Andras Jones
&
Geoff Berner
From ANDRAS JONES: I met GEOFF BERNER when he was an angry young singer in front of a band called The Terror of Tiny Town. Back then my band The Previous was playing Vancouver regularly and it didn’t take long for the two of us to find each other as kindred songwriting spirits; hard drinking, politically progressive, Jewish songwriters whose use of large words and esoteric references in songs full of jokes and nightmares was as likely to alienate audiences as entertain them. Give Canada its due. There is a place for artists like this in that country. Not so much in the states. Thus, I’ve spent the last two decades building a format that celebrates these kind of songs and artists, while Geoff has spent those years making albums, and babies, and books, regularly touring Europe with his squeezebox (and his accordion). It’s always a joy to hang with Geoff. The friends he gathered to ask questions (Briga, Paul Rigby, Giselle Webber, Ben Caplan, Richard Inman & Veda Hille) are just as smart and funny and just as focused on the woes of the world as he is. Buckle up folks, there’s a lot of joy in this episode but its the joy shared between people who recognize that if we don’t do something quick we are all good and well fucked. It’s better to know than to not know.
Listen to the end of the podcast to hear a sneak peak at a track called “Cartesian Shack” from the “All You Get” album we discuss in this episode.
Traveller’s Curse
I have been libelled as a wanderer,
This is not the case.
I have a home, it’s just that it’s an
Inconvenient place
Right now.
None is too many of that kind,
I overhear you say,
You make some markings on the page
And stamp and seal my fate.
I regret now to inform you who refuse to aid my plight
Bad luck will come to those who deny the travellers their right.
All of my pity upon you
All of my pity upon you
My luck can only get better
Yours is bound to be worse
Now I see it upon the Traveller’s Curse.
Who can deny your moral right
To prosperity and order
You fell out of your mother
On the correct side of the border.
And your motherfall gives you all of this
And power over me today,
But there are forces in this world
That can make all that fall away
In a second.
All of my pity upon you
All of my pity upon you
My luck can only get better
Yours is bound to be worse
Now I see it upon the Traveller’s Curse.
Don’t be misled and think this curse
Is mine to make or lift,
You put it on yourself
It’s not my place to bend and sift
Your conscience or your character
Your luck is all your own,
Good luck with that,
I leave you now
But you’ll never be alone
With
All of my pity upon you
All of my pity upon you
My luck can only get better
Yours is bound to be worse
Now I see it upon the Traveller’s Curse.
