TRACK: Bill Callahan – ‘Cowboy’: whisky, water and whistlin’ our tired bones home


Bill Callahan, photographed by Henly Banks Callahan

IT’S KINDA hard to believe that Bill has led us through the summer like an Americana pied piper, Monday by Monday, sprinkling the grey start of the week with a new tune for what … it’s been eight weeks now. Yep, we’re only three weeks away from Gold Record. Time grindeth relentlessly on.

Today he’s graced us with “Cowboy” a sad tale in which one thing crumbles to reveal another. It’s a red-eyed (the booze, or tears? Probably both), dusty horseback shuffle.

“Well I’ve been living like a cowboy / On the late, late movie … All I need is whisky, water, tortillas and maize / Buffalo meat, one time per week”.

The brass laments at a little distance from Bill and the guitar, which are right there with you. Our cowboy has found a little station in life, maybe not where he wanted to be, but he’s found some degree of equanimity, maybe even a contentment, down there. Bill whistles our tired bones home.

Bill Callahan’s Gold Record is out via Drag City on September 4th; pre-order yours here.

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