Beam was raised outside Columbia, South Carolina, United States where his father worked in land management and his mother was a schoolteacher. He graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a bachelor's degree and the Florida State University Film School with an MFA degree. Until the first Iron & Wine album, Beam's main source of income was as a professor of film and cinematography at the University of Miami and Miami International University of Art & Design. He had been writing songs for over seven years before a friend lent him a four-track recorder. His friends handed out copies of demos that he had made, and the owner of Sub Pop Records personally contacted Beam and proposed a deal.
Beam released his first album, The Creek Drank the Cradle, on the Sub Pop label in 2002; Beam wrote, performed, recorded, and produced every track on the album by himself at a studio in his home. The album features acoustic guitars, banjo, and slide guitar; its music has been compared, variously, to that of Nick Drake, Simon and Garfunkel, Neil Young, Elliott Smith, and Ralph Stanley.
In 2003 The Sea & The Rhythm was released, an EP collecting other home-recorded tracks along the same lines as those on the debut. Beam's second album, Our Endless Numbered Days (2004), was recorded in a professional studio with a significant increase in fidelity. The focus still lies on acoustic material, but the inclusion of other band members gives rise to a very different sound.
Beam released an EP titled Woman King in February 2005, and the EP In the Reins, a collaboration with Calexico was released in September 2005. This joint work mostly features new full-band versions of previously recorded Iron and Wine rarities.
One of his most famous songs is a cover, which was featured on a commercial for M&M’s candies and in the 2004 film “Garden State” (and on its popular soundtrack), of "Such Great Heights" by The Postal Service.
"Kiss Each Other Clean" is the fourth studio album by Iron & Wine, released January 25, 2011. The album's title is taken from the lyrics of track 10, "Your Fake Name Is Good Enough for Me". The album marks a further change in style – in an interview with SPIN magazine, Beam said “It’s more of a focused pop record. It sounds like the music people heard in their parent’s car growing up… that early-to-mid-’70s FM, radio-friendly music."
http://www.ironandwine.com/
Beyond The Fence
Iron & Wine Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Two birds fighting for a bug
Faded squares like snowy TV screens
Where your photographs were hung
Keep Old Glory folded on a shelf
In a cabinet full of guns
Sell that engine block to someone else
How'd that calf get out beyond the fence?
How'd that hole get in your jeans?
Movie show was once but twenty cents
That mud there was once a stream
The moon is high, your nose is burnt
Your dog is gone
Your mouth is dry, the milk is turned
But Barbara's home
Hand in hand you watch the sun go down
Coloured lullaby of God
Barbara wears her mother's old nightgown
Sleeping with a nightlight on
White sheet blowing on a short clothesline
New tree bending to the breeze
This clock's beautiful but can't keep time
What's that scar on both your knees?
The moon is high, your nose is burnt
Your dog is gone
Your mouth is dry, the milk is turned
But Barbara's home
In "Beyond The Fence," Iron & Wine's Sam Beam sings about a time that has passed. The song is about a memory and a snapshot of a time in the past that may no longer exist. The first verse describes a photograph hanging on a wall "Faded squares like snowy TV screens/Where your photographs were hung." This image calls to mind an old home or a farm, with memories of the past preserved in photographs. The second verse describes the passage of time with the use of items that were once important but are now forgotten or unused. "Keep Old Glory folded on a shelf/In a cabinet full of guns," suggests that perhaps patriotism and Americana were once more important, but have been replaced by other values.
Line by Line Meaning
Two flat tires on the Model T
The car is unable to move due to both tires being punctured
Two birds fighting for a bug
Two birds are competing for a single target
Faded squares like snowy TV screens
Photographs on a wall have lost their vibrancy
Where your photographs were hung
The location where memories were once proudly displayed
Keep Old Glory folded on a shelf
An American flag is purposefully stowed away
In a cabinet full of guns
The flag is kept alongside a collection of firearms
Sell that engine block to someone else
A broken piece of machinery no longer of use is offered for sale
Maybe they can make it run
The previous owner hopes that it can be useful elsewhere
How'd that calf get out beyond the fence?
A calf has escaped its confinement and is now outside of the designated area
How'd that hole get in your jeans?
The artist is curious about how a tear appeared in someone's jeans
Movie show was once but twenty cents
The cost of seeing a movie in the past was much cheaper
That mud there was once a stream
Mud in the present was once flowing water
The moon is high, your nose is burnt
A description of the current atmospheric conditions and the effects on the person
Your dog is gone
A realization that the singer's dog is no longer present
Your mouth is dry, the milk is turned
The dryness of the singer's mouth is juxtaposed against spoiled dairy
But Barbara's home
Barbara is the person who makes being home worthwhile
Hand in hand you watch the sun go down
Two people are enjoying the sunset together while holding hands
Coloured lullaby of God
The beauty of the setting sun is described as a peaceful, calming tune
Barbara wears her mother's old nightgown
The woman named Barbara wears clothing passed down from previous generations
Sleeping with a nightlight on
Barbara finds comfort in leaving a light on while sleeping
White sheet blowing on a short clothesline
A bedsheet flaps in the wind hung from a small, low clothesline
New tree bending to the breeze
A recently planted tree is able to sway in the wind due to being flexible
This clock's beautiful but can't keep time
A decorative clock is not able to perform its sole function well
What's that scar on both your knees?
A wound on someone's knees piques the artist's curiosity
The moon is high, your nose is burnt
A repetition of a previous line to reinforce the current environmental conditions
Your dog is gone
Another repetition to reinforce the absence of the dog
Your mouth is dry, the milk is turned
And once again, another repetition to reinforce the unpleasant sensory experiences
But Barbara's home
The only positive aspect of the current situation is that Barbara is present
Contributed by London N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Hasibul Hossain
Lyrics
Two flat tires on the Model T
Two birds fightin' for a bug
Faded squares like snowy TV screens
Where your photographs were hung
Keep Old Glory folded on a shelf
In a cabinet full of guns
Sell that engine block to someone else
Maybe they can make it run
How'd that calf get out beyond the fence?
How'd that hole get in your jeans?
Movie show was once but twenty cents
That mud there was once a stream
The moon is high, your nose is burnt
Your dog is gone.
Your mouth is dry, the milk is turned
But Barbara's home.
Hand in hand you watch the sun go down
Colored lullabye of God
Barbara wears her mother's old nightgown
Sleepin' with a nightlight on
White sheet blowin' on a short clothesline
New tree bendin' to the breeze
This clock's beautiful but can't keep time
What's that scar on both your knees?
The moon is high, your nose is burned
Your dog is gone.
Your mouth is dry, the milk has turned
But Barbara's home.
Teddy Westside
Only few artists understand how to touch my soul. Sam Beam is one of them. Goodness that riff at the end is so simple yet beautiful.
EverDownward
This is the kind of sound I really miss from Sam's work these days. I mean, I dunno...this stripped-down folk stuff was what brought me to him in the first place and it hits me in the right places.
Hasibul Hossain
Lyrics
Two flat tires on the Model T
Two birds fightin' for a bug
Faded squares like snowy TV screens
Where your photographs were hung
Keep Old Glory folded on a shelf
In a cabinet full of guns
Sell that engine block to someone else
Maybe they can make it run
How'd that calf get out beyond the fence?
How'd that hole get in your jeans?
Movie show was once but twenty cents
That mud there was once a stream
The moon is high, your nose is burnt
Your dog is gone.
Your mouth is dry, the milk is turned
But Barbara's home.
Hand in hand you watch the sun go down
Colored lullabye of God
Barbara wears her mother's old nightgown
Sleepin' with a nightlight on
White sheet blowin' on a short clothesline
New tree bendin' to the breeze
This clock's beautiful but can't keep time
What's that scar on both your knees?
The moon is high, your nose is burned
Your dog is gone.
Your mouth is dry, the milk has turned
But Barbara's home.
Mark Palladino
All of his songs were written in the last 15 years however, his songs bring me back to a time in which I can not describe. A time of simplicity, love, and togetherness. I imagine that time being when my grandparents were my age (25). Thank you Sam Beam. Your music is timeless and it is amazing the sense of nostalgia I feel with every line.
Spencer Coe
This song is so beautiful I don't think I can take it.
Oneglas TV
mejor que el ASMR enserio😏
Michael Z-C
24/04/2021: back again to waking up in the hour when we are trembling with tenderness. except there's not so much trembling, you wake up and set the kettle blaze with a matter of factness to the algorithm of water-to-coffee ratio
Santiago dilan Paredes quintana
excelente album
PD: vine por screamau
Berker Altinova
that fucking nostalgic feeling
Santiago dilan Paredes quintana
se puede ocupar tu musica para videos o que tengo que hacer?