Bullfighter by Eric Slick

Bullfighter is a song cycle about the first Jewish American matador, Sidney Franklin. It’s also the story of coming to terms with my family’s Jewish identity. It was important to juxtapose Sidney’s struggles with my own. The name of the piece serves as a double meaning. It comes from my fascination with astrology - I’m a Taurus, and the bull is a stubborn opponent.

Bullfighter is comprised of vocals, string quartet, piano, synthesizer, and drums. The string quartet portion was written in a week and recorded in about 2 hours. My good friend Michael Johnson fleshed out the rest over the course of a year. He transformed a two dimensional picture into a beautiful panorama.

This piece of music is important to me. It’s not light-hearted. After releasing my first record, I realized that I had to tap into my own vulnerabilities more. I re-wrote the lyrics to Bullfighter over and over again in the hopes that I could get closer to my version of the truth. Writing it brought me closer with members of my family that I hadn’t spoken with in years.

I hope that it will be transformative for the listener. It’s a document of working through my own personal trauma. I wanted it to feel circuitous. In the end, I realized that death and life are all the same, and that suffering is fleeting.

Eric Slick is a musician/songwriter from Philadelphia who currently resides in Nashville.

ericslick.com
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