If his last track was a sigh, “Canned Peaches and Champagne” is a defiant, toothy grin. Cal Teller lean into the “Urban Scavenger” aesthetic here, proving that style doesn’t have to die just because the power grid did. This is a song about the “Post-War Gentleman” finding a way to curate a five-star experience out of a basement full of debris.
The Luxury of the Leak
The charm of this track lies in the high-low contrast. Cal takes the grit of a sticking cellar door and a rusted pocketknife and juxtaposes it with “silver platters” and “fancy golden caps.” The imagery of peaches looking like “sunsets soaking in their syrup gold” is classic Teller—transforming a mundane ration into a poetic relic of a “long-forgotten life.”
The rhythm feels like a jaunty, slightly off-kilter cabaret tune, likely played on a piano with a few missing keys or a guitar with strings that have seen better days. It’s music for “dancing in the flicker of the emergency light.”
Dining on the Border Line
There’s a beautiful irony in “dining like royalty” while wearing your “best tatters.” Cal isn’t delusional about the state of the world—he knows the vents are clattering and the neighbors are shadows—but he chooses to “toast to the cities sleeping in the rain” anyway. Using “heavy plastic spoons” to eat a “desert treasure” is the ultimate act of wasteland rebellion: refusing to let the circumstances dictate the mood.
CANNED PEACHES AND CHAMPAGNE
by: Cal Teller
I found a silver platter beneath a pile of stones
I polished off the dust and I chilled it to the bones
The cellar door was sticking, but I gave the lock a tap
And found a dusty bottle with a fancy golden cap!
It might be slightly flat, and the label’s gone a stray
But it’s the finest vintage that I’ve seen since Yesterday.
I opened up a tin with a rusted pocketknife
To find the sweetest treasure of a long-forgotten life
The peaches look like sunsets soaking in their syrup gold
A little bit of summer for a world that’s turned so cold
So put on your best tatters, give your Sunday shoes a shine
We’re dining like the royalty along the border line.
Oh, it’s canned peaches and champagne tonight!
We’re dancing in the flicker of the emergency light
The vents are all a-clatter and the pipes are playing tunes
While we eat our desert treasure with some heavy plastic spoons
The world has gone to pieces, but we’re feeling mighty fine
With canned peaches and champagne, and you for Valentine.
The neighbors might be shadows, and the roof might have a leak
But I haven’t seen a banquet quite like this in many a week
We’ll toast to all the cities that are sleeping in the rain
And we’ll let the bubbles wash away the worry and the pain
It’s a five-course meal in a single tin can
The ultimate achievement of a post-war gentleman!
Oh, it’s canned peaches and champagne tonight!
We’re dancing in the flicker of the emergency light
The vents are all a-clatter and the pipes are playing tunes
While we eat our desert treasure with some heavy plastic spoons
The world has gone to pieces, but we’re feeling mighty fine
With canned peaches and champagne, and you for Valentine.