Califone by Anthony Green
Anthony Green is well known for previous successes fronting bands such as Saosin, The Sound of Animals Fighting, Audience of One, High and Driving, and is currently the lead singer of Circa Survive. Most would agree that his solo work has been the most successful out of his former alternative bands in terms of meaningful lyrics. In December of 2005, Green had set out on a solo tour that had changed his career for the better. His first solo album titled “Avalon” was released on August 5, 2008. His indie-rock approach to the deep and insightful issues of what makes us who we are today will always stick with him as his best songwriting to date. Anthony Green's song “Califone” conveys ambiguity towards the meaning of the song through local color.
Califone is actually an indie-rock band from California that Anthony grew up listening to in his teen years. They are his inspiration for some of his songs including this one, especially. Although like most bands do, he explains in the song “califone I love you, but you're doing coalesce” meaning he loves them but over the years they have become “sellouts” like another local band from California known as Coalesce. When he recites “califone I love you, but you're singing sinatra again” means they have gone back to their old music or their “classic” music from where they started.
Lastly, Green compares the famous blues musician of his time, Frank Sinatra, to how Califone used to be when they first started out. This is an example of characterization and symbolism. This whole song is a great example of local color because it is talking about a local band from California where he grew up. It is also an example of ambiguity because this song can have more than one interpretation. It can be interpreted as Green missing his home town in California and how much it has changed, or it can be interpreted as the band Califone if deeper meaning is researched.
