In “Stepping Over Shadows,” Cal Teller fully embraces his persona as the “Post-War Gentleman.” This track is a masterclass in wasteland dandyism—a jaunty, swinging defiance that treats the crumbling remains of a city like a grand ballroom. It’s the sound of someone refusing to let the end of the world ruin their posture.
The Dandy in the Debris
Cal’s imagery here is strikingly visual. He’s “creasing his trousers” with a cold iron and “tipping his fedora” to ghosts. To Cal, maintaining the aesthetic of the “Old World” isn’t an act of denial; it’s an act of war against the “soot and rust.” He sees the twisted streetlights as “dancer’s broken frames” and finds a rhythm in the silence that the sirens can’t drown out.
The moment with the “grand piano on 5th and Main” is classic Teller. Striking a chord on a piano missing its ivory is a metaphor for his own music: it’s broken, thirsty, and jagged, but it still sounds like “what living was about.”
Tipping the Fedora to Lucille
The song ends with a deeply personal sign-off: “Keep the signal burning, Lucille… I’m coming home.” While Cal’s songs often feel like they are addressed to the general “Signal Sentiment” or the operator Aradia, this specific name—Lucille—adds a new layer to his journey. Whether Lucille is a person, a place, or the radio itself, she is the “compass” that guides him through the jagged skyline.
STEPPING OVER SHADOWS
by: Cal Teller
I put a crease in my trousers, though the iron’s cold as stone
I’m whistling a melody while walking all alone
The streetlights are all twisted, like a dancer’s broken frame
And the neon signs are missing half the letters in their name
But I’m moving to a rhythm that the silence can’t erase
With a smile for every gargoyle on a fallen building’s face.
Oh, I’m stepping over shadows in the middle of the day
I’m tipping my fedora to the ghosts along the way
The skyline might be jagged, and the pavement’s turned to dust
But a heart can still be golden in a world of soot and rust
So let the sirens holler, let the sky turn bruised and blue
I’m just stepping over shadows till I find my way to you.
I passed a grand piano sitting out on 5th and Main
It’s missing all its ivory and it’s thirsty for the rain
I struck a chord upon it, just to hear the wood cry out
It sounded like a memory of what living was about…
They say the sun is setting on the era of the grand
But I’ve still got a compass and a lyric in my hand.
Oh, I’m stepping over shadows in the middle of the day
I’m tipping my fedora to the ghosts along the way
The skyline might be jagged, and the pavement’s turned to dust
But a heart can still be golden in a world of soot and rust
So let the sirens holler, let the sky turn bruised and blue
I’m just stepping over shadows till I find my way to you.
Keep the signal burning, Lucille… I’m coming home.