Calexico had its origins in 1990 when Burns, who was studying music at the University of California, Irvine, met up with Convertino, who was playing drums with Howe Gelb in Giant Sand. Burns joined them, after first playing upright bass on a European tour.
Giant Sand moved to Tucson, Arizona in 1994. John and Joey formed the Friends of Dean Martin (later the Friends of Dean Martinez) which scored a record deal with Sub Pop. However, the pair split up with Bill Elm, the co-founder of The Friends of Dean Martinez in 1996. The band subsequently became a kind of indie rhythm section for hire, working with the likes of Victoria Williams, Barbara Manning and Richard Buckner before forming Calexico.
Calexico first recorded Spoke in 1995 for German independent label Hausmusik with a limited edition of 2,000 copies. At that point the band was still called Spoke and the album was technically self-titled. After the band signed with Quarterstick Records (a subsidiary of Touch and Go Records) and changed their name to Calexico, Spoke was reissued by that label in 1997. Burns and Convertino also collaborated with Gelb and Lisa Germano on the album Slush released under the name OP8 that same year.
Their second album The Black Light was released in 1998. This was a concept album about the desert of Arizona and northern Mexico and received excellent reviews, with the critic from the Wall Street Journal rating it as one of the best records of the year.
The band built their profile by touring as support acts for bands such as Pavement, the Dirty Three and Lambchop. Calexico has regularly played festivals such as the Bonnaroo Music Festival, the Hurricane Festival and All Tomorrow's Parties. The Road Map album was a limited recording released in 1999 for sale only at Calexico's live shows.
Calexico released its third album Hot Rail in May 2000 featuring the addition of horns and violin to their sound. The duo was busy in 2000 as they also appeared on a Giant Sand record called Chore of Enchantment as well as a tour only record Travelall.
At the end of 2000, Burns and Convertino joined with two French friends Naïm Amor and Thomas Belhôm to record "Tête A Tête" (Wabana Records, 2001) released under moniker ABBC (Amor/Belhom/Burns/Convertino). Calexico released two collections of rarities during 2001. Even My Sure Things Fall Through collected outtakes from previous albums, B-sides, remixes and material previously unreleased in the US. The album also featured Mariachi Luz de Luna who frequently played live with the duo. The Aerocalexico album was sold exclusively at their gigs in 2001.
The Scraping live album was released in 2002. Their next studio recording Feast of Wire was released in 2003 and made the charts for the first time appearing on Billboard's Heatseekers and Independent album chart. They made their first video for "Quattro (World Drifts In)" which was a single from Feast of Wire. They released a live DVD in 2004 called World Drifts In: Live at the Barbican. The song "Güero Canelo", from Feast of Wire, was featured in Michael Mann's Film, Collateral, starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx, in which the band appears.
Calexico contributed the song "Burnin' Down the Spark" to Nancy Sinatra's self-titled album in late 2004. The album featured artists who cited Sinatra as a musical influence. The song was released in the UK as the second single from the album in early 2005.
In 2005, Calexico joined up with Miami-based band Iron & Wine. Howard Greynolds of Overcoat Records was responsible for bringing the two bands together having previously been responsible for Tortoise and Will Oldham recording together. The In the Reins EP was released in September 2005 and received a positive reception with an MSNBC review giving it honorable mention. It also made an appearance in the Billboard 200 album charts, becoming their first recording to make the album charts, and No. 12 on the independent charts. In October 2005, they commenced a US tour with Iron & Wine to promote the record.
Released in 2006, Garden Ruin is Calexico's fifth studio album and was produced by JD Foster. The sound strays slightly from earlier works, focusing less on the horn section, and placing more emphasis on guitar and vocal tracks, giving the whole album a more mainstream sound.
In 2007, Calexico was invited by Arcade Fire to record a cover of their "Ocean of Noise." This recording was used as the B-side for Arcade Fire's "Intervention" single, originally released on vinyl on May 21, 2007. Also in 2007, Calexico recorded a revamped version of the Bob Dylan song "Goin' to Acapulco" for the Dylan biopic "I'm Not There". The song featured Jim James of My Morning Jacket on vocals and was featured on the soundtrack of the film.
Several of Calexico's songs, usually their shorter instrumental pieces, have been used as interstitial and background music on Public Radio International's This American Life. Their songs "Ballad Of Cable Hogue" and "Service And Repair" were featured in the 2001 German comedy movie Lammbock.
Their sixth studio LP is called 'Carried to Dust', featuring Sam Beam of Iron & Wine, Douglas McCombs of Tortoise and Pieta Brown. It was released in the USA via Touch & Go Records on September 9, 2008. The album enjoyed solid reviews, with hometown paper the Arizona Daily Star praising the band's "ability to sweep you into its world, taking listeners to the American Southwest. This is one of the reasons Europeans love Calexico and others in this country are beginning to come around."
On October 16, 2008, a three-song live acoustic video performance premiered on LiveDaily Sessions, featuring Joey Burns performing the songs "Two Silver Trees," "Writer's Minor Holiday" and "Man Made Lake".
In 2009, the song Banderilla was featured in an episode of AMC's Breaking Bad.
In 2010, a new album of Calexico was released: the soundtrack of the documentary "Circo". The band also spent part of 2010 touring with Arcade Fire along the west US coast.
In May 2011, their song "Slowness" was dedicated by Gabrielle Giffords to her husband astronaut Mark Kelly as the wake up song aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on its final flight.
Algiers was released 11 September 2012 on ANTI Records and CITY SLANG (Europe).
In April 2014, the band began referring to a new album on Twitter in posts from Mexico City, Coyoacan, Mexico, and Athens, Greece. Edge of the Sun was announced on 27 January 2015, and released on April 14, 2015. The album features guest appearances by various artists such as Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses), Gaby Moreno, Carla Morrison and members of the Greek instrumental group Takim.
The current members of Calexico are:
Joey Burns – vocals, guitars, bass, cello, piano, keyboards, accordion, percussion, vibraphone
John Convertino – drums, percussion, piano, keyboards, vibraphone, marimba, accordion
Paul Niehaus – steel guitar, guitars
Jacob Valenzuela – trumpet, keyboards, vibraphone, vocals
Martin Wenk – trumpet, guitar, keyboards, accordion, glockenspiel, vibraphone, theremin (occasionally harmonica & French horn)
Volker Zander – standup bass, electric bass
Live tour 2013:
Joey Burns - vocals, guitars
John Convertino - drums, percussion
Sergio Mendoza - Keyboards
Jairo Zavala - bazouki, baritone guitar, vocals
Jacob Valenzuela – trumpet, keyboards, vibraphone, vocals
Martin Wenk – trumpet, guitar, keyboards, accordion, glockenspiel, vibraphone (occasionally harmonica & French horn)
Ryan Alfred - bass, vocals
Clothes Of Sand
Calexico Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Who has taken you far from my land?
Who has said that my sayings were wrong?
And who will say that I stayed much too long?
Clothes of sand have covered your face
Given you meaning but taken my place
So make your way on down to the sea
Does it now seem worth all the color of skies
To see the earth through painted eyes
To look through panes of shaded glass
See the stains of winter's grass?
Can you now return to from where you came
Try to burn your changing name
Or with silver spoons and colored light?
Will you worship moons in winter's night?
Clothes of sand have covered your face
Given you meaning but taken my place
So make your way on down to the sea
Something has taken you so far from me
The lyrics to Calexico's "Clothes of Sand" appear to be about a person who is trying to understand why their significant other has changed so much. The singer wonders who has influenced their partner to dress in strange clothes of sand and leave their land. The singer also questions who has told their partner that their sayings were wrong and if someone will say that the singer stayed too long.
The clothes of sand symbolism suggests that the person has taken on a new identity or lifestyle, which has caused a rift between them and the singer. The lyrics lament that the clothes of sand have covered the person's face, given them meaning but have taken the singer's place. The singer seems perplexed and lost, and they wish that their significant other would return to them.
Line by Line Meaning
Who has dressed you in strange clothes of sand?
Who or what has influenced you to change and adopt a new identity that is unfamiliar to me?
Who has taken you far from my land?
Who or what has taken you away from the place where we used to be together?
Who has said that my sayings were wrong?
Who has challenged the wisdom and advice that I used to give you?
And who will say that I stayed much too long?
Who will criticize me for staying too long and not acting sooner to prevent your transformation?
Clothes of sand have covered your face
Your new identity has obscured who you used to be and who I used to know.
Given you meaning but taken my place
The new identity you've adopted has given you a new sense of purpose, but it has also taken away my place in your life.
So make your way on down to the sea
Perhaps by returning to nature, you can find your way back to your true self.
Something has taken you so far from me
Something or someone has caused a great distance to grow between us.
Does it now seem worth all the color of skies
Was it really worth it to see the world in such vivid and vibrant colors when it caused you to lose touch with reality?
To see the earth through painted eyes
Did seeing everything through a filtered and distorted lens actually enrich your experience or diminish it?
To look through panes of shaded glass
Did you intentionally shield yourself from the truth and the world around you by seeing everything through a veil?
See the stains of winter's grass?
Can you see the imperfections in the world, even when it's not at its most beautiful?
Can you now return to from where you came
Can you find your way back to your roots and your true self?
Try to burn your changing name
Can you break free from the identity you've adopted and return to who you truly are?
Or with silver spoons and colored light?
Will you continue to cling to the shiny and colorful facade, even if it's not who you really are?
Will you worship moons in winter's night?
Will you continue to chase after something unattainable and illusory, even if it means losing touch with reality?
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Paul Truemner
Well done! A very brilliant cover version.
jaydeebee69
A nice, solid cover - good job!
slimturnpike
wow they really make the song their own. now when i listen to the nick drake version i can't believe it's not a calexico song.
Dimitri De Nardin
I N A R R I V A B I L E !!!!!!!! GOOD
davjones69
Superb
dali pavosevic
greaaaaat!