People used to call Dan Bern “the new Dylan” or sometimes “smarty pants.” There have been more than a few new Dylans over the years. Bern was not one of them. A pal of mine back in the late ’90s did refer to Bern as smarty-pants for his unconventional lyrics and irascible sense of humour in songs he wrote, specifically the one called Tiger Woods, which appeared on his first album, Fifty Eggs, as well as his second, called Smartie Mine. He thought singing Tiger Woods has big balls was a smart-alecky remark. Now we find out Tiger Woods does, in fact, have big balls for continuing to believe he can drive impaired with immunity.
To borrow a phrase from somewhere I forgot, “If you must put Dan Bern in a box, make sure it’s a big box!” This could be interpreted as morbid until you find out Bern is actually on the smallish side and will not need a big box whenever he passes on, which would be a darn shame because we want him to keep on making witty and insightful records, sometimes in a screwball way, which makes sense since he is a baseball fan and maybe basketball, too. He wrote a catchy song about the San Antonio Spurs’ Eiffel-towering (he’s French) superstar, Victor Wembanyama. Bern said of it, “People all over love the song and are quick to pick up on it and sing along. His name is so musical.” He could have written it to the tune of Guantanamera if Wemby’s name wasn’t lacking one little syllable.
There is a whole world of fascinating, complicated characters in Dan’s orbit. He presents a vibrant, fanciful contrast to the mundane monotonies of everyday existence, though some of life is undeniably fun, you can always use that spark to ignite the passion. His last two releases, Starting Over and New American Language, are on vinyl on the Grand Phony label out of New Hope, CT. He informed that, “They’ll also be putting out my next release, which includes the song All the Way that I did on the (mini-gig) video.” Just like all his other albums, these are filled with songs so potently piquant they resonate not only in the ear but in the gut, the spine, the groin, the heart. You could also suggest they water the wild horses of the imagination.
Bern currently lives in Silver City, NM. “I come from Mt. Vernon, Iowa,” he advises. “I’ve lived in Chicago, LA, New York, and a lot of years on the road.” He also has a connection to the UK. “When I was young, we used to spend quite a few summers in London, where we had close relatives. I remember the putting greens in Gladstone Park in north London, and watching Chelsea play West Bromwich Albion with my Uncle Henry. I was a big fan of Smarties and Fruit Gums and everything Cadbury’s had to offer, and Toys, Toys, Toys on Finchley Road. And the Parlophone Beatles records we couldn’t get in America.”
For his AUK mini-gig, Bern is playing a “Steinway grand piano in this one-time church, and my little Simon & Patrick’ car guitar’ that I got in Nashville about 20 years ago.” He performs three songs from his voluminous catalogue. “I did the new piano song first ’cause I knew I was gonna mess it up a bunch. So once I finally got a good take of it, the two guitar songs after that were easy.” Regent Street is from the 2020 album of the same name, and Albuquerque Lullaby is on New American Language.
If you cruise over to his website, you will come away knowing a lot about Bern and his music, including a handy tab with lyrics to just about all of his songs. There is a store where albums and books can be bought, and if you don’t find what you are looking for, there is more on his Bandcamp page.
