On a day when Andy Samberg and John Mulaney filled in for a COVID-stricken Kimmel on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Gang of Youths performed a song about reckoning with an absent male authority figure: “forbearance.”
The song comes from angel in realtime., Gang of Youths’ stunning new album about the life, death, secrets, and legacy of frontman David Le’aupepe’s father. Le’aupepe performed while playing the keyboard, and when he sang about getting drunk and being “a big piece of…” he smiled and changed the word to “it,” to appease the network television censors.
But the rest of the song was tender, almost internal; for a scene set in hospice, Le’aupepe closed his eyes to sing, “I just wish that I’d said/ Something more than I’d be back in ten/ And if I went there in time/ I’d take a second to go and kiss you goodbye.” You’re lucky if you don’t know what he was thinking behind his closed eyelids. Check out “forbearance” below.
In March, Gang of Youths joined our friends at The What podcast to talk about their new album, and last month they performed “in the wake of your leave” on Fallon.
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