Julius Caesar

Bill's third LP Julius Caesar (1993) came out on Drag City, his first proper release at age 27. The title Julius Caesar refers to the assassinated Roman leader. Given Bill Callahan’s parents background I think it is likely that the title is also a JFK reference. Julius Caesar took absolute power in Rome and was essential in the transformation from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire under his heir Octavian. The cover art is a single chair (like Forgotten Foundation) with nobody sitting in it. The single chair signifies the assassination so nobody is in the chair, but also that Bill  is a loner. 

The record lyrically is largely about Bill being a loner and a jealous man, themes which reoccur over his career. The first track is about a starving girl swallowing glass. Track 2 is about him being a jealous ex-boyfriend who remembers having sex with an ex “I remember entering you, I’m going to be drunk so drunk at your wedding”. Track 3 is about Bill driving to a winter rates sea side motel and listening to AC/DC’s Highway To Hell and feeling like the psycho Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. Travis Bickle was the inspiration for the Ronald Reagan assassination attempt in 1981. Bill has said that he drove to the seaside motel after the friend's partner was sick of him living with them after he walked in on them having sex. Track 7 When You Walk is about how he only feels like he is a human being who “walks” when he is with the woman. This theme continues over his career. It shows a kind of codependent nature with women, where he can't feel like a man unless he is with a woman. The next song follows the theme of the woman making him feel better, this time she makes him feel like Star Wars instead of his “English Grey” personality. Track 9 is back to being about his jealousy, this time of other men who have connections. Track 10 is about stealing at the grocery store if the power goes out. Track 11 is about his jealousy about his girlfriend — a “wild horse” — and how he thinks that he isn’t her "chosen one" anymore and then he tells her to “ride into the sun” where she will be destroyed, which is kind of cruel. There is a kind of violence to many of these songs. Track 12 What Kind Of Angel is a song about a woman having sex with a lot of people and telling him that he doesn’t have to use a condom and he says “what kind of angel is that?” and then he says she’s the “angel of death”. So his women troubles are really dominating this record. When he is happy with the women it is because they are making him feel like he can "walk" or feel like "Star Wars". Otherwise he is mostly unhappy with the women in his life. The final track is about how there is nothing he would rather see than for someone to fail. This song references Lou Reed.