If you’ve been keeping up with the latest season of Sex Education on Netlfix, you may have already heard the moving song “Trans Mantra” written and performed by Ezra Furman. Furman has worked tirelessly for years in relative folk rock obscurity with the band Ezra Furman and the Harpoons before reaching more success as a solo artist with a string of five albums, the first from 2012.
The 34-year-old musician is an acclaimed indie rocker, author of the 33 1/3 series book Transformer (about the Lou Reed album), an observant Jew, a transgender woman, and a mother. Furman came out as transgender in April 2021, writing on Instagram, “I’ve come to terms with the fact that I am a woman, and yes for me it’s complex, but it’s complex to be any sort of woman. I am very proud to be a trans woman and to have come to know it and be able to say it.”
Here, in “Trans Mantra,” released on the EP Sex Education – Songs from Season 3, she delivers some painful poetry wrapped up in a catchy beat. It’s not necessarily an uplifting song, but it’s powerful and necessary in our current space and need for understanding. It’s likely that there are elements to her lyrics that will speak to listeners from all walks of life.
I wake up early to get things started
I do my make up and I do my hair
I practice walking and speaking softly
So it looks easy as if I don’t care
On bad days I take it slowly
On good days I’m up and out in an hour
The past is over it’s just behind me
It’s getting closer but it holds no power