Califone is a critically-acclaimed experimental folk band from Chicago. The… Read Full Bio ↴Califone is a critically-acclaimed experimental folk band from Chicago. The band is named after Califone International, a long-standing manufacturer of audio equipment commonly found in schools, libraries and businesses.

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.

Movie Music Kills a Kiss
Califone Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Verbatim from Liner Notes

A ghost of you comes clear as day
Emerging from the darkroom chemicals
misdirection I resist
movie music kills a kiss
- we are watched we are not watching
the night comers come

Tell me when your feelings change
Then carry me like water back/to the shore
- if we die before we die
the morning shakes still will come

Karen Black forgets the words
Like Memphis when the rapture breaks
age of reason we resist
Movie music kills a kiss
- if we die before we die
camera eye and animal trap

misdirection pulls you closer now
we are watched we are not watching

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Califone's song "Movie Music Kills a Kiss" is a complex and metaphoric poem about the fragility of human emotions and the power of outside forces to interfere with them. The first stanza talks about the memory of someone reappearing as a ghost, possibly through a photograph or film. This is contrasted with the chemical processes in a darkroom, which represent the artificial and manufactured aspect of memories. The line "misdirection I resist" suggests that the singer is aware of the ways in which outside forces can distort and manipulate reality.

The second stanza is more direct, as the singer pleads with someone to communicate honestly about their feelings. The metaphor of water and the shore suggests the idea of stability and grounding even in the midst of turbulent emotions. The last line of this stanza, "the morning shakes still will come", suggests that even after a period of emotional upheaval, there will still be normalcy and routine.

The third stanza seems to draw inspiration from the 1975 film "Nashville" and its star, Karen Black. Her inability to remember the words to her song represents the fragility of creativity, and the line "age of reason we resist" suggests that as humans, we are often resistant to rationality or sense. Once again, the phrase "movie music kills a kiss" is used, this time possibly referring to the way in which the illusion of Hollywood's version of love can interfere with real relationships. The final lines reinforce the idea of being watched and manipulated by unknown forces.

Line by Line Meaning

A ghost of you comes clear as day
An apparition of you manifests with distinct clarity

Emerging from the darkroom chemicals
It seems to materialize out of the photographic developing solutions

misdirection I resist
I try to avoid being misled

movie music kills a kiss
Soundtracks to films ruin romantic moments

we are watched we are not watching
We are being observed rather than being the observers

the night comers come
Those who arrive under the cover of darkness approach

Tell me when your feelings change
Inform me of your changing emotions

Then carry me like water back/to the shore
Then bring me back to safety like a flowing mass of liquid

if we die before we die
In case we perish prior to our actual death

the morning shakes still will come
Morning jolts will still happen

Karen Black forgets the words
Karen Black loses the lyrics she needs to recite