"Sometimes you sleep while I take us home/That's when I know we really have a home". This has to be one of the most profound, simple, beautiful lines in modern pop music.
This was our wedding song, I couldn’t think of anything that said better what I struggle to articulate. Some music seems to hit a deeper place. Barroom barroom.
I am truly jealous at those little tortoises. They are sitting in the sun, listening to Bill Callahan! What more could you ask of? Lovely, lovely man...
I love this approach to song writing. Bill Callahan seems to have mastered whatever 'it' is. I come up with little patterns like this and others (like Rococo Zephyr) on my guitar fairly often, yet I don't seem to have the confidence or allow them to stand alone as songs - they always seem to form the basis of one without ever becoming one by themselves. It's a minimal approach I suppose (not to belittle it in the slightest), I take a lot away from it. It's tough to write good songs in this way as he does when they're so sparse - where you have to rely on your ability to come up with melodic and imaginative lyrical lines. Granted, it has a bigger sound on the record but it's just as pleasant to me when performed like this also. Anyway, this is good music from a very talented fella.
yes, I get what you mean! But sometimes, it's also in the details: the guitar is tuned down a step, which gives it a gravity, and his picking is quite sophisticated, so there's more detail and nuance to it then you would think at first. The chords are simple, that's true. How they come to life depends upon the life the artist can breathe into them.
Remarkable poetry by a unique, genuine and unusual singer-songwriter. He never betrayed himself through the years. Small Plane "You used to take me up I watched and learned How to fly No navigation system Beyond our eyes Watching I always went wrong in the same place Where the river splits towards the sea That couldn't possibly be You and me Sometimes you sleep while I take us home That's when I know We really have a home I never like to land Getting back up seems impossibly grand We do it with ease Danger, I never think of danger I really am a lucky man I really am a lucky man Flying this small plane I like it when I take the controls from you And when you take the controls from me I really am a lucky man I really am a lucky man Flying this small plane Eyes scan the path ahead And all around"
This is amazing music . . . I'm baffled that I have never listened to Callahan's music until just now! And I might never have heard his songs, had he not opened for Iggy Pop last night at The Greek . . . He took the stage . . . one chair, an acoustic guitar, and a cat on electric guitar accompanying him. He started playing and my buddy said "This is gonna suck . . ." . . . To my credit, I said "I'm already digging this!" . . . but I also love folk/Americana music (my friend, not so much) . . . and then Bill opened his mouth . . . and that sound came pouring out . . . Both our eyebrows raised . . . midway through his first song we looked at each other and said "Wow!! Who the hell IS this guy?!?" Needless to say, both my friend and I became instant fans. And the way Bill left the stage was classic! He came on thanking Iggy for asking him to play, played his set, introduced the dude on electric guitar, said "Thanks," and then got up and left the stage . . . He never introduced himself!! No small talk . . . no "How y'all doin' out there?" or "Who's jazzed about seeing Iggy tonight?!?" . . . none of that bullshit that you ALWAYS hear from opening bands (and to be honest, I'm not bothered by any of that . . . standard fare . . . like the parsley garnishing the plate . . . I don't eat it . . . but I don't hate it either) . . . It was just cool to see something different like this. Sorry that I have missed his music all these years . . . I'll be making up for lost time now. Brilliant stuff . . . And what I wouldn't give for that voice
I’m mostly into kraftwerk, Detroit techno or electro, but discovering bills songs about 15 years ago was like finding treasure. Each track crafted with care and loving. I’ve followed and watched him develop to this day.
Privileged to have seen him 8 times in melbourne australa since 2009. Sometimes in large concert halls, pub venues and theatres. The best a small venue called howler where there was 200 people capacity. When he asked the small crowd for encore songs the assorted requests he didn't want to do were met with a deadpan 'no' before he finally acquiesced with 'the well'. Good memories.
I've never flown a plane, but I have a father that I love and thus I understand this song at an elemental level. I just hope my daughter will someday feel this way about me.
I like this kind of song writers. Words come from within and open up through a low dark voice in a seductive and strange melody and the perfect guitar chords.
Wau. Do they give National Hero Awards to engineers who mix like this? The music and place it's in is something. A result of all in that crew. That. One. Person.
I wish I could sit beside him in the cockpit, watch and learn how to fly, or, if that's too much, spend a while with him in a community garden of his choice and listen... Amazing voice, amazing song.
Lovely Shellie... Having a love of small planes, the setting,, sweet! and beautiful! thanks! thought about my Dad! I wish he was still around. Now I have so many questions... that only he has in his head ... :)
a friend from facebook, who posted a bit of an unpleasant comment got a little under fire from others and then unfriended me, i private messaged him and cleared it up, he sent me this link, i thought it was beautiful and put me in a very reflective mood,,,,,, my friend from facebook admitted he struggles with depression, ,,, don't we all,,,, but this song really made me think,,,,,,,
I feel badly for him... there for the grace of god go I ... though sometimes, as you probably have, i have questioned how I was going to get through something. Then one realizes that others have, get someone to talk to, buck up, stop my negativity... the whole 9 yards enchilada pep talk to get me back to a normal level. I have thought many times about giving up... Bag Lady 101!! But, my responsibility level and love for friends and family kick in... maybe a little guilt too! I figure ... whatever gets you through it will make you stronger. and it has! you are a good person for helping others fix their lives... but don't give up your stuff to help others. You are the first to pay attention to... you are the most important person in your life... take good care of her! I am learning that now. The stronger and happier I am, the more I can help the universe!
Beautiful. The kind of sad thing is that without AI (gemini) I probably would never hear this song. I asked about songwriters similar to heather nova and townes van zandt, both of them have those really deep yet simple, kind of sad yet beautiful songs.
Damned I found in my father's garage my old CD of the doctor came at dawn..very good album BTW and now he seemed to aged like a late Scott Walker am I right? which is a very fine thing indeed 💓
