On Tuesday when I was in Warminster, I thought I would
treat myself to a couple of new cd’s. I got the latest album by Steve Earle which
I will tell you about in a couple of days’ time because I haven’t played it
yet. The album I want to tell you about today is Shepherd In A Sheepskin
Vest by Bill Callahan.
I only discovered Bill Callahan’s music a few months ago. A
friend sent me some compilation cd’s and I liked the sound of Bill Callahan’s
voice, also the sparse arrangements and the deadpan delivery of the words. The
lyrics seemed very clever but also mysterious. I looked him up on Wikipedia and
discovered that although he is American, he spent several years of his childhood
living in Knaresborough in Yorkshire. I found that quite interesting although I
don’t know if it has influenced his work in any way. This is the first Bill
Callahan album I have owned, although he has made nineteen previous albums in a
career of thirty years. I can’t compare this work to his earlier
catalogue because I only have this album to judge him by. I must say though
that after two listens I like it very much indeed.
The themes of the songs seem to concern life and death and
domestic contentment and the responsibilities of parenthood. The lyrics are
often quite vague, symbolist and dream-like. With all great art you can
interpret the meanings of the songs anyway you like. The artist shouldn’t have
to explain the meaning. It is a long album of twenty songs and over an hour in
length, so I couldn’t possibly think of something to say about every song. I’ll
just tell you what thoughts I had as I listened. I like the artwork on the sleeve
by the way.
Shepherd’s Welcome is the opening track and it mentions a
dream about a Black Dog On The Beach which is the title of the second
track. I don’t know anything about the meanings of dreams, but I wonder if the
Black Dog could symbolise depression. I once read that Churchill referred to
his bouts of depression as ‘The Black Dog’. There is a whole menagerie of
animals mentioned on this album including Sheep, wolves, lions, dogs, birds and camels, some
of which occur in several songs. The instrumentation on the second song is very
romantic and western sounding. Many of the songs are like dreamscapes. I don’t
know who Angela in the third song refers to, but the words are very
witty such as Like motel curtains, we never really met. I think the comic
book imagery of Ballad Of The Hulk might have been inspired by playing
with his son.
This is Bill’s first album in six years which might explain
the lyrics of Writing. Perhaps he had a period of writer’s block or
maybe didn’t have the time for it with being busy with his new family. Morning
Is My Godmother is an expression that occurs in a couple of songs. There
are some nice little touches to this song with bells and backing vocals. 747
is one of the highlights in my opinion with birth and death suggested in
the second verse. Watch Me Get Married is a very witty song with lions
and sheep appearing again which seems quite biblical to me. I don’t know what
to say about Young Icarus but Released seems to me to be the most
political and angry of all the songs. What Comes After Certainty mentions
an ‘imitation Eames’ and I didn’t know what that is. I looked it up and discovered
that it is a chair. Confederate Jasmine is the name of a plant. The shepherd
and the wolf appear again and there is quite a vivid description of something
that some people might think is too much information. Call Me Anything has
a line I like which is I sing for good listeners and tired dancers. Son
Of The Sea seems to me to be a song about the responsibilities of being a
parent. Camels is another very enigmatic song with a dream like quality
and possibly might be a comment about watching the war in Syria from the
comfort of television but I’m only guessing.
I think Bill’s mother died in recent years and that event
might have been the inspiration for the trio of songs Circles, When We Let
Go and Lonesome Valley. The last song is traditional and was made
famous by the Carter Family in 1936. I prefer the Bill Callahan version. If you scrolI down I have shared a video from Youtube of this song. I like
the line Sweet as hospital grapes. He has a great way with words. Tugboats
And Tumbleweed is a wonderful song and I interpret it as giving advice to
his son. You’re my tugboat is a very affectionate description. The
Beast is the final song which I won’t even pretend to try and interpret, but
I still like it though. I have enjoyed listening to this CD over the last couple of
days. I felt better for listening to it. Great music doesn't enhance your mood, it actually creates it. I think Bill Callahan is a great singer-songwriter and I will certainly
listen to more of his music in the future.
