Alvin and his older brother Phil Alvin grew up loving Americana, country and blues. In 1979 they formed The Blasters with friends Bill Bateman and John Bazz.
Shortly after leaving the Blasters, Alvin joined X as lead guitarist after the departure of Billy Zoom. Alvin amicably left the group to work on a solo project shortly after the recording sessions for their album See How We Are. Alvin is also a member of country band The Knitters (composed mainly of members of X), appearing on 1987's Poor Little Critter on the Road and the 2005 follow-up, The Modern Sounds of The Knitters.
In the early 1980s Alvin, along with fellow Blasters members Bill Bateman and Steve Berlin, performed on several albums with the Los Angeles punk band The Flesh Eaters. These albums are considered precursors to what is now called "deathrock". Alvin also played with the band The Gun Club briefly, playing guitar on "Eternally Is Here" & "The Stranger in Our Town" from the 1984 album, The Las Vegas Story.
Alvin's first solo album, entitled Romeo's Escape (1987) in the United States and Every Night About This Time in England, added a purer country influence along with a larger side-portion of the blues; while the album was critically well received, it didn't fare well in the marketplace, and Alvin was dropped by his American record label, Columbia. Alvin suffered health problems which sidelined him for a while, except for a wild tour with friends Mojo Nixon and Country Dick Montana as the Pleasure Barons, which was described as "a Las Vegas revue from acts who aren't going to be asked to play Vegas." (A live album was released of a second Pleasure Barons tour in 1993.)
In 1989, Dwight Yoakam scored a hit on the country charts with Alvin's song "Long White Cadillac," and Alvin used the royalties to start work on his second solo set, Blue Blvd. Released by the California-based roots-music label Hightone Records in 1991, Blue Blvd received enthusiastic reviews and sold well enough to re-establish Alvin as a significant artist in the roots rock scene.
After releasing Museum of Heart in 1993, Alvin began to turn his attention to acoustic music with 1994's King of California, and over the next several years Alvin moved back and forth between hard-edged roots rock and more introspective acoustic material that still honored his influences (and allowed him to display a greater range as a vocalist).
In 2000, Alvin recorded a collection of traditional folk and blues classics, Public Domain: Songs From the Wild Land, which earned him a Grammy award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.
In 2011, Alvin released the album Eleven Eleven on Yep Roc Records. The album was a return to Alvin's rock roots. According to Rolling Stone, "Though Alvin has often switched between electric and acoustic, almost everything here is plugged in – above all Alvin, an under-recognized guitar hero."
www.davealvin.net
Every Night About This Time
Dave Alvin Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
She's waiting for a man
It could be me or it could be you
Who'll touch her with their hands
Someone left her long ago
She never found out why
So she falls in love again
Every night about this time
Every night about this time
She'll be holding someone tight
Faces don't mean much
When she turns out the lights
Just tell her that you love her
Even though she knows you're lying
Then she'll lead you to her room
Every night about this time
Every night about this time
She could be yours
She could be mine
Just hold her when she cries
Every night about this time
Every night about this time
She'll pretend the best she can
It could be me or it could be you
Who'll remind her of a man
Don't say nothing when you leave
No need for long good-byes
You're not the one she's missing
Every night about this time
Every night about this time
She could be yours
She could be mine
Just hold her when she cries
Every night about this time
The lyrics to Dave Alvin's song Every Night About This Time portray the story of a woman who is desperately searching for love and physical touch. The lyrics suggest that this woman has experienced heartbreak in the past and is unable to let go of the past lover. Therefore, it seems she falls in love every night and is waiting for someone to touch her with their hands. It appears that she is looking for someone to take her pain away but is unable to find the answer.
The lyrics depict the woman's mere existence, where every night she would hold someone tight, and faces don't mean much when she turns out the lights. It seems like she just wants to feel loved and accepted, even if it means accepting a lie. She pretends the best she can, but the reality is someone had left her long ago, and she never found the reason why. The chorus, "Every night about this time, She could be yours, She could be mine, Just hold her when she cries, Every night about this time" emphasizes that she is looking for a physical touch, which may heal her heartache, even if it is for one night.
In conclusion, Dave Alvin's song Every Night About This Time is a story of a woman searching for love and physical touch, struggling to cope with her past heartbreak. The lyrics suggest that she is looking for someone to take away her pain, but she is unable to find the answer. The song paints an intricate portrait of the woman's solitary existence, emphasizing her need for affection and the continuous cycle of falling in love every night.
Line by Line Meaning
Every night about this time
At around this time every night...
She's waiting for a man
She's waiting for someone to be with...
It could be me or it could be you
Who'll touch her with their hands
Either one of us could be the one to touch her...
Someone left her long ago
She never found out why
So she falls in love again
Every night about this time
She got her heart broken by someone and she doesn't know why, so she tries to find love again every night...
She'll be holding someone tight
Faces don't mean much
When she turns out the lights
She'll hold whoever is with her tightly and physical appearance doesn't matter in the dark...
Just tell her that you love her
Even though she knows you're lying
Then she'll lead you to her room
Every night about this time
Just say you love her even if you don't mean it, and she'll take you to her room...
She could be yours
She could be mine
Just hold her when she cries
Every night about this time
Anyone could have her, just be there for her when she needs comfort...
She'll pretend the best she can
It could be me or it could be you
Who'll remind her of a man
She'll try to believe whoever is with her is the man she's been waiting for...
Don't say nothing when you leave
No need for long good-byes
You're not the one she's missing
Every night about this time
Don't say anything when you leave, she's not attached to you...
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: DAVE ALVIN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Jai Ed
Love his voice 😍
Eric Dexter
A classic tale, good job Dave.
lonestar3
None better than Dave, and he's even better live than on record.
gerard haubert
I’ve heard this song done as a blues / r&b tune, liked it then, still do
MarcBrewer
Good to see this... I never saw these DA videos when they were current. Dave fell between the cracks of carefully formatted radio and wouldn't stay pigeonholed. Any minute now, I expect to him to be an overnight success.
JAKE TARRY
"You're not the one she's missin', every night about this time".
Ramona Fischer
Love this guy. RF
Rick Kelly
Great
George Moore
this song was my x's favorite. no red flags there. her nickname for me was Next.
Monkeydog
Joe Ely does the best version.