Ear to the Ground:
Dan Bern
by Steven Rybicki
On my recent trip to the Bay Area, my uncles introduced me to the music of a prolific singer/songwriter named Dan Bern. Bern was in the middle of a three-week stand in San Francisco. A die-hard Giants fan, Bern had been given tickets to see a stretch of games at SBC Park and was concurrently booked for a three-week set at a venue in SF’s Mission district. I caught his second show wherein he played for almost two hours. He’s a tall guy with broad shoulders and his build reminds me of an over the hill linebacker. He’s an affable stage personality, but his congenial stoner-gaze did wear on me after a while. Bern’s discography is varied between simple acoustic releases to polished lps with a full band.
His lyrics are stories, thoughts, and comments. He doesn’t have the stream of conscious dazzle of Bob Dylan, but vocally he conjures the great one with his similar nasal tone: a higher pitched version of Mike Ness, perhaps. Public personas dominate many of his songs. References to Kurt Cobain, Timothy McVeigh, Marilyn Monroe, Henry Miller, Pete Rose and many others figure into his concise stories.
One of his strongest tracks is “God Said No” from his record New American Language. It’s a reflection on the importance of the past, yet the hollowness and conceitedness of nostalgia. In the song, Bern meets God “ where the wind meets stillness/where darkness meets the light /where the ocean meets the sky/where the desert meets the rain/where the earth meets the heaven/on the edge of town.” He asks three favors of God: to go back in time and save two lives, Kurt Cobain and Jesus Christ, and extinguish one life, Hitler.
He attempts to impress God by begging to disarm and comfort Kurt: “take away his guns… talk to him/make him want to live/tell him I would love him/help him see his glory”. God said no, “if you really found him/you would only ask him/if he could help you get a deal/if he has a lawyer/if he could help you”. Dan asks for the chance to murder Hitler. God says no, “you would get caught up with theory and discussion/would let your fears delay and distract you/you would make friends/you would take a lover”. Dan’s final request is for the chance to interact with a divinity again: to save Jesus. This poignant inversion of the orthodox “Jesus saves” is accented with Dan’s promise to “pull the iron” from his body, to “try to heal his wounds.” Go said no, “if I let you go/if you really found him… you would stare/tongue no longer working/eyes no longer seeing/ears no longer hearing.” God responds by dismissing his pleas with an answer (nonanswer?) that Dan will not “go back in time” because time is God’s “secret weapon” against humans and walks away. A beautiful, cryptic ending to the song.
“God Said No” corresponds to conundrums of human acknowledgement of a past and a future, and the resulting anxiety about death. But he also considers the mystery and power of what elements persist and confound the rational, modern experience. Something drives the narrator’s desire to preserve the physical frame of Cobain, but also would push him to use Cobain like a member of the Nirvana entourage. Something primal fuels his outrage over the atrocities of Hitler, but he willingly would temper his instincts with the opportunity to reflect on fear, ideas, and become enraptured by Nazi patriotism. Saving Jesus would be quite a coup in terms of Christian theology, but he recognizes the chance to see Christ, with or without belief in the resurrection, would be daunting because of the tradition and following stemming from this event. He is also open to the possibility he would encounter a God beyond explanation, sight, thought: rational and irrational.
But Bern also has a sense of humor. One of his celebrity packed tunes on his record Dan Bern, “To Late To Die” Bern proposes that Elvis died to late. Unlike the people who went at the right time (James Dean) America “breathed a sigh of relief” at what we knew was his “mercy killing”. He turns to Pete Rose and Marlon Brando to further validate his theory that certain people missed their opportunity to graciously die young. In another song, “Marilyn”, also on Dan Bern, he pines for the opportunity for Marilyn Monroe to be rescued by Henry Miller and taken to Paris to enjoy copious amounts of affection, sex, opium and “would still be alive” because she would “feel like a woman, not a photograph in a magazine”.
In the Mission, Bern put on an “okay” show for his second week set. He didn’t play many songs from his more successful records. Instead, the prologue for many of his tunes included phrases along the lines of, “a few weeks ago I was”, “I’m still working on this melody”, “the chorus isn’t right yet”, and “I just finished this song about it.” Yet it’s Bern is a good folk experience right now. Go see him when he comes to your town, he plays a robust set. Hell, just get him some tickets to a baseball game and you’ll probably have yourself a date with your very own singer/songwriter.
by Steven Rybicki
On my recent trip to the Bay Area, my uncles introduced me to the music of a prolific singer/songwriter named Dan Bern. Bern was in the middle of a three-week stand in San Francisco. A die-hard Giants fan, Bern had been given tickets to see a stretch of games at SBC Park and was concurrently booked for a three-week set at a venue in SF’s Mission district. I caught his second show wherein he played for almost two hours. He’s a tall guy with broad shoulders and his build reminds me of an over the hill linebacker. He’s an affable stage personality, but his congenial stoner-gaze did wear on me after a while. Bern’s discography is varied between simple acoustic releases to polished lps with a full band.
His lyrics are stories, thoughts, and comments. He doesn’t have the stream of conscious dazzle of Bob Dylan, but vocally he conjures the great one with his similar nasal tone: a higher pitched version of Mike Ness, perhaps. Public personas dominate many of his songs. References to Kurt Cobain, Timothy McVeigh, Marilyn Monroe, Henry Miller, Pete Rose and many others figure into his concise stories.
One of his strongest tracks is “God Said No” from his record New American Language. It’s a reflection on the importance of the past, yet the hollowness and conceitedness of nostalgia. In the song, Bern meets God “ where the wind meets stillness/where darkness meets the light /where the ocean meets the sky/where the desert meets the rain/where the earth meets the heaven/on the edge of town.” He asks three favors of God: to go back in time and save two lives, Kurt Cobain and Jesus Christ, and extinguish one life, Hitler.
He attempts to impress God by begging to disarm and comfort Kurt: “take away his guns… talk to him/make him want to live/tell him I would love him/help him see his glory”. God said no, “if you really found him/you would only ask him/if he could help you get a deal/if he has a lawyer/if he could help you”. Dan asks for the chance to murder Hitler. God says no, “you would get caught up with theory and discussion/would let your fears delay and distract you/you would make friends/you would take a lover”. Dan’s final request is for the chance to interact with a divinity again: to save Jesus. This poignant inversion of the orthodox “Jesus saves” is accented with Dan’s promise to “pull the iron” from his body, to “try to heal his wounds.” Go said no, “if I let you go/if you really found him… you would stare/tongue no longer working/eyes no longer seeing/ears no longer hearing.” God responds by dismissing his pleas with an answer (nonanswer?) that Dan will not “go back in time” because time is God’s “secret weapon” against humans and walks away. A beautiful, cryptic ending to the song.
“God Said No” corresponds to conundrums of human acknowledgement of a past and a future, and the resulting anxiety about death. But he also considers the mystery and power of what elements persist and confound the rational, modern experience. Something drives the narrator’s desire to preserve the physical frame of Cobain, but also would push him to use Cobain like a member of the Nirvana entourage. Something primal fuels his outrage over the atrocities of Hitler, but he willingly would temper his instincts with the opportunity to reflect on fear, ideas, and become enraptured by Nazi patriotism. Saving Jesus would be quite a coup in terms of Christian theology, but he recognizes the chance to see Christ, with or without belief in the resurrection, would be daunting because of the tradition and following stemming from this event. He is also open to the possibility he would encounter a God beyond explanation, sight, thought: rational and irrational.
But Bern also has a sense of humor. One of his celebrity packed tunes on his record Dan Bern, “To Late To Die” Bern proposes that Elvis died to late. Unlike the people who went at the right time (James Dean) America “breathed a sigh of relief” at what we knew was his “mercy killing”. He turns to Pete Rose and Marlon Brando to further validate his theory that certain people missed their opportunity to graciously die young. In another song, “Marilyn”, also on Dan Bern, he pines for the opportunity for Marilyn Monroe to be rescued by Henry Miller and taken to Paris to enjoy copious amounts of affection, sex, opium and “would still be alive” because she would “feel like a woman, not a photograph in a magazine”.
In the Mission, Bern put on an “okay” show for his second week set. He didn’t play many songs from his more successful records. Instead, the prologue for many of his tunes included phrases along the lines of, “a few weeks ago I was”, “I’m still working on this melody”, “the chorus isn’t right yet”, and “I just finished this song about it.” Yet it’s Bern is a good folk experience right now. Go see him when he comes to your town, he plays a robust set. Hell, just get him some tickets to a baseball game and you’ll probably have yourself a date with your very own singer/songwriter.
posted by steven rybicki at 3:07 PM
3 Comments:
Hey dude,
Sorry, that was an accident. Anyway, I was wondering, why do you guys seem to prefer secular to Christian music in your publications?
Well, first of all, thanks for reading!
There are hard working Christian writers working today like Sufjan Stevens, David Bazan, Belle & Sebastian, Nick Cave, etc., but, personally, I just haven't found occasion or inspiration to write on their stuff, recently. Sufjan's Illinois will probably be one of the highest regarded records of the year, so hopefully I'll get to it soon, but the rest of them haven't released new stuff this year (and I'm not counting B&S's "Best of" double disc, thank you).
Additionally, some of the most religiously provocative work this year I'm still getting around to listening to: Common's Be and The Hold Steady's Separation Sunday.
And if you're at PHC and feel like you've got an insight and lead into a given band with an article you've written, give it a shot and submit it to Tim for Notes on the Times. Or if you disagree with something in my Bern review, go ahead and comment :O)
So stick around and contribute.
Steven
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