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
stray
Calexico Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Said his goodbyes to her family and friends
Packed his things in a rusted car
And rode off in the rain
Came upon a church in ruin
With an old man dwelling within
Who said, "watch where you stray my friend"
Old man spoke of meanings lost and without name
What was found in the endless search
For truth behind the tale
Beneath the ash and ember lies only one story to tell
Watch where you stray my friend
There's a flower that grows in a cave
So lovely to see but need to be saved
Its' beautiful blossom will wither and die
If ever this flower leave the darkness for daylight
The lyrics to Calexico's song "Stray" tell a story of a man who spends a rainy day at his lover's grave before leaving in a rusted car. He comes upon a church in ruin and encounters an old man who warns him to "watch where you stray." The old man speaks of lost meanings and the endless search for truth. The lyrics suggest that there may be only one story to tell beneath the ash and ember of all our searching. The final lines of the song mention a flower that grows in a cave - a beautiful sight that needs to be saved by remaining in the darkness. Its beauty will wither and die if exposed to daylight.
The lyrics to "Stray" are open to interpretation, and some listeners may find different meanings than others. Some may interpret the song as a cautionary tale about the dangers of straying from familiar paths, while others may see it as a commentary on the search for meaning in a chaotic world. The song's themes of loss, love, and the passage of time are universal and relatable to many listeners.
Line by Line Meaning
It rained the whole day he spent at his lover's grave
A man spent the entire day at his lover's grave while it was raining.
Said his goodbyes to her family and friends
The man said farewell to his lover's family and friends.
Packed his things in a rusted car
The man put his possessions in an old, rusty car.
And rode off in the rain
The man left while it was still raining.
Came upon a church in ruin
The man stumbled across a dilapidated church.
With an old man dwelling within
An elderly man was living inside the church.
Who said, "watch where you stray my friend"
The old man warned the man to be careful where he went.
Old man spoke of meanings lost and without name
The elderly man talked about concepts that were forgotten and unknown.
Never shifting from their worn and weathered place
The concepts the old man talked about were constantly present, despite being ancient and worn.
What was found in the endless search
Despite constantly looking, nothing was discovered.
For truth behind the tale
There was no discernible truth behind the story.
Beneath the ash and ember lies only one story to tell
Despite the destruction caused by the flames, only one story remains.
Watch where you stray my friend
The old man warned the man again to be careful where he went.
There's a flower that grows in a cave
A flower grows in a dark cave.
So lovely to see but need to be saved
The flower is beautiful to look at but is in danger and requires protection.
Its' beautiful blossom will wither and die
If the flower is removed from its dark habitat, it will eventually wilt and perish.
If ever this flower leave the darkness for daylight
If the flower is exposed to the light, it will not survive.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Capitol CMG Publishing
Written by: JOEY BURNS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@arhalabdouarhal
It rained the whole day he spent at his lover's grave
Said his goodbyes to her family and friends
And packed his things in a rusted car
And rode off in the rain
He came upon a church in ruin
With an old man dwelling within
Who said, "Watch where you stray, my friend"
Old man spoke of meanings lost, without name
Never shifting from their worn and weathered place
Was found in the endless serach for truth behind the tale
Beneath the ash and ember lies only one story to tell
Watch where you stray, my friend
There's a flower that grows in a cave
So lovely to see but need not be saved
It's beautiful blossom will wither and die
If ever this flower leave the darkness for daylight
@georgiadrakopoulou1532
Ένας στίχος βρίσκεται σε δυο παραλλαγές. Άλλοι γράφουν :
«So lovely to see but need to be saved»
ενώ άλλοι σε σελίδες lyrics :
«So lovely to see but need not be saved»
Οι περισσότεροι θεωρούν πως ο στιχος λέει ότι το λουλούδι πρέπει να σωθεί. Θεωρώ πως ισχύει η δεύτερη παραλλαγή και όχι η πρώτη που γράφουν οι περισσότεροι , δηλαδή , (πως δεν πρέπει να σωθεί ) not be saved και αυτό έχει να κάνει με τους επόμενους δυο στίχους που ακολουθούν
“It's beautiful blossom will wither and die
If ever this flower leave the darkness for daylight”
Λέει πως το λουλούδι θα πεθάνει κ θα μαραθεί αν φυγει απ το σκοτάδι του και βγει στο φως . Για αυτό και ο στίχος λογικά λέει αυτό που έγραψα παραπάνω . Ωστόσο αν κάποιος με πολύ καλό ακουστικό αυτί είναι σε θέση να το εξακριβώσει ας μας πει . Μάλλον δηλαδή σχεδόν σίγουρη νοηματικά είναι
«So lovely to see but need NOT be saved» σε αντιπαραβολή με το
«IF EVER this flower leave the darkness for daylight»
@fatsoulaable1
Τραγούδι σαν παραμύθι... ωραίοι στίχοι και όμορφη αρμονία στο άκουσμα της μουσικής...❤❤❤
@fimlviaquez3936
a band from Arizona which plays with a mexican style and has greek comments... you gotta love this.
@ongbonga9025
*Greek
@JP-hx6be
Named after a California city,and means California mexico
@Dydux666
the comments are greek, not russian
@fimlviaquez3936
Sorry You are right, thanks for the correction 😅
@SuperCabrito14
Theres gotta be an explanation. I'm flabbergasted
@getlost0204
Πόσα χρόνια το ψάχνω αυτό το τραγούδι!
@yiannakoronaki8254
και εγω το ιδιο και επιτελους το βρηκα σημερα!
@johnderemoglou4958
@@yiannakoronaki8254 Γειά σου Γιάννα με το ωραίο στήθος!