Bill Callahan Quotes & Sayings

You are the reason I get out of bed. To tell you that I have gotten out of bed. — Bill Callahan

At midnight every night, I would methodically leave the house for a couple hours' walk, come back in, and record. And then the sun came up. If I had done something good, then I'd be happy and go to sleep. — Bill Callahan

And the weight of the world slips away... — Bill Callahan

My parents weren't religious at all. I remember the first time I heard about Jesus was at school. — Bill Callahan

James Cain was saddled with being called the father of hardboiled fiction. Apparently, he didn't like this saddle. — Bill Callahan

But I feel overwhelmed with the everyday things that insist on my attention. And under-whelmed. — Bill Callahan

Eid ma clack shaw
Zupoven del ba
Mertepy ven seinur
Cofally ragdah — Bill Callahan

A drink centers me but I usually make myself wait until at least 9:00 PM for that. Or 8:00 PM. Whichever comes first. — Bill Callahan

I'm not really interested in religion or history or science or mathematics or psychology or politics or geography. I feel I am above them all, except geography. Geography is above me for now. — Bill Callahan

I didn't think I'd ever eat pork; it just does not appeal to me. — Bill Callahan

I'm not really a child of this '120 TV channels, a billion websites' era. I tried to live that for a long time but recently realized I don't get anything from it. I told myself it was luxury, but it was really only annoying. I'd rather just watch the same 50 movies over and over. — Bill Callahan

Writing songs was like my ticket to the world, I think. — Bill Callahan

When faced with everything sometimes the best course of action is nothing. — Bill Callahan

Any talk of 'craft' makes me laugh. My music looks outward; it does not gaze upon itself in admiration. Artisanal is for cheesemakers. I don't know anything about music theory. Every time I approach my guitar, it's like the first time. There's no craft in that. — Bill Callahan

I look forward to sleeping each night. The air is cool and it often starts to rain around 2:00 A.M., breaking the heat and singing me to sleep. And I drink my tequila as if I'd be letting you down if I didn't. — Bill Callahan

Everything I've done today could have been done by a bear. The long seasoned sleep. The lumbering out of bed. Tearing at a hard roll dipped in honey. And then sprawling lazily in the grass when the sun hit. — Bill Callahan

She doesn't use her neck. She only acknowledges things that come at her head on. And she's one of those people that answer your question before you even get through it. And the answer always begins with No, even if it's Yes. Or worse, No no no. — Bill Callahan

Love is the king of the beasts
And when it gets hungry it must kill to eat
Love is the king of the beasts
A lion walking down city streets — Bill Callahan

I sometimes see a shortcoming in myself, how little patience or understanding I have for many people in the way they act. I am able to see the fragility in some, but I only have so much time to wade through their manipulations and traps and draining behaviour. Some people think I'm heartless in leaving others to suffer their own selves. — Bill Callahan

I've never detected a correlation between where I am and what I write. I think there could be something subconscious, though. And I can't really speak for my subconscious. — Bill Callahan

I have been mostly dull lately. Like a butter knife. And hoping to find, when called upon, something more in my arsenal than a butter knife. Unless my opponent is actually butter. Then that would be fine. Room temperature butter. — Bill Callahan

Prose is like this big block - you write big paragraphs. I feel that when I'm reading and writing, that a prose book is kind of monolithic. But a song is more like a feather or something. — Bill Callahan

They say marriages work better if you don't know the person too well. Maybe we should stop writing each other posthaste. — Bill Callahan

I feel like there's already a written narrative going on everywhere. All the different situations and realities you're in, like words floating by. It's something that I didn't start thinking about until recently, but you can hitch that ride, that narrative that's already been created. You just have to read it and write it down. — Bill Callahan

I was trained to turn loneliness into laziness. — Bill Callahan

From the first time you can look in the paper and you accept that you're the entertainment for some people that night, it becomes so much more enjoyable to play live. — Bill Callahan

I feel like you come in under a cloak of someone else's skin for a while, but then you can shrug it off - you have to find your own voice, if you want to keep doing it. That became a really conscious thing for me. — Bill Callahan

And I hope each morning you wake like a bird in a nest and fly without a thought. — Bill Callahan

My first records are integral because I made them, you know, and I'm going to learn from those mistakes. — Bill Callahan

I like mountains and oceans and stuff, which is where I've always felt some sort of power of meaning, but that's not necessarily spiritual. — Bill Callahan

I did a lot of work without thinking about it in a calm, rational way. Stopping and thinking about what I was doing made my music calmer and deeper in tone. — Bill Callahan

When I moved, I unearthed the diaries I kept for ten years. I sat and went through them and they were a worthless burden to own. People will say it's tragic I threw them out, but I know it isn't. — Bill Callahan

I bought a big bag of potatoes and it's growing eyes like crazy. Other foods rot. Potatoes want to see. — Bill Callahan

You get into moods - like, if somebody does something to you, then you're angry for maybe 30 seconds, or maybe 30 years. I was always interested in capturing those awful, unflattering things that everybody goes through - those hot moments, captured in ice. — Bill Callahan

I will concentrate on playing guitar, on lyrics and on singing. I am a part of things; I am not the encompassing 'Smog.' — Bill Callahan

There's so much chaos in life, I think I make music to make things feel calm and sane, to define something, to bring some meaning into it - it's a real peaceful thing to me. — Bill Callahan

Your letter filled the hole in my day like a key.
Turn it. — Bill Callahan

I knew absolutely nothing about recording. I had this four-track recorder, and I'd plug my electric guitar right into it, which sounded real bad. I moved any fader that made a drastic change in sound. I thought that was cool - that it was communicating something. I didn't have the skills to do anything subtle. It was just like screaming. — Bill Callahan

I was late to the Internet. I didn't really understand what it was. I didn't know what an email was. — Bill Callahan

All thoughts are prey to some beast — Bill Callahan

I'm somewhere between a gumshoe and a journalist. A writer, not a symbol. — Bill Callahan

I wanted to live in a house. I wanted to have a place where I could record at home - all of these things I'd wanted to do for years. — Bill Callahan

I have never cried in the shower. That's a woman thing I think. — Bill Callahan

I wanted to hold you until I heard one voice. I stood without intention of moving and realized we see every punch coming in a boxing movie but in real life we miss a lot of them. — Bill Callahan

At the heel end of the day, I need my glass of wine. Christmas lights for the brain. — Bill Callahan

I'm more into human nature than politics. But they're intertwined. Obviously, I live in civilization, so politics are part of my life. — Bill Callahan

I don't want to destroy anything. But I want to know what I can destroy. — Bill Callahan

I have long begged off the question of my albums reflecting where I am 'at' personally. There is more inaccuracy in that approach than accuracy. — Bill Callahan

Music is a social act. — Bill Callahan

Every day I don't Google my name, there's another beautiful day. — Bill Callahan

The only words I've said today are "beer" and "thank you". — Bill Callahan

You know how on Christmas day, the day feels different, even if you're just sitting in your chair waiting for your girlfriend to put her face on and you haven't even started any of the festivities yet, the day still feels different. The electrons are fatter and pushier. — Bill Callahan

Some people write a thank you note for a gift, and it's three pages long, and some people write a thank you note, and it's five sentences - that's me. I like to pare away words because I don't want to waste anyone's time. — Bill Callahan

As a kid, I was just a kid. Average. — Bill Callahan

There are a million tiny weird towns. You never know what you're going to get into if you drive an hour into the wild. — Bill Callahan

No matter how far wrong you've gone you can always turn around — Bill Callahan

It crossed my mind that my letters are all about me and not you. I would hope that you pay me the same respect. — Bill Callahan

I don't know about a lot of things. I read a lot, but a lot of it just passes through me. I don't retain much. I am kind of dumb that way. Or maybe 'I am a simple man,' is a better way to say it. — Bill Callahan

When I write a song, it is to fill a niche in people's lives. To have a song for every experience if one hadn't been written yet. — Bill Callahan

Robin used to hate to see me eat. I chewed too long for her taste. One day I figured it out. She had put two and two together. All that chewing! It was the food that was keeping me alive! — Bill Callahan

Why do I do such things.
I hope the answer is that I embrace life with abandon. But I fear the truth is that I'm irresponsible. — Bill Callahan

I didn't want to admit I was aware of what she was doing. Which is alright. But you shouldn't let someone seek refuge in you. With is alright. — Bill Callahan

I cross things out more than I write them. And if I try to sing a line, and I know that it's written incorrectly, I get this weird sort of physical nausea, and my mouth curls up all strange. I guess that's why I always write the words first: because, if everything feels okay, I'm ready to put it to music. — Bill Callahan

When they make the movie of your life
they're going to have to ask you
to do your own stunts
because nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody
could pull off the same shit as you
and still come out alright — Bill Callahan

To see classic rock, you had to go to an arena. But punk was happening everywhere, even in little towns in the middle of nowhere in Maryland. I'd drive out to places I'd never been, just to go and see it. — Bill Callahan