Ezra Furman

I see a skill developing of writing about not just feelings that I'm feeling, but things that I deeply care about as…

— Ezra Furman

I think of myself as someone who's trying to be a great songwriter and a great performer. And I mean really great.

— Ezra Furman

My favourite artists are the ones who are human, and you know they're not in a failure-proof environment.

— Ezra Furman

I love obsessive fandom because I'm an obsessive fan who flips out over music.

— Ezra Furman

I'm just grateful to people who are willing to admit how bad things feel for them.

— Ezra Furman

I want to make the greatest record ever made. It's the only thing I can think about.

— Ezra Furman

We need a lot more visibility of queer people in public life. People gotta get used to it.

— Ezra Furman

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

My focus is matters of the heart and matters of the spirit, emotion and passion and stuff like that. But I think…

— Ezra Furman

We spent a lot of time making 'Transangelic Exodus' and toward the end of it, my ability and my love for music…

— Ezra Furman

You know, a lot of people have an instinct to downplay the fact that they are performing and be, like, 'There is…

— Ezra Furman

I don't really believe in trying to erase every Woody Allen movie from history. For one thing, that's kind of unfair to…

— Ezra Furman

I thought [ as a kid], "Maybe I don't want to start a punk band necessarily. I just want to learn to…

— Ezra Furman

To have knowledge of Judaism and to be a religious Jew or an interested Jew, is to have a doorway into a…

— Ezra Furman

Jews like to write and sing. In America, a lot of us have been eager to show that we're part of American…

— Ezra Furman

You have to be an anti-racist to not be racist. Because it's just a cultural tide that will pull you into it…

— Ezra Furman

We take a lot of inspiration from punk rock and early rock 'n' roll from the '50s and early '60s.

— Ezra Furman

Chuck Berry invented rock 'n' roll. He was one of the best songwriters of the 20th century.

— Ezra Furman

I'm trying to be an activist, and I think of that as separate from my work as an artist. But it isn't.

— Ezra Furman

I'm interested in God. I'm not interested in religion for religion's sake.

— Ezra Furman

Once you admit how bad it feels to live in a broken society, you can start to resist it, and imagine a…

— Ezra Furman

I was thinking very carefully about going into education, becoming a teacher, maybe becoming a rabbi.

— Ezra Furman

I think most of the work of songwriting is thinking of great phrases - I'm addicted, always on the hunt for a…

— Ezra Furman

I feel like my consignment and fear from people pushed me to become a performer.

— Ezra Furman

I don't like the notion that artists have a responsibility to be political.

— Ezra Furman

I think I gravitate towards rock 'n' roll as a playground where I can say anything.

— Ezra Furman

A repressed person overcoming their repression always makes good music.

— Ezra Furman

Just being a normal person and having a social life involves a lot of dishonesty for me.

— Ezra Furman

You have to make a character of yourself if you're going to be known to strangers.

— Ezra Furman

I grew up attending a Conservative day school, Solomon Schechter, until I was about 14, and going to a Reconstructionist synagogue.

— Ezra Furman

I think of myself as a tomgirl. A boy who's girly in every presentational aspect. And I play guitar and write good…

— Ezra Furman

A lot of bands break through with their third record: the White Stripes, the Clash, the Replacements.

— Ezra Furman

The Velvet Underground is probably the best band that's ever existed, assuredly the best American one.

— Ezra Furman

My bassist Jorgen Jorgensen opened up my life to a lot of great, obscure old soul records.

— Ezra Furman

Some part of me hopes for a guardian angel to protect me and other people who need protection.

— Ezra Furman

I heard the Velvet Underground and that changed things when I was like, 15.

— Ezra Furman

I get stage fright really bad sometimes, so touring has been hard on me in a lot of ways. But despite that,…

— Ezra Furman

I honestly feel like I've been mostly toiling in obscurity until a little bit after 'Day Of the Dog' came out.

— Ezra Furman

My two most fervent interests are pop music and traditional Judaism. Hell of a pair of fervent interests.

— Ezra Furman

What really is wild about rock 'n' roll? Nothing. It's so banal and so part of corporate culture. It threatens to lose…

— Ezra Furman