Hungry Heart

Dan Bern is not the smartest man in the world. Nor is he the wisest or the wittiest. Nor does he have the largest vocabulary. But he is honest, and he seems comfortable with what he thinks and who he is, and he brings that honesty, that comfort and those thoughts to his songs. He wants but for simple things. “I have a dream of a new American language,” he sings on the title song of his new album. “One with a little bit more SpanishI have a dream of a new pop musicThat tells the truth, with a good beat and some nice harmonies.” If you listen to him with an open mind, and don‘t approach him with pretension, and don’t laugh at the honesty, the comfort and the occasional goofiness, you may hear that particular greatness present in American singer-songwriters who make music that seems to foretell which way the wind blows.

Which way did the wind blow? Bob Dylan gave us a midcentury America heedless and wild, full of romance and hope and holocaust, mystery in the past, death in the future. “Blowin‘ in the Wind,” “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” “The Times They Are A-Changin‘.” Irresponsible and irrepressible, full of poetry and generalities, Dylan’s music came at a moment when America could afford to make bold, beautiful, stupid pronouncements in politics and love, without paying off the debts that boldness and stupidity in either arena usually require.

Springsteen‘s vision, too, was heedless and wild, full of romance and something like hope. No holocaust, though, just diminished expectations -- good jobs and cheap homes in the past, few prospects for the future. “Born To Run,” “Thunder Road,” “Hungry Heart.” Springsteen’s was an America in twilight. Take the lyrics to Born in the USA‘s title track:

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary

Out by the gas fires of the refinery

I’m 10 years burning down the road

Nowhere to run, ain‘t got nowhere to go

But like the America of the ’80s, darkness came cloaked in sentimentality and nostalgia -- anthemic choruses, blazing guitars, and lyrics that cloaked the truth in big, stupid smiles. The song continued: “I was born in the USAI‘m a long gone daddy in the USABorn in the USAI’m a cool rocking daddy in the USA.” Only Springsteen would allow a disenfranchised Vietnam vet to describe himself as a “cool rocking daddy.” Ronald Reagan could be excused for using the song in his re-election campaign, confusing an indictment for a celebration.

In 1997, after several barnstorming, play-anywhere, live-in-the-back-of-your-van-type tours, Dan Bern was signed to the Work Group, an imprint of Sony, the company that owns Dylan‘s and Springsteen’s master tapes. He released two records on the label, an eponymous effort produced by longtime Dylan and Springsteen producer Chuck Plotkin -- Plotkin also produced Bern‘s latest album -- and Fifty Eggs, produced by Ani DiFranco. One can’t help but think that Sony looked upon him as the next in a line of bankable properties. Troubadours of the Zeitgeist can build a brand through good press and touring. It‘s cheaper than the massive marketing campaigns required for most contemporary pop stars. Low overhead. Excellent return on investment.

It didn’t work out. After these two immature efforts, the label folded. Unlike his predecessors, Bern was not allowed to “develop.” It‘s a different world.

So, which way does the wind blow now? Bern’s new America exists in the morning after twilight. It‘s still here -- paved over, only intermittently wild, but still full of romance if you have the heart for it. Sometimes it’s even heedless, though when it is, it pays . . .

Bern understands this. He used to live in Los Angeles, but recently he embarked on his longest tour yet, and when it‘s finished, he has plans to move to a small town in New Mexico. It’s named after a game show. It‘s called Truth or Consequences.

Like his predecessors, Bern plays deracinated folk music, although I bet he wouldn’t mind that tag as much as they would. (I also wonder if he‘d understand what the word deracinated means, but to be honest with you, I had to look that one up myself.) When traces of older tunes appear, their provenance as folk songs is dubious. They’re just as likely lullabies (e.g., snatches of “Hush, Little Baby” appear in the lyrics of Bern‘s “Tape”).

This makes sense, because Bern is best when he’s humble, sabotaging the self-mythologizing stories singer-songwriters like to tell themselves about themselves. In “God Says No,” he asks the Almighty to send him back in time so he can kill Hitler and save Jesus Christ and Kurt Cobain, but God denies his wish, explaining that Bern would squander the opportunity. Instead of changing history, he‘d find a German lover, freeze up before the crucifix, ask Cobain’s advice on hunting for a record deal.

The wonder, though, is when Bern makes you believe that small incidents of goodness mean everything. “Sweetness” leads off the record like a bona fide single, with chiming guitars and good hooks and a bridge that whets your appetite for the sing-along chorus. Remember when you were 8 and you rolled down hills but your body didn‘t bruise, and it would make you laugh and laugh and laugh? “Sweetness” is kind of like that, a simple pleasure, a simple sentiment: “What’s there to talk about?What‘s there to figure out?Where has the sweetness gone?Where is the loving song?” Who cares if his lines are short and the rhymes aren’t strong?