Love & Coffee Travelogue

Love & Coffee X - Morning Song

2010-05-09T08:48:10Z

written last summer after a party, this tune is a kind of farewell send off to friends. it's a short song so we left the ending open. this is exit music for a film. pitchfork is not going to review this song. it will not blast your face off. it is not a radio hook. it is a graffiti flash nearly forgotten or a greeting card in the discount bin. heart felt but unadorned.

here comes the sun the party is all done
everybody's heading back where they came from
the bottles of beer are shining so clear
there is a free light that's falling all through the air

please come again all my dear sweet friends
may god bless and keep you when the road starts to bend
what is real is what is shared words turn to notes in the air
there will come an answer though i know not where

photographs by

kristin isgett - band at the handlebar, 2010
erica schrag - berg at party, june 2009

performance by:

a.b. - vocals, guitar
mike bagwell - pedal steel
chris garrett - bass
john byce - drums

recorded live & mixed by chris garrett

Love & Coffee IX - Farewell Song

2009-10-22T07:48:31Z

this is a bootleg demo recorded on a single mic hand held cvs recorder. i wrote the song in williamsburg, brooklyn in one night at the roebling tea room. this version is a brief low-fi glimpse into the newest incarnation of the heavy love rehearsing at a house on paris mountain in south carolina. the song and nine others will be featured on the upcoming album on tight ship records this winter titled 'exiles in paradise'. recording is set to begin the first week of november in chicago.

farewell my darling, farewell my love
i never meant to frighten you
you have seen the darkness shining in my eyes
i can take you there if you want me to
we are middle children in an endless hurricane
you can run but you'll fall right through

farewell my darling, farewell my love, you're the one i'll be thinking of
in the morning under the rising sun, you'll reaching for me but i'll be gone

in the city streets i watch for you
your heart beats beneath the earth below
the silver snake slips through the ground as the father loads his gun
the child rests his head upon the stone
gazing at the lidless eye the forked tongue now speaks
there is more to you than flesh and bone

all night i pace the floor hoping to recall
the reason why i feel the way i do
i gave you what you asked me for and you left me in the cold
if you can't handle it then don't invite me to
the same hand the pulls the heavens in the sky
is the same hand that pulls me back to you

love & coffee is written by aaron berg ©2009 - photographs by rosy nolan

performance by:

a.b. - vocals, guitar
mike bagwell - pedal steel
ira rosoff - bass
john byce - drums

recorded on a portable one mic recorder from cvs drugstore

best if listened to on headphones

Love & Coffee VIII - Honey For You

2009-06-22T06:36:00Z

when the world leaps forward something must always be destroyed. standing in the cracks the watchers gather memory in and try to see what ultimate nothingness has in common. this is an accidental courting song not unlike our universe. this is a period of time. this is a crooked record bent around some daydream vibration you brought me to. this piano is a little out of tune. this whole testimony i would trade in an instant for another look at the clarity of you.

i have seen the coast of california
i have seen a man with nothing left to say
a little life and a little death love
passes through us every day

honey for you anything at all
a bird that sings or a fortress wall
if you need me i won’t be far
honey for you anything at all

i have seen the curve of days unending
i have seen the greatness of the year
compared to the motion of your body
nothing has ever seemed so clear

i have seen the face of one in many
i have seen what i thought could not be true
i have been a fool for what shall perish
but i have never seen the likes of you

Buy this song now at

love & coffee is written, recorded, and performed by aaron berg ©2009

a.b. - vocals, nylon and rhythm guitar, bass, upright piano, harmonica

best if listened to on headphones

Love & Coffee VII - Until I See Her Again

2009-03-18T06:26:00Z

this is a song written very quickly but performed a thousand times over. on the road i played it often at the end of sets as a kind of quick farewell. the chords reach back to younger days in new york. as an interlude between increasingly drunken hands of spades or poker, friends, girlfriends, dogs, and roomates took turns trying to improvise rhymes on the melodically unsynchronized sea of messily strummed guitars assembled throughout the apartment. as the night wore on the card games got more rowdy and the impromptu serenades more and more crude fading eventually into total unintelligible ridiculousness. we played it in three like an irish drinking song. for some reason its easier to sing in three when you’re drunk. goes back to the rolling decks of the seven seas i guess. in the end it became some kind of fractured love song. i borrowed a nylon string guitar from a friend and recorded it for the first time last week in two nights just as the first warm breaths of spring swept into town.

across the table by the window standing at the bar
there was a three piece band tuning up in the hall
she spoke to me in a flash whispered in my ear
i’ve been looking for you everywhere have you come for me at last

oh, its been too long since i’ve held my true love in my arms
i know that she is just around the next bend
its a few more days until i see her again

on the rooftop in the snow the shadow of a dream
crept into my heart like the motion of the sea
her eyes filled with fear when she looked in my soul
i knew by her mother-earth bones on the other side she was near

through the desolate terrain have we done this before
i wonder if this time we’ll make it back home
under a blood red moon with my heart bleeding
hoping that this road will lead me back to hear soon

love & coffee is written, recorded, and performed by aaron berg ©2009

a.b. - vocals, nylon and finger-style guitar, bass, hammond organ

best if listened to on headphones

Love & Coffee VI - The Darkness

2009-01-13T07:13:00Z

i wrote this song over a long period of time along with another song as a sort of b-side to this one. the b-side called 'sonnet for a lone dove' is a more tranquil considerably shorter gospel equivalent of this tune. to write a long song over an extended period of time allows form many angles of the same question to appear. the words map both the spiritual rambling of its author as well as a kind of scrambled record of the larger time within which it was imagined and completed. still to paraphrase country legend keith whitley, "this song don't belong inthe top forty radio".

my most lucid memory of working out the last bits of words is strumming the chords on an unplugged telecaster in an endless rotation with its yet to be unheard companion 'sonnet for a lone dove' in an econolodge motel in omaha, nebraska. after having been on the road for weeks and weeks without pause the woman i was traveling with decided to use the much cherished rarity of the motel's newly renovated, and therefore pristine bathroom to take a long hot bath. sitting on one of the beds by the nightstand her voice calls out from the other room. i go and sit beside her on the covered toilet seat leaning against the wall with guitar in hand. i begin strumming again but this time a love song. without looking up she says, "play what you were playing before." i start again on the last verse. the piano rippling in my head. "did you ever dream about some place beyond..." after a minute she starts to hum along softly with the melody. the television in the adjoining room roars from commercials to gunfire and back again as the pitter-patter of water in the bathtub joins the wandering rotation of two voices searching.

did you ever wish you could sail into the sun
or set out on the road alone
anything just to keep you from
the darkness that is coming on
when the lights are all shining and nothing is revealed
and everyone is hiding, and still no one really feels
and the airwaves come crashing, until your soul's paper thin
and the only feeling that is lasting, burns like a sunset within
it won't be long, before the darkness that is coming on.

did you ever wonder about your burning eyes
think maybe its all just a bad disguise
a stacked deck in a house of lies
underneath a black curtain sky
where good men are blinded and the the blind somehow see
and there's no hope in finding, any shelter from the screaming
where the lost souls all ramble, until their dreams lay in earth
where on the hillside they're gathered, as they ghost their last words
with their eyes fixed upon, the darkness that is coming on.

did you ever believe in the masquerade
if only to keep your heart from the pain
of the memory, of the heat and the burning plane
reflected in a lost man's face
who thinks only of violence, and the conquest of space
who condemns any victory, his hands cannot claim
who stands and with a straight face, steals your dignity
while attempting to relate, how you could ever find peace
down the barrel of a gun, in the darkness that is coming on.

did you ever dream about some place beyond
where the lines of color are no longer drawn
and the weak are not enslaved by the strong
in the darkness that is coming on
why so many have not spoken, in the rising of the tide
as the nightmares of the waking, eclipse the visions of the mind
why the idles are not broken, though the brass tongues all lied
as the sacrifice that is offered, wipes a teardrops from its eye
why the mountains are not quaking, under the absurdity of the strain
of the masses of forsaken, left to the wilderness and the rain
why the spirit of the fallen, does not see his shadow and reflect
upon the higher movement calling, him to lay down his foolish threat
i am standing in the bright light, with both feet on the ground
reaching towards a great height, as these words resound
i will not be a pawn, in the darkness that is coming on.

Buy this song now at

MAKE NOISE, NOT WAR! PEACE ON EARTH!

love & coffee is written, recorded, and performed by aaron berg ©2009

a.b. - vocals, harmonica, guitars, bass, and upright piano

best if listened to on headphones...

Love & Coffee V - Fellowman Blues

2008-10-19T10:24:00Z

hollywood blvd, california

a while back in november i visited chicago to attend a record session at the generosity of a friend who had some soon to be expired frequent flyer miles. on the plane back to new york i wrote the majority of this song on a long rambling string of miniature united airways napkins. the flight attendant was not entirely pleased with my exceptional desire for additional paper products. i forgot about the song all together until i discovered the balled up wad of monogrammed paper squares months later in a winter jacket.

is there any end to the vastness that i feel
or is it just a furnace built on a heart of steel
is there any sense in burning a man who's done you wrong
when the only hope that's given, lies in the days to come
the hour is at hand to make a little noise for your fellow man

the vagrants and the tramps are whispering in the night
if you never give up hope everything will turn out fine
or maybe fade away into a neon blinking dawn
syndicated but forgotten, like the truthes we used to hold
get on your feet and stand, make a litte noise for your fellow man

is there any space between a sinner and a saint
or is it just a strand of the sun's golden ray
is it any use in crying a lake of unseen tears
when the only motion needed, is just to cast away your fear
do what it is you can to make a llittle noise for your fellow man

somewhere beneath the excess you'll find the working class
clinging to what's left of a dream they thought would last
now the only trace that's left is shimmering in the night
bought and sold everyday at fraction of the price
if what you see demands make a little noise for your fellowman

when you look into the face of a fool gone too far
don't let the senselessness cloud the bleeding in your heart
when he speaks of virtue to mask his cruelty
gather in the twilight where the spirit is still free
strike up the band and make a little noise for your fellowman

buy this song now at

love & coffee is written, recorded, and performed by aaron berg

a.b. - vocals, harmonica, guitar, bass, hammond organ, electric and ambient guitars

best if listened to on headphones - special thanks to john and helen

Love & Coffee IV - Behind Closed Doors

2008-08-09T10:14:00Z

written in a single night a while back in february of last year at the crushing center of a deadly new york winter. it was one of those songs you just walk right up to and stare in the face. it took me longer to figure out the unusual timing of the chords than it did to write the tune itself. i didn't play it for anybody for a long time but would slip into sets every now and then when nobody was listening. a lot of good stuff goes down when nobody's listening. its surprising what you can hear through walls and doors of addition and subtraction across frozen pavement melodies overlapping strange wandering obsessions. the human heart is a flaming beast without method or reasoning. too much time and too little sleep to turn back now. sound is a thought slice divided like cherry pie between memory and longing born on a napkin between some drunken midnight and that diner window where love's reflection once lived but is now only snow.

your black hair sparkled in the pale moonlight i waited for you i don't know why
some things come natural like the stars to the sky or the wind down the avenue
my heart beat soft as i crept through the rain i dont know why i care to see you again
if you only knew, the price i've paid within to do things the way that i do
behind closed doors i think i fell for you

if only the soul were as free as the mind i'd climb the ladder and let my heart glide
i never meant to catch you in a lie i just wanted to understand
were you going to vanish without a word-from this bottomless blinding hypnotic blur
or do you still believe that true love can cure the perilous road at hand
behind closed doors i'll still be your man

headlights blazed on the shadowy bridge i can still feel your broken laughter's edge
clattering somewhere inside my head i guess we'll never know now
we walked arm in arm down the cold city street the wind blew hard, you sung to the beat
of the car horn fugue, and the cadence of feet how could you shut it all down
behind closed doors is it that good without

the whiskey midnights spin round for days the dealer grins and the gambler stays
when the roulette is turning its so hard to say if there's ever any reason why
don't let my silence give you the impression that i have any answers to your questions
or that i'll ever need a full confession if you want to look me up sometime
behind closed doors i still wish you were mine

a sad-eyed boy searching for a lone root listening to the drone of his own phantom boots
you will never believe if you always need proof before you can make a change
on orchard street a woman gave me a jewel for good luck she said always keep your heart pure
that's why now i'm passing it to you if our fate should lead us astray
behind closed doors your memory will remain

buy this song now at

love & coffee is written, recorded, and performed by aaron berg

a.b. - vocals, harmonica, guitar, bass, hammond organ, electric and ambient guitars

photo courtesy of 'the basement' nashville, tennessee

best if listened to on headphones

Love & Coffee III - Madonna of the Evening Rose

2008-05-24T10:00:00Z

madonna of the evening rose hold me close while the story unfolds you know i never done a thing i been told just trying to keep my heart from the cold through the tempest of the changing tides sparks of light ripple beneath your spiraling eyes reflecting eternity upon the sky like an infinite probability of fear and desire rising like fire time enforces equality with absolute stunning brutality it reasons to be as the fingers that bind start to unwind the pathway born by two symbols slide towards twilight the needle meets the thimble as the double becomes single weaving the tapestry of an open window collapse my love and begin to realize the disguise lends reason to demise sheds those tears and dry your eyes i'm not sure but we may have proved truth lies behind the curtain that forever moves surrender to ceaseless change closed but unbounded like our broken heartstrings

madonna of the evening rose
cast your light into my soul
kiss me once before you go
back into the great unknown
i have traveled far and wide
searching for the other side
made it to the walls of time
honey i almost made you mine
madonna of the evening rose
tell me what the darkness knows
embrace the figure of shadow
escaping in the wind that blows

standing in the big black void of night the trees whisper to shattering heights once upon a time conjured in a rhyme just like a white blinding sight that i heard buried beneath the untilled ground thorns of light burst from the flaming crown rise from the earth sacrifice the darkness and give birth never ask for whom the church bell tolls the wheel will grind the young back to old forcing us all back into the cold, the cold fold of solitude catapulting its cure through the crude scenes where everything shutters and screams when i held you and cried by whose word did love become a crime i didn't mean to say it but i meant what i said there is no doubt a piece of the mystery belongs to you now at the carnival where we tried to find our way back out as you turned that candy apple in your mouth do not regret there's no need in speaking of you will escape the danger and return my love craving the taste of lion's blood beating for you just like a slackened drum

embrace the form of forms in a never ending storm silhouettes searching for a phantom home like bullets through a canvas torn or an unseen path that is somehow worn it's ripple on the water think harder like a message in a bottle everything you see is just a model as you close in the circulation gets hotter memories incinerate past horizon's gate ashes of love rise from what had been hate the curve of the dunes reminds me of you a clean wound followed by a search for proof take this hymn leave behind your silver moon and then depart once more and wait for destruction to begin sing to the king for he has triumphed gloriously thrown the horse and rider into the sea don't look back once you have broken free the first question lies between thought and deed as above so below if i was me and you were you would the opposite not also be true

buy this song now at

love & coffee is written, recorded, and performed by aaron berg

a.b. - all vocals, fender bass, hammond organ, percussion, fuzz and finger guitars

drums by johnny 'indicator' byce

best if listened to on headphones

Love & Coffee II - Bluest Of BLue

2008-05-04T09:35:00Z

one hand in the pocket of chance. fingers crossed and my mind running. rain fell down outside the apartment where i record. tribute to rap master dr. dre over whose beats i first began to freestyle. mostly while hurtling down the highway in pitch black anarchy of night.

brothers sisters friends of mine listen up close i'll tell you for the last time the place you want to go is just a step below the long dark hall where nobody knows keep it on keep it on, keep it on and on its the song of a song of a song of a memory never made sense to me and still my poor heart bleeds while my journey leads across the open sea to be or not to be through the wings of night whispers the illusion of the one true light

if you see something say something don't let it go by do you really mean that 'cause i think that i've seen a few things that don't sit right say that again and look me right in the eye you know what i'm talking about i guess there really ain't that much doubt its alright don't say anything at all i'm headed out the door i don't need you it's okay you don't have to prove everything that you need that you want to use sometimes the things that you need are really just things that you're yet to be sometimes its so far really all you need is to look in your heart get through the dark everyday you can try lend a hand make a little stand for your fellowman

walk on the water the water is you- dive on down to the bluest of blue

use the upside chaos to manipulate me, except i even got anything to believe get up i've had enough open that door build it again from the floor its alright i already been wrong once before many times more listen to me i keep score do everything i can then a little bit more sometimes its so close all you gotta do listen to the most softest thing in your mind let it ring up again back with you everything that you need has been proved come on now its a departure come on baby don't make me haunt you everything that i once had some day maybe might make me sad i don't where i been but from where its so hard to tell if there's anything on the highway some say there might be a pot of gold maybe its you in your eyes all the time looking back and through me as the river unwinds

walk on the water the water is you - dive on down to the bluest of blue

use the upside chaos manipulate me but i don't even anything you need i ain't gonna pleed for your cause any more i've seen everything i don't even want to you know don't even tell me i've had it i don't even know but its getting so bad it it don't even seem means anything anymore - false ending

guns and violence tv show seems alright but i don't know its so hard to tell fact from fiction come on better check that diction don't believe everything that you read sometime somewhere its got to be seen some records you can't sweep clean know what i mean step back check your facts better think twice before you attack jack some things you just can't say it's allright i see through it anyway how'd you like a blood bath in your neighborhood don't think i would murder in the school in the street blooding running its so stunning across the sea killing in the name of god and country and law doesn't that make any sense at all can hear those angels call all the people for one and one for all

a war for peace in peaceful way march on brother towards that heavenly day let me hear you say...

love & coffee is written, recorded, and performed by aaron berg

original base track remixed from dr. dre 'instrumentals 2001'

a.b. overdubs include all vocals, fender bass, rain, & guitars

best if listened to on headphones
dedicated to the silent rose...

Love & Coffee I - The Wheel

2008-04-24T05:34:00Z

copying down notes in the passenger seat of a dodge ram 1500. a song of survival becomes a profession of love. written down as the hunter stands over the sky drawing his bow in the infinite night. so young thinking somehow surrender was the key. wrapped up in love and darkness through the floor board rises the well of a wheel. heart is a wheel. apple is a wheel. sailor is a symbol.

the opening song for countless shows across the country. sang it thousand times for nobody at all...

i think i may have lost my mind somewhere back there down the line
can i help it if sometime i try and make a little sense of it
shining saviors jump and shout words roll like thunder from my mouth
i've seen enough now i want out of this place i'm in

living this way i ain't goint to last
there's a dream light breaking
through these pale shades of glass
drifting i know will do my heart in
still i'm bound to keep rolling
while the wheel is still in spin

don't all the faces seem so strange when you find you've begun to gaze
into the never ending space that's lying right in front of you
the golden temptress turns and sighs this time please try and get it right
or else come here into the light and let me lay my hands on you

at the roadside house we said our vows on a chariot the bride was taken out
only a fool would never doubt the things he thinks he knows
did you mean it when you said you heard voices from the dead
and to a sailor you would wed in the early hours of the morn

buy this song now at

Photographs by Rosy Nolan