Califone is the musical project of former Red Red Meat frontman Tim Rutili. Its regular and rotating contributors include many former members of Red Red Meat and some members of other Chicago bands, such as Tortoise. Their music is less rooted in blues-rock than Red Red Meat and is more directly inspired by experimental music and early American folk music as can be found on Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music.
Califone's current lineup includes Joe Adamik (drums), Jim Becker (banjo, violin), Ben Massarella (percussion), and Tim Rutili (vocals, guitar, keyboards). Each member is a multi-instrumentalist.
Tim Rutili has collaborated with a number of other artists as well. He joined up with Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock and others in 2002 to release the album Sharpen Your Teeth under the band name Ugly Casanova. Some members also toured with Freakwater and served as a backing band to record the album Thinking of You in 2005. In 2006, Tim Rutili teamed up with Wil Hendricks and Michael Krassner under the name The Unseen Hand to record the soundtrack for Rank, a documentary about bullriding. In the same year Califone worked with animator/musician Brent Green on a series of performance art pieces featuring animation, live music, and spoken word. They are also featured on the soundtrack for the movie Stranger than Fiction.
2 Sisters Drunk on Each Other
Califone Lyrics
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The lyrics to Califone's song "2 Sisters Drunk on Each Other" are a melancholy and cryptic look at the relationship between two sisters who have become inebriated and lost in their emotions. The repeated reference to Anarene, the town in Texas where the famous film "The Last Picture Show" was filmed, adds a sense of nostalgia and emptiness to the song. The stoplight being out symbolizes the lack of direction or guidance they are experiencing, while the dollar bet speaks to the careless and reckless nature of the sisters' behaviors. The root and the hanging tree can be interpreted as symbols of the sisters' entanglement with each other, and also as a possible reference to the history of lynching in the American South. The mention of Easter in the Philippines is an interesting outlier, perhaps representing a distant and idyllic place that offers some measure of escape from their present reality.
The repetition of "dinner sun" and "sinner sun" adds to the overall ambiguity and sense of disorientation in the lyrics. The iron wind may be a reference to a particularly harsh and cold wind that can be found in Anarene and the surrounding areas. The repeated use of "red foot cold floor" adds to the sense of physical and emotional discomfort that the sisters are experiencing. Altogether, "2 Sisters Drunk on Each Other" is a haunting and mysterious ode to the complexities of sisterhood and the human experience.
Line by Line Meaning
anarene stoplight's out
The stoplight at Anarene is not working.
two sisters drunk a dollar bet
Two sisters are drunk and made a bet for a dollar.
anarene anarene
Referring to the town where the sisters are located.
two sisters drunk on each other
The sisters are infatuated with each other while they are drunk.
red foot cold floor
The artist is describing the cold and bleak environment where the sisters are.
you're the root you're the hanging tree
The singer is addressing a person who they consider to be the root of their problems, similar to a hanging tree used for executions.
you're easter in the phillipenes
The singer is likely referring to the holiday of Easter in the Philippines, which has unique celebrations and traditions.
you send me reeling
The person the artist is addressing has caused them to feel dizzy or disoriented.
dinner sun sinner sun
The artist is juxtaposing the idea of dinner with that of a sinful sun, possibly implying that their meal is immoral or wrong in some way.
iron wind hanging tree
The artist is describing a harsh and unyielding wind that seems to hang like a noose from a hanging tree.
dinner sun dinner sun
The singer repeats this phrase to emphasize the contrast between good and bad or light and dark.
Contributed by Cameron R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.