Jake Low
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of speaking with a man by the name of Cyrus Youngman when he was invited to speak to my Rhythm and Revolution class as a guest speaker. There is something about Cyrus that I connected with. Something about his energy that just seems to fill you with wonder, and you can tell when speaking with him that he is deeply passionate about music and also spreading positivity.
For a bit of background, Cyrus Youngman works as a postman for the United States Postal Service, however, his true passion is music. Cyrus was in a band called Cyrus Youngman and The Kingfishers and their last two recorded albums were Trip to Try in 2017 and Your Life Will Never be the Same from 2019. Both of these albums feature intense emotional lyrics about struggles with substance abuse such as in the song “Lindsey’s Daughter” as well as deeper messages that relate to social issues, such as the song “More of Us Than Them”, both from Trip to Try. Now, Cyrus is currently in the band Papa Warfleigh’s Funk Revival, and they play shows at Indiana venues.
Cyrus Youngman came into our classroom, and the first thing you notice about him is that he has a very unique aesthetic. That is in no way a dig on Cyrus, I think he has crafted his look very intentionally. On This particular day he was dressed in a checkered flannel with a white tee shirt underneath, blue skinny jeans that were tucked into black, calf-high riding boots, and atop his brown, wispy, shoulder-length hair was a plain, black, service-style peaked cap that some wear to it. However, Cyrus rocks this look. For a man with such intriguing things to say, it would be fitting for him to have an equally intriguing outfit.
One of the messages that Cyrus repeatedly preached was that we as humans need to strive to live within the bullseye of a target of love. This means freeing ourselves from poisonous feelings of anger, hatred and ridding toxic behaviors and habits from our lives, but more importantly being graceful to the people we cross paths with and treating everyone with kindness and respect. This includes people we may not so easily grant this grace to due to our own prejudices, such as people who have wronged us in times past, people we just dislike for petty personal reasons (such as differing politic beliefs, he used “Trump Supporters” for his example, which is a pretty ballsy move to tell a room of mostly, probably-not-conservative college students that they have to learn to love Trump Supporters), and complete and total strangers. This message stuck with me for weeks and just the other night I had the opportunity and pleasure of interviewing Cyrus over the phone to discuss music and its role in impacting social movements. It is my pleasure to share some of the answers Cyrus provided to the questions I prepared with you now.
How did you get your start as a musician? What drives you?
“I started playing music, I think, when I was twelve years old. I got my first guitar at the Folk Institute in Chicago. It’s a really cool place, but I can’t really take credit for choosing to go there. I think I just had a really neat mother. […] They teach kids how to play Folk music and we visited there, and we got a guitar. So I started playing, I really liked chords and I liked kind of the approach to playing guitar a lot better than piano. It was more about exploring and expressing yourself. I suppose I really always liked getting friends together for a purpose other than just sword fighting with sticks in the backyard. It was like ‘Oh. Now we have these […] better things made of wood and we’re serving the same purpose instead of imagination games, fighting evil, we’re actually using these pieces of wood that have been strung with steel strings to create these vibrations that are really loud and really complex and really powerful and I think as far as spirituality goes, I think emotions are a universal language and emotions are very spiritual. So in our way, we could still go out and fight the forces of evil, but now with are new and improved wooden sticks.”
What impact do you think music and musicians have on bringing about social change? Would you say your music pushes for social change of any kind?
“Definitely. I think that a lot of people are looking for someone or something to follow and when people are lost and religious institutions let them down, or the education sector lets them down, whatever facet of society lets them down, or their parents let them down, they are looking for someone or something to follow, someone or something to believe in. And so, whether for good or for bad, when a very charismatic person comes around who knows a thing or two about the way the world works—or at least, perhaps, the disfunction in the world—and starts speaking out about it, a lot of people get excited because they feel like ‘Ah yes. I felt the same thing and now I have this kind of soundtrack to my life, and I get to go to the show and feel that I’m not alone in my feelings’. So I think that it does come with a lot of responsibility. I think now that I’m not in my twenties anymore, I understand just how destructive self-pity can be and anthems of self-pity or despair or cynicism, because there’s a really easy mistake that people make when it comes to following somebody, and that’s that ‘the world is screwed up there for nothing matters’. If you get caught in that narrative, it’s a quick ticket to alcoholism, abusing sexuality, not being loyal in relationships, not taking care of your family and your friends, deep selfishness, and then eventually suicide. My favorite artists—or the most powerful artists—they’re aware of suffering, just like Sidhartha became aware of suffering, they’re aware of suffering just like Christ became aware of suffering. And they took on the weight of understanding that suffering, but then learned the very, very powerful white magic of transmuting pain into peace through compassion. That’s the most powerful thing you can do period. It doesn’t matter if you are a musician or not, it just so happens that musicians, they really are influential when it comes to people’s perspective on the way that life is and what’s possible, what’s right, and what’s cool.”
Do you believe that musicians have a responsibility to try to bring about change in the music they create? Why or why not?
“I think that before I answer that specific question, I’d like to talk about what ‘responsibility’ is. Because you either take responsibility or you don’t in your life. And a lot of people think that responsibility is like a job you sign up for or a choice. But it’s more just a reality or a way of being. If you are not responsible, then by default you’re irresponsible. So if you’re not aware that your decisions are making an impact, then you are, by default, irresponsible. I think that taking responsibility for your own life is the first step towards, not just success, but inner peace and inner fulfillment. Because one day, something’s going to come along and if you don’t respond properly to it, you will get injured or you will end up being helpless to help other people because you weren’t prepared to respond. I think that every musician, I would say, must take responsibility if they want the world to be a good place—just like you need to take responsibility in your friendships: Somebody needs you, right? If your best friend is going through a hard time, —or if his truck breaks down, or whatever—if you want to have a best friend you need to be there in thirty minutes; you need to respond. To put an endcap on that, the concept of Dharma—it’s a Buddhist concept—and it essentially means you have a sacred duty and if you keep your Dharma in mind at all times, then you are following your Dharma. So if you get married, or you fall in love, or you make oaths to somebody—whether or not with a minister present—you have a sacred duty to that person. Fulfil those oaths unless consciously, you both decide that it is absolutely best part ways. If you take on a job within the government, or the post office—or wherever—you have a sacred duty to the people you come in contact with and you have a sacred duty to be truthful and to be brave and to do the right thing. And if you’re on your Dharma and staying true to your Dharma, you will know what that is. So for musicians, I can think of a lot of fantastic musicians that follow their Dharma. Bob Marley—it’s unfortunate, but a lot of people who follow their Dharma end up getting shot—but then like, what kind of incredible changes did they bring about in the wake of their death. But yeah, I think that musicians are responsible. It doesn’t matter if you’re making a huge impact; you don’t have to be Bob Dylan. You’re responsible to the lives of people who are listening. There are a lot of people who listen to certain bands and the probability that they will end their life, or harm themselves, or harm someone else, or harm their family, or just not do anything good, is higher if they listen to certain bands. So yeah, if you’re making music, then you know you’re responsible for your fans. You’re responsible for their lives and their livelihood. They’re listening to you; they want to believe in you, and you better know what you’re talking about—even if it’s just a very light ‘let’s help you get through your day’, or sing a positive song about a relationship or this or that. It doesn’t have to be earthshaking. It just has to be moving a good direction.
It’s fitting that Cyrus mentioned Bob Dylan. Moving backward in time to Cyrus’s visit, he closed his visit by playing Dylan’s “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” for us on guitar and harmonica, also providing the vocals. It became apparent to me through my communications with Cyrus that Bob Dylan was a major influence for Cyrus as both a musician, but also as an activist. I got stayed after class and spoke to Cyrus in depth to thank him and to discuss music and we spoke about how I as a Christian who believes firmly that God is the one and only entity that has the right to judge any of us, so I really connected with his message of pursuing grace. We spoke about how from being a member of the Episcopal church I have seen firsthand how love and unity can help heal rifts between people who have not perhaps been mistreated in the past and how trust can be repaired through gracefulness. I shared how my pastor and several members of my church attended Indy Pride last year and how we had signs that said “Jesus Loves You” because despite what some Christians think, nothing separates us from the love of God. Jesus died to erase the sins of the Old Testament. As a Christian, I love everyone. That is why I resonated so strongly with Cyrus Youngman when he came to our class.
I would like to end this article by telling a funny story about something Cyrus did that I still think about and chuckle weeks later. When Cyrus came to our class, he didn’t come alone. He brought his partner, Amanda, with him. After getting to stay and chat with both Cyrus and Amanda after class, those of us who stayed gathered around for a picture. I was standing next Amanda and Cyrus was on the other side of her. And despite the seven of us being huddled rather close to each other I always try to be respectful personal space, especially women’s personal space, so I was leaving about 4 inches of space between her and I. Right before our professor snapped the picture, Cyrus just grabbed the back of my late Grandfather’s 80s Stokely Van Camp Era Gatorade jacket and shouted “What are you doing all the way over there? Come here, brother!” then pulled me in closer to them and the suddenness of it took me completely by surprise. I am not a small man. I am about 6’2” or 6’3” and some change in my Darth Vader Heeley’s I had on that day, and even with the wheels out of them, they’re hard to balance in. All those factors led to me almost crumpling like Ford Pinto hitting a guardrail at 90 miles an hour and nearly taking out Amanda. And I would’ve taken everyone to the left of us down with me if I hadn’t been able to catch my balance. So, at this point I am trying not to bust out laughing from Cyrus almost causing us to fall like dominos, and I am just barely able to keep my smile locked in for the photo. Here is the photo, and you can’t see it, but Cyrus is still holding the back of my jacket in it:
It was such a fun experience getting to know Cyrus as a musician and also just as an individual. He provided incredibly thoughtful and invaluable insights that I will take with me as I continue learning how to navigate through life. Thank you Cyrus Youngman. You are a gentleman and a scholar, and above all else, one groovy dude! If any of you want to learn more about Cyrus or from Cyrus, I am sure he would be more than happy to speak with you as well. Just reach out to him and prepare to have your minds blown and your worldviews expanded!