"You Are Familiar" by Secret & Whisper, Wednesday, August 4, 2021
A SILENT FIGURE, A VAPOR THAT LOOMS BEYOND. The lyrics of Great White Whale are inspired by Moby Dick combine with Furney's dreams and experiences. While tapping into the motif of loneliness in Melville's tome, Great White Whale explores the vast and mysterious world of the sea. In an interview with Charles Furney, he explains the meanings behind his songs. Furney talks about his Christianity and the supernatural, including his family being haunted by the ghost of his deceased brother. Both Great White Whale and Teenage Fantasy rely on the supernatural, whether ghosts, sea monsters, or Native American spirits, and deal very little with the Christian tradition. Great White Whale opens with the short atmospheric "Blonde Monster" and leads into "You Are Familiar." Both tracks were based on a recurring dream after a break up of a seven-year relationship, in which Furney meets a faceless figure. Furney's reaction to the dream was fascination rather than fear. He interpreted the dream as he hadn't met the love of his life yet and her face would eventually be filled in when he met her. To me, Great White Whale encapsulates the summer of 2008, the year I turned 21, bought my second used Toyota Corolla, went drove to Cornerstone, learned to appreciate the hilarious and misunderstood novel Moby Dick, and annoyed the passengers in my car with the screechy vocals of Charles Furney and Secret & Whisper.
BOTH OF US ARE CURIOUS. After high school comes the first burst of weddings. The high school sweethearts ready to make commitments that will last forty years or longer. Allan kept himself busy playing weddings almost every other Saturday from April to September and some Adventist weddings on Sundays too. He started out performing as ensemble with his music teacher and some of her students, earning a cut. As often the only male performer, he was tasked to do all of the set up and take down, which was quite a sweaty task in the North Carolina summer humidity. However, by 2008, as Mrs. Porter's health began to deteriorate with an undiagnosed illness, Allan played mostly solo. This summer in particular he had played three weddings for former classmates. When Allan played these weddings he wondered when his love story would happen to him. One wedding was particularly emotional for him. He was asked to play the wedding of his high school crush, whom he had never told anyone about. It would be in bad taste, particularly because the beautiful couple had started dating shortly after the late night conversation that confused Allan that he was in love. Just focus on the music. Vivaldi. “Canon in D.” Some Bach. The classical guitar off to the side as guests arrived. She had asked to walk down the aisle to "Sweet Hour of Prayer." "I listen to your recording of that song over and over again at home." As he played ideas of some deus ex machina ran through his mind. Perhaps she would realize that she hadn't lived enough before committing herself to another. Perhaps she would want to know what love was like outside of the one serious relationship she had from tenth grade to two years of college. But the gods didn't intervene. The wedding was boring. The unity candle, the prayer, the Southern Baptist sermon with a bit of antagonism toward the forces of evil in Washington. Pretty routine. Certainly, at some point, deus ex machina would intervene in Allan's life, bringing a beautiful blushing bride and end the heinous desires that kept him awake at night. Yes, someday that would happen. But after the wedding, all Allan wanted to do was to sweat on the front porch, leafing through a few chapters of the whale encyclopedia in Moby Dick.
"Blonde Monster" + "You Are Familiar"
"You Are Familiar"
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