Callahan started out as a highly experimental artist, using substandard instruments and recording equipment. His early songs often nearly lacked melodic structure and were clumsily played on poorly tuned guitars (possibly influenced by Jandek, whom Callahan admired), resulting in the dissonant sounds on his self-released cassettes and debut album Sewn to the Sky. Much of his early output was instrumental, a stark contrast to the lyrical focus of his later work. Apparently, he used lo-fi techniques not primarily because of an aesthetic preference but because he didn't have any other possibility to make music. Once he signed a contract with Drag City, he also started to use recording studios and a greater variety of instruments for his records.
From 1993 to 2000, Callahan's recordings grew more and more "professional" sounding, with more instruments, and a higher sound quality. In this period he recorded two albums with the influential producer Jim O'Rourke and Tortoise's John McEntire, and collaborated with Neil Hagerty. After 2000's Dongs of Sevotion, Callahan began moving back to a slightly simpler instrumentation and recording style, while retaining the more consistent songwriting style he had developed over the years. This shift is apparent in albums such as Rain on Lens, Supper, and A River Ain't Too Much to Love.
Smog's songs are often based on simple, repetitive structures, consisting of a simple chord progression repeated for the duration of the entire song. His singing is strikingly characterized by his baritone voice and a style of delivery without being over-emotional. Melodically and lyrically he tends to eschew the verse-chorus approach favoured by many contemporary songwriters, preferring instead a more free-form approach relying less on melodic and lyrical repetition. Themes in Callahan's lyrics include relationships, moving, horses, teenagers, bodies of water, and more recently, politics. His generally dispassionate delivery of lyrics and dark irony often obfuscate complex emotional and lyrical twists and turns. Critics have generally characterized his music as depressing and intensely introverted, with one critic describing it as "a peep-show view into an insular world of alienation." Despite this there is also a broad swathe of joy throughout Callahan's work and more attentive critics have picked up on Callahan's tendency to black humour, a tendency often confused with a depressed mental state or a genuine obsession with the morbid, a confusion no doubt caused by his deadpan vocals.
Cat Power (Chan Marshall) recorded Callahan's song Bathysphere on her 1996 album What Would the Community Think. She covered him again in 2000 on her Covers Record doing the song Red Apples.
Smog's Cold Blooded Old Times appears on the High Fidelity soundtrack. The song Vessel in Vain (from Supper) was also used on the soundtrack of the independent British film Dead Man's Shoes in 2004. In October 2007, Cadillac released a commercial which featured Smog's song Held and Bob Dylan driving a 2008 Escalade through the desert.
As of 2007 he lives in Austin, Texas where he released Woke on a Whaleheart. It was his first record release as Bill Callahan.
Faith
Bill Callahan Lyrics
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Damnin' the children
Makin' the ill just a little more sick
It's time to put God away
(I put God away)
To find my peace, to find my peace in a lie
This is the end of faith, no more must I strive
To find my peace, to find my peace in a lie
It's time to put God away
(I put God away)
For a void without a question is just perverse
A void without a question is just perverse
Like tear gas misters at my grave
It's time to put God away
(I put God away)
For a void without a question is just perverse
This is the end of faith, no more must I strive
To find my peace, to find my peace in a lie
This is the end of faith, no more must I strive
To find my peace, to find my peace in a lie
It's time to put God away
(I put God away)
Bill Callahan's song Faith/Void explores the end of faith and the rejection of God. In the first verse, he sings "It's time to put God away" and then goes on to criticize the harmful impact of religion on society. He condemns the way that religion can damn children and make the sick even sicker. He then repeats the line "It's time to put God away" to emphasize his rejection of religion and the need to move on from it.
The chorus of the song is a declaration that this is the end of faith and that he no longer needs to strive to find peace through a lie. Callahan seems to be rejecting the idea of finding comfort or solace in religion and instead accepting the reality of life without the concept of God.
In the third verse, he argues that a void without a question is perverse, suggesting that there is still value in searching for meaning even if one does not find it through religion. He likens an unquestioning void to tear gas, implying that the absence of a search for meaning can be harmful as well.
Overall, the song is a powerful rejection of the idea that religion is necessary for a meaningful life. Callahan suggests that it is time to put God away and to embrace the complexities and uncertainties of life without relying on religion as a crutch.
Line by Line Meaning
It's time to put God away
The singer wants to abandon their belief in God.
Damnin' the children
The belief in God can lead to the mistreatment of innocent children.
Makin' the ill just a little more sick
The belief in God can exacerbate the suffering of the sick.
(I put God away)
The artist reiterates their decision to abandon their belief in God.
This is the end of faith, no more must I strive
The artist no longer has to struggle to find peace through faith, as they have renounced it.
To find my peace, to find my peace in a lie
The singer believes that their faith was based on falsehoods and they cannot find true peace through it.
For a void without a question is just perverse
Leaving behind God and not exploring life's big questions is unnatural and wrong.
Like tear gas misters at my grave
Not seeking answers to life's important questions is comparable to using tear gas at a gravesite.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: BILL CALLAHAN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind