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
I Send My Love to You
Calexico Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I send my hands to you.
I send my clothes to you.
I send my nose to you.
I send my trees to you.
I send my pleas to you.
Won't you send some back to me?
Send your call to me.
Send your days to me.
Send it all to me.
And when I'm high and square,
When I would have you there,
And you will be...
The moon is falling.
My wounds are calling.
My head is bleeding.
And I'm a duck.
The lake is cracking.
It hears me quacking.
Fuck the land, and two if by me.
Send your ways to me.
Send your call to me.
Send your days to me.
Send it all to me.
And when I'm high and square,
When I would have you there,
And you will be
And you will be
The lyrics to "I Send My Love to You" by Calexico are open to interpretation, but an analysis reveals a deep sense of longing and vulnerability. The repetition of "send" throughout the song shows a desire for a connection to someone else, and the list of body parts and objects that the singer is sending signifies a willingness to give all of themselves to the other person. The line "won't you send some back to me?" is a plea for reciprocity, indicating that the singer wants their love to be reciprocated in some way.
The second half of the song is more chaotic and surreal, with images of a falling moon, bleeding head, and cracking lake. The repeated line "send your ways to me" takes on a more urgent tone, and the final line "and you will be" is left unfinished, suggesting that the outcome is uncertain. The song ends with a sense of longing, pain, and uncertainty, with the singer hoping for a connection that may or may not come.
Line by Line Meaning
I send my love to you.
I am expressing my love and affection for you, and I hope it reaches you in some way.
I send my hands to you.
My hands represent my desire to reach out and touch you, offer comfort, or lend a helping hand.
I send my clothes to you.
My clothes represent a piece of myself that I am sending to you, hoping that you will feel close to me even when I'm not physically there.
I send my nose to you.
My nose represents my ability to perceive the world around me, and I'm offering this sensory experience to you as a gift.
I send my trees to you.
The trees represent my connection to nature, and I'm sharing this connection with you in the hopes that you'll feel closer to me.
I send my pleas to you.
I am pleading with you to return my love, to acknowledge my efforts to connect with you.
Won't you send some back to me?
I hope that my gestures and expressions of love will inspire you to send your own love and affection back to me.
Send your ways to me.
I want to know and understand your ways, your habits, your personality, your quirks. I'm asking you to share yourself with me.
Send your call to me.
I hope that you will reach out to me, call me, connect with me in some way, to help foster our relationship.
Send your days to me.
I want to be a part of your life, to share in your experiences, to be present for your joys and your struggles. I'm asking you to include me in your days.
Send it all to me.
I want everything you have to offer - your love, your time, your energy, your presence, your thoughts, your feelings. I'm asking you to give me all of yourself.
And when I'm high and square,
In moments of happiness and clarity, moments when I feel like everything is going right, I reflect on my love for you and the ways in which I've tried to connect with you.
When I would have you there,
When I want you to be with me, to share in my happiness or help me through my struggles, I think about the ways in which we can support each other.
And you will be...
And in those moments, you are present in my thoughts, my heart, and my soul. You are a part of me, and I want to share my love with you always.
The moon is falling.
A metaphorical expression indicating the beginning of the end, an approaching darkness or distressing event.
My wounds are calling.
I am in emotional or physical pain, and my scars are a reminder of that pain that I carry with me always.
My head is bleeding.
I am struggling with my thoughts, my mental health, my sanity. This is a very vulnerable state for me.
And I'm a duck.
This could indicate feeling small, frail, or insignificant amidst a chaotic or hostile world. Or it could just be a random, nonsensical statement meant to reflect the confusion or disorientation of the singer.
The lake is cracking.
Another metaphorical expression indicating distress or a sense of loss or turmoil in the singer's life.
It hears me quacking.
The artist is calling out, seeking help or comfort, but wonders if anyone is listening or cares.
Fuck the land, and two if by me.
This is a bit tricky to interpret, but it could suggest feeling betrayed or abandoned by one's physical surroundings or personal connections, and a sense of hopelessness in changing that situation. The last part may be a play on the famous phrase 'one if by land, two if by sea' from the American Revolution, implying that the artist has no allies or backup in their personal struggle.
Contributed by Nora H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.