Alejandro Escovedo (born January 10, 1951, in San Antonio, Texas) is a Mexi… Read Full Bio ↴Alejandro Escovedo (born January 10, 1951, in San Antonio, Texas) is a Mexican-American singer-songwriter.

Escovedo's family tree includes former Santana percussionist Pete Escovedo and Pete's daughter, Sheila E (also Prince's former drummer and later a pop star). He began his music career with the Nuns, a mid-'70s punk band based in San Francisco. He co-founded the pioneering cowpunk band Rank and File in 1979, which moved to Austin, Texas, in 1981 after a stint in New York City. The band released Sundown on Slash Records in 1982, but shortly after, Escovedo left to form the True Believers with brother Javier. The band recorded two albums for EMI and toured the country, often as an opening act for Los Lobos. However, EMI opted not to release the second album, which eventually led to the group's break-up. (It eventually surfaced as a bonus item when Rykodisc reissued the first set on CD in 1994.)

Escovedo released a solo album in 1992 on Watermelon Records, Gravity, uniting his wide variety of styles; the album was produced by Stephen Bruton of Bonnie Raitt's band. Escovedo also began gigging periodically with the band Buick MacKane, who fused old-school punk with 70's glam rock; after Rykodisc released Escovedo's With These Hands in 1996, they followed it up with Buick MacKane's long-awaited album. After Escovedo parted ways with Rykodisc, he signed with the Chicago-based alt-country label Bloodshot in 1998, who released the live album More Miles Than Money: Live 1994-1996 and the acclaimed studio set A Man Under The Influence.

In April of 2003, Escovedo collapsed following a show in Phoenix, AZ, and he was subsequently diagnosed with Hepatitis C. An outpouring of support from musicians led to a series of successful benefit concerts to help pay Escovedo's medical expenses and keep his music before the public, followed by a tribute album, Por Vida: A Tribute to the Songs of Alejandro Escovedo, which was released in 2004.

In June 2010, Escovedo released Street Songs of Love.

Looking For Love
Alejandro Escovedo Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I believe all that you've written
I believe all that you know
Has somehow been mistaken
For the truth inside this show
We weren't looking for love
We weren't looking for love

Two strangers make a fire

Wrap themselves in heat
And feed off their desire
As they watch the desert sleep
They weren't looking for love
They weren't looking for love

One true love
One true love
One true love

They say the party's over
The sacrifice complete
I feel I'm so much older
Since we drank up all the heat
We weren't looking for love
We weren't looking for love

One true love

One true love
One true love

Overall Meaning

In "Looking for Love," Alejandro Escovedo sings about two people who came together unexpectedly and found themselves in a passionate affair. The opening lines of the song suggest that the singer believes everything his lover has told him or her, but that their relationship has been based on false pretenses. Despite this, the two of them have found themselves enmeshed in a powerful connection that they never intended to find. They "weren't looking for love," but love found them anyway.

The image of two strangers making a fire and wrapping themselves in heat is a poignant one; it suggests that they are seeking solace and refuge from an unfriendly world. As they watch the desert sleep, they feed off their desire for each other, becoming more and more entangled in a relationship that they know can't last. When the singer sings "they say the party's over" and "the sacrifice complete," he or she is acknowledging that the affair has reached its natural conclusion. Despite this, he or she can't help feeling older and wiser for having gone through it.

Overall, "Looking for Love" is a bittersweet exploration of the ways in which unexpected connections can change our lives forever. It's a song about passion, love, and loss, and it explores these themes with a haunting beauty that will stay with listeners long after the music has faded away.

Line by Line Meaning

I believe all that you've written
I trust everything that you have written

I believe all that you know
I have faith that you know everything

Has somehow been mistaken
But there may be an error in your knowledge

For the truth inside this show
As it applies to what is revealed to us

We weren't looking for love
When we met, love wasn't something we were seeking

We weren't looking for love
We both did not have intentions of finding love

Two strangers make a fire
Two unknown people create a fire

Wrap themselves in heat
They wrap themselves in the warmth of the flames

And feed off their desire
And revel in the longing they have for each other

As they watch the desert sleep
While they observe the desert at night

They weren't looking for love
They did not have the intention of falling in love