Bill Callahan, born in Silver Spring, Maryland. Callahan followed the lo-fi… Read Full Bio ↴Bill Callahan, born in Silver Spring, Maryland. Callahan followed the lo-fi genre of underground rock, with homemade tape-albums recorded on four track tape recorders. Later he signed a record contract with the label Drag City.
Callahan started out as a highly experimental artist, utilizing sub-standard instruments and recording equipment. His reason for using the lo-fi approach was not so much an aesthetic choice, rather it came from his lack of knowledge of recording studios, and fear of giving up control to professional engineers.
His later work saw him overcoming his fear of studios and producers, and in this period he recorded two albums with the influential producer Jim O'Rourke and musicians from the circles around Drag City, as well as collaborating with the similar-minded Neil Hagerty.
His songs are based on simple, repetitive structures, strikingly characterized by his baritone vocal. His lyrics are often centered around themes of spiritual searching and the complexity of emotions, with the use of subtlety and dark irony in the classic sense. There is also a broad swathe of joy throughout Callahan's work (and a singular obsession with horses that he shares with Will Oldham and Mark Linkous). He is a keen storyteller using simple words to project large and deeply echoing tales.
Callahan's love life has been documented with vigor in numerous hipster publications, including his romantic relationship with Chan Marshall (Cat Power), who allegedly penned "To Be a Good Woman" in tribute to Callahan while referencing his song "To Be Of Use." It has recently been rumored that Callahan is now involved with Drag City labelmate Joanna Newsom.
Callahan is widely seen as one of the important figures of American rock in the '90s. He currently resides in Austin, TX.
On his 2007 album "Woke on a Whaleheart" he dropped the name Smog and used his real name, Bill Callahan.

There are other artists with the same name:

2. Smog was a psychedelic rock band from Perù, wich in 1971 released the single Time for the Blues

3. Sludge/doom metal from Nuremberg, Germany

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4. Black metal from Kraków, Poland

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Nineteen
Smog Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

So she washed her cut in the sink
And picked up an ulcer along the way
Down to the bay, where I did stay

I was nineteen
And so were we to be beating twenty

Without her clothes

She looked like a leper in the snow
I left her in the snow without her clothes

My movements were slow
Long, she didn't even know
What she was taking away

We didn't talk much
Oh, it must have shown
She must have known

The next day, she never called me again
The day after that, she gave me a call
She was all drunk

Her words came slow

Oh, I didn't even know what I had
I'm taking away

Overall Meaning

These lyrics from Smog's song Nineteen depict a youthful encounter that ended abruptly and left the singer feeling a mix of regret and confusion. The song begins with the singer watching as the girl washes a cut in the sink and then suggests that she picked up an ulcer along the way. The line "Down to the bay, where I did stay" implies that the singer and the girl went to the beach together. The singer reveals that he was nineteen at the time, as was the girl, who was getting close to turning twenty.

Describing the girl after she takes off all her clothes, the singer says that "She looked like a leper in the snow." This line can be interpreted in a few different ways, but one possible explanation is that the girl's vulnerability is now exposed, like a person with leprosy whose skin is disfigured and exposed. The singer then confesses that he left her in the snow without her clothes, suggesting that he did something to her that made her leave.

He then reflects on his own actions, saying that his movements were slow, and he took something away from her without her even realizing what was happening. It's possible that the singer regrets taking advantage of the girl or not being more forthcoming about his intentions. They didn't talk much, and the singer says that it must have shown, and that she must have known that something was off.

In the final two stanzas, the singer reveals that the girl never called him again the day after their encounter, but then called him drunk the day after that. Her words were slow, and the singer says he didn't even know what he had. This final line suggests that the singer may have taken the girl for granted, not realizing what he had until it was too late.

Line by Line Meaning

So she washed her cut in the sink
She cleaned her injury in the sink

And picked up an ulcer along the way
But contracted another medical condition in the process

Down to the bay, where I did stay
We went to the bay where I was living

I was nineteen
I was 19 years old at the time

And so were we to be beating twenty
And we were close to turning 20 years old

Without her clothes
She was naked

She looked like a leper in the snow
Her skin looked diseased against the white snow

I left her in the snow without her clothes
I abandoned her naked in the snow

My movements were slow
I moved slowly

Long, she didn't even know
But she didn't notice

What she was taking away
What she was losing