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The Caravan Sessions

by Indio Saravanja

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1.
I heard a rumor the worlds gonna sink the end will come sooner than anyone thinks down in the valley they're spreading the news I'm up on the mountain 21st century blues Sister come with me let's find a place I want to be with you if this is the case cause you're all that I long for and know to be true we've got no time for 21st century blues Let's go to the North babe or home to the south the people here scare me they foam at the mouth they're just waiting for water with holes in their shoes they're pointing at me and they're pointing at you From deep in the country down to the sea people have always longed to be free but now you know there's so many with nothing to lose stuck in the cities 21st century blues they say we've run out of credit and we're bound for a crash but we got the spirit if we don't have the cash the light is electric but they've taken the view lost in the panic 21st century blues Our love is not over it's just how you feel we can be lovers but it's too late for deals it's too late to fake it we gotta get through so watch what you say and watch what you do watch what you do
2.
Clouds 02:41
CLOUDS Clouds are moving swiftly 'cross the sky there's three more days until I go but i won't say goodbye because you are the woman for my life the next time that we meet again then you will be my wife I knew you like a bell that wouldn't sound inside the silent movie that I played from town to town through restless dreams for you I left a place where nothing else could matter 'til i looked into your face and now I know the reasons for the times I was blind and now I know my seasons will be fine in my mind in my mind You know it's good to see the world anew to slip out of the shadow lands and feel you like I do my love it feels so light yet holds me down it makes me feel like I can fly with both feet on the ground and so much more than words can ever say we lived today I've never gone so far out of my way and I'd like to stay I'd like to stay Clouds are moving.....
3.
Dead Man 04:24
Dead Man Every single hour every moment of the day I look upon a wishing well and wonder what to say through truth and lies and beauty there's a mystery to undress but I'm tired of feeling guilty just because I'm unimpressed I need someone to talk with until it's time to leave every since she left me I need reasons to believe my lonely eyes may frighten you'll see them when I sing and they'll tell you how a dead man is the very strangest thing Now the dead man takes the daughters and he takes the lonely wives he don't know what he's after so he messes with their lives he cuts through air like silence breaks the skin just like a scratch he lets you see inside him til you find that you're attached some say that he's dishonest but each lover's gently warned I might not leave you too much but tonight I'll keep you warm with the sweetness of a stranger 'til the morning comes to rise and I guess it's just a danger if you think I'm telling lies He's out there on the highway just before the sun comes up and he sings to pass the hours 'til there's whiskey in his cup he knows his days are numbered like the bullets from a gun so he sings about the love that left the legend on his tongue the chrome that started peeling the heart that filled with rust the one who left the feeling there ain't no one you can trust the one who left a world to which he'd never quite belong the one who made the dead man is the reason for this song she's the reason for this song
4.
Fortunate Son Where is the fortunate son his daddy swallowed a gun the market crashed and when he lost the cash they say he lost it all Where is the fortunate son who always had his way to pay for all those toys now that they're lost how much will it cost for him to learn to hate Where is the fortunate son now that the middle class is gone and we're still poor worse off than before when we were miserable I wish to God that I could see why this is happening to me am I slave or am I free whatever happened to the dream Where is the fortunate son the war ain't over don't he know it's just begun we need his pride things are bad outside and they're just getting worse Where is the fortunate son will he sing a song for everyone sing us the blues coins around his shoes we'll say he rose again I wish to God that I could see why this is happening to me am I slave or am I free whatever happened to the dream
5.
Middle Of Things Take the high road when you're feeling fine take the low road when you're breaking do your best just to walk a straight line you'll sometimes be mistaken look at your hands and study those lines think about highways turning think about love when you look in my eyes think about fires burning I'd give anything to see you again no one here would miss me if i had money well i'd go again cause i know just how you'd kiss me sometimes i wonder if you had a choice did you really have to leave me on these dim-lit stages where i lost my voice and i begged you to believe me Where are you in the middle of things When you get so tired of trying Where are you in the middle of things Are you thinking of me and crying Can't you see the driver at his lonely wheel driving through the valleys of darkness don't you ever wonder how the poor man feels when the road has lost it's promise and it's taking too long for the lights to change and life up here is lonely i'm twice as crazy but i'm half as strange and i still love you only So where are you in the middle of things When you get so tired of trying Where are you in the middle of things Are you thinking of me and crying
6.
El Camino Dreams El Camino dreams are keeping me awake tonight El Camino dreams you know I'm down the road and I'm out of sight a 66 would be so sweet midnight blue with a black interior chrome shining like diamonds on the street make a man like me feel so superior I couldn't drive no kids to school not even if they begged me to the price of gas wouldn't feel so cruel and nobody would ever ride in it but me and you in my El Camino dreams with somebody around me who can understand why I don't like it here no more ever since you took away your hands I would drive right through these nights til i'd get so tired i'd just have to sleep pull over to a field in a blanket of stars have one last smoke lying back on that old bench seat if she could drive me all the way you know I'd love that woman til the day I die like a man who hates to stay cause everything else just makes him want to cry I know these dreams ain't any good cause the road is changing on the lone cowboy you could have a thousand horses 'neath your hood if you ain't helping no one live you know it's just a toy El Camino dreams sorry honey but that's all I'm dreaming of and I don't know what it means but i loved you more than life and i know it ain't enough it ain't enough
7.
Minor Blues 03:37
Minor Blues i tried to write a song tonight you know i couldn't get it right it was just a minor blues full of all my heavy views i was trying to fill with pain words so full of love and rain the thought of leaving you again and all the writing on the wall i was still angry from the day we had and then i guess it made me sad the lullaby we sang in bed was keeping me awake instead you were talking in your sleep your company was hard to keep your body fighting in the moonlit sheets telling me i had it all and now i got the minor blues but i don't have a song been looking for that major key so long so long i've loved you for a long time now we still don't get along somehow we've been trying to make a deal ever since we made it real i know the story will not end until there's nothing to defend but when an enemy becomes a friend will one of us be gone our love is like a minor blues that tells us something's wrong been looking for that major key so long for one to find a way to choose and one to carry on find a deal we can't refuse or say so long so long
8.
Nothing Can Be Done The lunatics are on the street staring at the sun waiting for the black out somebody said would come they're sure that it's all over things have gone too far I'm just waiting for my lover looking at the stars She says she really knows me she knows just what I need she offers me her schedules I offer her my speed we sit here drinking coffee and watch the ashtrays burn sometimes she looks up at the TV I just wait for her return And I don't know where I'm going or what I'm running from sometimes I wonder if I ever will can anything be done? It's either feast or famine it's purge and then it's binge it's always been the same in my life lately it's making me cringe but none of these things matter when my baby holds me tight she's like my coffee in the morning my whiskey late at night she's like my coffee in the morning my whiskey late at night
9.
Grace Of Thee This little bird did her best to fly despite the rain and thunderclouds that covered up her eyes and when she flew she knew that you were there she didn't need to struggle or even say a prayer she kept trying she kept flying 'til she flew so easily and she made it home if only by the grace of Thee This tiny tree did his best to grow in the ground where he was planted where the sun would never go from where he stood he could see so many trees that grew up straight and tall while he grew so crookedly but he kept growing without knowing the day would come when he'd be free and he made it home if only by the grace of Thee I don't know why my life is so full of trouble or why the world seems so unkind but when all of the rain inside has got me seeing double I know you'll let me see in time and I'm not ready yet to face my final dawn I haven't found my highway I'm still looking for my song I'm scared and alone and it's harder every day to wake up and keep trying but I'm learning how to pray just keep me warm and I'll keep singing though I know not what will be and I'll make it home if only by the grace of Thee
10.
Holding On 03:19
Holding On holding on to what we have that feels so right and so brand new without giving in to thoughts and fears that make me want to run from you and I'm holding on just like the times in the past when I wasn't feeling strong now I feel your love shining through these silver days out on the land and I love you more than I could say where would I be without your hand and I'm holding on just like the times in the past when I felt like I belonged got your love shining through all my days (3x) got your love shining through oh baby I can't stand to make you sad with words I speak if I show you how I feel inside how could you love a man that weak but I'm holding on just like the times in the past when I wasn't feeling strong.

credits

released July 2, 2009

(The Caravan Sessions was successfully funded by gracious pre-paying fans in 2009.)
Here are the liner notes:


Wednesday, April 29, 2009

To whom it may concern:

It’s early afternoon as I sit and write this at our kitchen table here overlooking the greening fields of this magical farm called Caravan... It’s the last day of April and the sun is finally starting to shine on all G-d’s creation. I’ve got the new record playing right now on these computer speakers...on this same laptop these songs were recorded on two months ago in a ten by ten plywood cabin up the hill from here, when the snow was four feet high and the darkness and doubt seemed sovereign in the rueful month of February.

I’d be lying if I told you that making this record wasn’t one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, I had no money for a ‘real’ studio, and although I’d had a fair share of recording experience over the years, I definitely hadn’t paid much attention to the engineering side of things. Sure I knew people made cabin recordings all the time but I didn’t have a clue how myself, and besides that.... I had already decided long before, that I definitely didn’t have what it took to sit in front of a computer (or board, back in the ‘old days’ when I used to fork over a summer job’s worth of wages to a ‘pro’ for a handful of demos!) and get that kind of thing done. And here’s the truth of it: I just never was all that interested! I would’ve rather just written and performed my songs and said ‘Thanks a bunch I’m off now!’ But somehow 4 years had gone by (with a half-finished and abandoned record
somewhere in the middle of that) and I realized I had better get my motoring kicked into a different gear if I was going to keep this bus rolling down the highway.

Back in November, after hearing you could even do such a thing, I reached out to my ‘fans’ (friends) for help and by the end of January I had some money to work with. Not enough to go tracking in a studio... but I had promised a record! One thing led to another, and I started with what I could afford.. ‘just start something. But what songs? and where? I can’t do the album I planned! What!?... ‘just start something Indio’... so I did.

With one rented microphone, a computer program called Garage Band and a little box called a ‘Duet’ I got to work. It took a week and a number of phone calls to old friends like Jay Burr just to learn how to turn things on at times! Anyways.. more checks started coming in.... 20 bucks here.. 100 there... and this whole thing started to take on more meaning to me with each passing day. In the middle of the longest winter since G-d knows when, in the middle of this ‘recession’.. with panic and doom spilling in from all sides, all these people showed they cared that I make something happen out of nothing and that they were rooting for me.

And then there was Estelle, she was just plain wonderful. Most of the time I was trying to work during non-chainsaw hours, meaning 9-5 (at night), so she said goodbye to a good part of me for the couple of weeks I was in that cave, leaving food, notes, and rescue remedies on the table for whenever I came in.

I’m realizing all this again as I sit here in this almost summer sun and it’s all just one big miracle just what the faith and support of friends and loved ones can do. We all made this together and I learned a lot in the process about those famous old lines ‘Knock and the door shall be answered’ and ‘Ask and ye shall receive’ I couldn’t have done this without any of you and that’s something I want to celebrate now and I’ll never forget. Thank you.

You may wonder: Did I get the record I wanted out of all this? Hell no! But I got something a lot better than that. I re-discovered what and who I’m doing this for.

So here’s some more songs ‘to be a ponderin’ on friends’.


For general know-how, encouragement, help, and lending ears:

Carlos Marticorena, Leeroy Stagger, Jay Burr, and Farrell Spence. Gary Vallaincourt. Pat Braden. Hannah James. Dietmar Leibecke, Michael Maclean, Steph & Gerry, Elias and my family. James Mackie for videos and energy. Estelle Shook for everything else.
Gracias to
Tony ‘Snowking’ Foliot and Dietmar Leibecke for starting it all off!
Hotse Langeraar, Kelly Payne, Elias Saravanja, Kevin More, Gordon Hamre, Judy Murdock, Peter Sands, Tawanis Testart, Diana Mathisen, Andrew Love, Gary Coward, Sue Turner, Peter Cullen, Line Gagnon, Sonya Meier, Mark Wilson, Jane Wolverton, Andrea Coyne, Heather Nicol, Pat Braden, Jodi Ouelette, Bohdi St. John, Herve Oudet, Alejandro Wainer, Mila Steele, Terry Woolf & Aggie Brockman, Gli Edmunds, Marty Levinson & Jacquie, Martin Julien, Jacques Spiry, Valeria Vergara, Kevin Mackie, Stephane Ritchot, Zav RT, Allison Green, Daphne Denniston, Treena Stubel, Ward Wylie, Laurie Sarkadi, Seattle Scott & Jill, Jasmine Netsena, Tom & Ann Hennessy, April Parchoma, Laura Wilder, Edward Becker, Orissa Forest, Cheryn Wong. Hedi Kottner.

Thanks as well to everyone at Caravan (and ‘Chainsaw Mick’ my good man!) all songs written and arranged by Indio Saravanja and recorded February 2009 except ‘Grace Of Thee’ recorded in one take at One Ton Studios Victoria B.C. April 15th, and ‘Holding On’ back on the Caravan Farm in the cook shack with Cameron Shook, Sunday April 26th. Fiddle and Trumpet @ Dan’s warehouse February & April, All drums recorded at Woodshop Studios, Duncan B.C.

Mixed by Zak Cohen with Indio at Woodshop Studios, April 09
Mastered by Zak Cohen

Musicians:

Indio:
6 and 12 string guitar, vocals, banjo, organ, piano, glockenspiel, synth, loop percussion, harmonica and also bass on El Camino Dreams.
Daniel Lapp: Fiddle and Trumpet
John Ellis: Pedal Steel. Bass on Nothing Can Be Done
Pat Steward: Drums
Cameron Shook: Bass on Holding On

Grace Of Thee inspired by a poem by Rene Fumoleau and dedicated to Gary Cramer and my mother Maria Saravanja.

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Indio Saravanja Toronto, Ontario

Argentine born, Arctic Canada raised, Indio Saravanja is a poetic songwriter, talented multi-instrumentalist, and adventurous composer, whose poignant, honest words cut to the bone. A dynamic performer who charms the crowd with his candid and often humorous tales, he is an also an exciting musician - solo or with a band, acoustic or electric. ... more

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