pulse of life agglomerated to the despair that cries out for help.