5. Bill CallahanSometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
As I was finding my lyrical voice I was influenced by a lot of really specific kinds of writing that not a lot of people do. This record, and Bill Callahan in general, is philosophical throughout its writing. It’s thinking music, you know?
I remember when I heard this album for the first time it made absolute sense to me what lyrics are for. His writing on this album had a very formative influence on me in terms of how I thought about what the purpose of lyrics was and what kind of stories lyrics could tell. It made me realise that it doesn’t have to always be love songs.
He’s an exceptionally earnest lyricist, yet he’s capable of throwing some extremely funny and almost out of character lines into his songs that stop you in your tracks.
Yeah, completely. He’s another pragmatic writer. Also, his writing is not frilly. He doesn’t really use beautiful words, per se. When he does it’s a shock! That’s an important thing for me to hear from other artists because I don’t consider myself to write very poetically. I come at lyrics from a pragmatic angle. My intention is poetry, though, and that’s something I hear in Callahan’s writing, also.
Similar to how I feel about most of these records, I was just so grateful that Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle existed. I understand this music and it was reassuring.
