Callahan is an anomaly, and that is a good thing.
Letters to Emma Bowlcut by Bill Callahan; Paperback, 79 pages; Published July 20th 2010 by Drag City; ISBN: 0982048025 (ISBN13: 9780982048023); URL: http://www.dragcity.com/products/letters-to-emma-bowlcut
...She said, she said, I know what it’s like to be dead... I said, Even though you know what you know, I know that I'm ready to leave. 'Cause you're making me feel like I've never been born.___John Lennon
Last week I read the last interview of John Ono Lennon and his partner Yoko. In it I learned the LSD story behind his Revolver album song, She Said, She Said. The opening quotation above is a paraphrase of that song’s lyrics and seems relevant to Callahan’s thin but powerful manuscript. For some reason yet unknown to me I liken Bill Callahan to John Lennon. Not surprising to me that these Callahan letters are just as interesting as his lyrics, especially if the reader is already a Bill Callahan/Smog fan. There can be no surprises for those of us who already listen to his fine songs and beautiful voice. Every line and word within these lines count toward his whole being. It may not make sense until much later, even years in some cases, age and life experience does matter. Callahan is an anomaly, and that is a good thing. Also important to note that the composition of a book like this takes more than it appears to those of us who think he could have put forth a better effort, perhaps working harder. It is not as easy as it looks. I can attest that each one or two page epistle most likely took him a day’s sitting down to it, with revisions still to come. Sixty-two entries are no small task. And these letters are very much like poems, or songs, and the music does come through, though mostly sad and feeling alone. And unsure of where he is going. Or where they are going. Based on my own personal experience with a project I titled Stamped Against the Night, it is quite possible Callahan had no idea what he was writing either until he had finished and had taken a better look at it. The letter writer is simply the man on the page and not necessarily Bill Callahan, although he has to be present often in one form or another. The composition is not perfect, nor is the character composing it. And that is the point. No hidden agendas. No secret code to break in order to get into Bill’s awesome truth. Raw power and strength is surely enough to sink one’s teeth into. And waiting oftentimes for some glimmer of inspiration which he does provide.
Thanks for the restack