Video: Purr – “The Natural”

Directed by Eliza Soros and Eliza Barry Callahan. Single out now on Anti-.

Purr is Eliza Barry Callahan and Jack Staffen, a couple of New York City kids who have been making music together since 2014 when they were teenagers.

Eliza Callahan says, “The song takes on growing up and getting older—that trope (and the truth) of trying to make it while you’re still young and the ways in which we seem to perform as we strive to project our authentic selves. Of course, there’s some love involved too…”

Ahhhh, trying to make it while you’re still young. Remember that? When I was in my twenties I was convinced that my friends and I were all geniuses, just waiting to get our shot. At what? Who knows. But it seemed like the opportunity was right around the corner.

You said I still look seventeen
“You’ve got a few years left to make it in a magazine.”

It’s sort of funny how young people are so concerned about growing up and getting older. You want to shake them and scream, “You’re still young! Enjoy it! Stop worrying about the passing of time and all of its sickening crimes!” But of course an 80 year old would probably say the same thing to me. So it goes. Hakuna matata.

But what a great song! Pedal steel flourishes, kind of a Topanga vibe, world-weary vocals. So good.

Callahan wrote that it was “recorded live with Jack on keys, Jonathan Rado on bass, and Dan Bailey on what some call skins. This song feels closer to my heart than other songs I’ve written perhaps because it includes topics such as impatience, my father, love, jealousy, winning, and boredom in the middle of the night. Play it on the open road—windows up or down.”

I will. And when I do, I’ll try not to beat my younger self up for wasting his youth worrying about the inevitable. These days, I feel lucky to be alive every morning I wake up. (Not really, but I should!)