daylies music: Swedesplease

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Swedesplease

Chris Auster -”Again and Again” (March 23

Posted: 03 Apr 2009 11:44 AM PDT

Chris Auster is a tough swede to get a handle because he presents himself more as a prototypical American singer songwriter (Ron Sexsmith, Brett Dennen, etc) than a suave Scandinavian (Jens Lekman, Jonathon Johansson). Perhaps that’s because he’s spent time in the states as well as having influences that range from Townes Van Zandt to The Fleshtones to Bettye Lavette.

“Riverboat Gambler” is from his new debut recording Again and Again. Chris provided some context for the song below in his email to me:

It’s about an old drunken homeless guy down at pike place market in Seattle. I used to play in streets there, and this guy always came up to me and talked about all kinds of life philosophies, the world today, and economic problems, and how I should be doin’ something more useful with my life than playing music on the streets. it was a funny experience.
hence I came up with the refrain:

You better find a way boy, for success and better pay boy.
You better find a way boy, for that’s the world today. That’s the world today!

Riverboat Gambler