Phoebe Bridgers sent a potent message to Texas’ Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday (Oct. 1) via a cover of Bo Burnham’s “That Funny Feeling,” with proceeds going to Texas Abortion Funds.
Bridgers has been performing the song on her fall U.S. tour, and the Bandcamp Friday track will split funds between 10 organizations: Texas Equal Access Fund, The Bridge Collective, Clinic Access Support Network, West Fund, Jane’s Due Process, Fund Texas Choice, Support Your Sistah at the Afiya Center, the Lilith Fund, Frontera Fund, and Whole Woman’s Health Alliance, Inc.
In a statement about the release, Bridgers said, “This one’s for Greg Abbott.” The song from Burnham’s mind-blowing, Emmy-winning pandemic special Inside is a free-associative list of the mind-clouding barrage of images and memes that are constantly bombarding us and giving us, well, that funny feeling.
“Female Colonel Sanders, easy answers, civil war/ The whole world at your fingertips, the ocean at your door/ The live-action Lion King, the Pepsi Halftime Show/ Twenty-thousand years of this, seven more to go/ Carpool Karaoke, Steve Aoki, Logan Paul/ A gift shop at the gun range, a mass shooting at the mall/ There it is again/ That funny feeling,” Burnham sings on the folky song in the special.
In May, Abbott signed into law one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion measures, which bans the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy. It also employs a controversial method of enforcement that allows any private citizen to sue doctors, abortion clinics, as well as anyone who unknowingly helps women obtain an abortion — including ride-sharing drivers — for $10,000 or more. Many women are not even aware they are pregnant at the six-week mark.
Bridgers’ hushed, contemplative take features her on guitar and vocals, with help from Ethan Gruska (keyboards), Harrison Whitford (guitar), Christian Lee Hutson (guitar), Rob Moose (violin), Sebastian Steinberg (bass), Marshall Vore (drums), Nate Walcott (trumpet) and backing vocals from Maria Taylor.
Listen to the song below.
