Burning Kingdom

Bill released the Burning Kingdom EP in 1994. He was about 28. It has a nice picture of chandeliers on the cover. The first song My Shell is a sad song about him being a loner who won't let people close to him: a woman gets close to him and steals his jokes and then he hates her, won’t let her back in, and wishes she was dead. It is a strong reaction to someone stealing your jokes. Renee Died 1:45 is a song where Bill says he gets burnt and hurt by women more than any man can hurt him, and he recognises his jealous tendencies “is it because I’m a jealous bitch”. On My Family the mother is smoking pot in the bath and the narrator hears her butt squeaking against the bath and the father watches lesbians on TV. The narrator does not want to be like his father who is “planting footsteps where I hope I’ll never be”. The sister writes to say she’s not coming home and that she will write to him, but he thinks she won’t really keep writing to him. So the narrator is very lonely in a dysfunctional family with a sister who has left. Drunk On The Stars is about how Bill would like the romance of being a sailor but he doesn’t like the sea water getting on him. He says he lives in a “pointless town” that he is “try[ing] to put on the map” with his artwork. Then he laughs at the sailors being cold. Not Lonely Anymore is about how he is a loner again, saying he is not lonely now he realised he only needs himself not a girlfriend “I’m not lonely anymore now that I realised that I have 2 hands not 4”. So its really about him pushing other people away. I think Bill Callahan was dating Cindy Dall in 1994. 

In the mid-1990s Bill was reported to be friendly with another Drag City artist, Will Oldham of Palace and Bonnie "Prince" Billy. Will Oldham filmed Bill's “My Family” film clip. Bill Callahan’s girlfriend Cindy Dall played Bill's sister running away from home in the film clip.