Bill Callahan Quotations

Every day I don't Google my name, there's another beautiful day.

I'm somewhere between a gumshoe and a journalist. A writer, not a symbol.

At midnight every night, I would methodically leave the house for a couple hours' walk, come back in, and record. And then the sun came up. If I had done something good, then I'd be happy and go to sleep.

I feel like you come in under a cloak of someone else's skin for a while, but then you can shrug it off - you have to find your own voice, if you want to keep doing it. That became a really conscious thing for me.

I knew absolutely nothing about recording. I had this four-track recorder, and I'd plug my electric guitar right into it, which sounded real bad. I moved any fader that made a drastic change in sound. I thought that was cool - that it was communicating something. I didn't have the skills to do anything subtle. It was just like screaming.

You get into moods - like, if somebody does something to you, then you're angry for maybe 30 seconds, or maybe 30 years. I was always interested in capturing those awful, unflattering things that everybody goes through - those hot moments, captured in ice.

My parents weren't religious at all. I remember the first time I heard about Jesus was at school.

There are a million tiny weird towns. You never know what you're going to get into if you drive an hour into the wild.

You know how on Christmas day, the day feels different, even if you're just sitting in your chair waiting for your girlfriend to put her face on and you haven't even started any of the festivities yet, the day still feels different. The electrons are fatter and pushier.

As a kid, I was just a kid. Average.

I didn't think I'd ever eat pork; it just does not appeal to me.

I have long begged off the question of my albums reflecting where I am 'at' personally. There is more inaccuracy in that approach than accuracy.

I like mountains and oceans and stuff, which is where I've always felt some sort of power of meaning, but that's not necessarily spiritual.

I wanted to live in a house. I wanted to have a place where I could record at home - all of these things I'd wanted to do for years.

I was late to the Internet. I didn't really understand what it was. I didn't know what an email was.

I will concentrate on playing guitar, on lyrics and on singing. I am a part of things; I am not the encompassing 'Smog.'

I'm more into human nature than politics. But they're intertwined. Obviously, I live in civilization, so politics are part of my life.

James Cain was saddled with being called the father of hardboiled fiction. Apparently, he didn't like this saddle.

My first records are integral because I made them, you know, and I'm going to learn from those mistakes.

When I write a song, it is to fill a niche in people's lives. To have a song for every experience if one hadn't been written yet.

Writing songs was like my ticket to the world, I think.

Any talk of 'craft' makes me laugh. My music looks outward; it does not gaze upon itself in admiration. Artisanal is for cheesemakers. I don't know anything about music theory. Every time I approach my guitar, it's like the first time. There's no craft in that.

From the first time you can look in the paper and you accept that you're the entertainment for some people that night, it becomes so much more enjoyable to play live.

I cross things out more than I write them. And if I try to sing a line, and I know that it's written incorrectly, I get this weird sort of physical nausea, and my mouth curls up all strange. I guess that's why I always write the words first: because, if everything feels okay, I'm ready to put it to music.

I did a lot of work without thinking about it in a calm, rational way. Stopping and thinking about what I was doing made my music calmer and deeper in tone.

To see classic rock, you had to go to an arena. But punk was happening everywhere, even in little towns in the middle of nowhere in Maryland. I'd drive out to places I'd never been, just to go and see it.

I don't know about a lot of things. I read a lot, but a lot of it just passes through me. I don't retain much. I am kind of dumb that way. Or maybe 'I am a simple man,' is a better way to say it.

I feel like there's already a written narrative going on everywhere. All the different situations and realities you're in, like words floating by. It's something that I didn't start thinking about until recently, but you can hitch that ride, that narrative that's already been created. You just have to read it and write it down.

I'm not really a child of this '120 TV channels, a billion websites' era. I tried to live that for a long time but recently realized I don't get anything from it. I told myself it was luxury, but it was really only annoying. I'd rather just watch the same 50 movies over and over.

I've never detected a correlation between where I am and what I write. I think there could be something subconscious, though. And I can't really speak for my subconscious.

Prose is like this big block - you write big paragraphs. I feel that when I'm reading and writing, that a prose book is kind of monolithic. But a song is more like a feather or something.

Some people write a thank you note for a gift, and it's three pages long, and some people write a thank you note, and it's five sentences - that's me. I like to pare away words because I don't want to waste anyone's time.

There's so much chaos in life, I think I make music to make things feel calm and sane, to define something, to bring some meaning into it - it's a real peaceful thing to me.

We are proud to be in the game against Michigan. You have two outstanding programs and two teams that are anxious to win and want to finish in the top 20 or 25 in the country.

Whether or not you are a team that has a blend of experience and youth or you have a young team, or whatever -- you have to compete to win every year. That is just the climate of the NFL these days.

What a great environment for our recruits. They can see Memorial Stadium all in red on a spring afternoon.

We're going to have to do a good job defending the run. They are a power football team whenever they want to be, and that's a real challenge to our defensive front and front seven. They have the ability to knock you off the ball and to dominate the line of scrimmage.

We know a number of businesses are hurting on both sides of the slide and in 1998 there were a number of businesses involved in this. I think the longer this goes on the more likely businesses will take advantage of something like this.

We want him for the fall. Beating the White team or the Red team ain't the big thing right now. It's more important to get him ready for the fall.

We'll begin to work him into the mix. There are certain situations that we have used him in that's been short-yardage and goal-line. We've also put him in there for a couple of normal-down runs in situations as well, so we'll continue to use all of our backs and utilize them to the best of their abilities.

We decided we were going to continue to press on with the passing game, ... We saw some things we wanted to do in the passing game and we felt confident in our pass protection. The circumstances surrounding the game dictated that we throw a little bit more.

Yes, it was a fumble, if that's what you're asking, ... It's not sour grapes. It's just what it is.

The plan going in was to throw. It always was, and it always has been.

I was really proud of the effort tonight. We played hard for 32 minutes, whether we were down by 15 or two. They were bigger than us and we went hard with them.

I was pretty confident in our defense. I was confident we would stop them and go into overtime.

I didn't ask him to do a lot. I just wanted him to manage the offense, get the guys in and out and make simple, routine throws. I wanted him to feed the ball to those young backs.

I am really proud of how far this team came this year. I really want to give our players a lot of credit. I think of this as a positive experience for the team. I thought we had a good shot to win today, but we just didn't get it done. We need to go back to work and learn from our mistakes and do what it takes to get back here again next year.

Baylor is a vastly improved football team, and we take our hats off to them.

Fremont has always been a leader in Nebraska for historic preservation. In my mind, this building is truly a symbol of historic preservation.

I don't think any team should be subjected to the type of treatment we were subjected to in that particular contest. I probably could have used a better choice of words, but I get distressed when people are shooting off guns and throwing fruit at our players.

He hasn't changed from the time he was an offensive line coach to the time he's a head coach. His demeanor is still the same way ... And when he talks to the media, he's still the same way. He doesn't change it up. He doesn't necessarily have a game-day face that he puts on here for the cameras and then goes in and does something different.

He felt he could contribute a little bit quicker back in the secondary. He feels confident he can pick up the system and play. I was all for it.

He makes a big play and is trying to do his best. They're kids, and they're excitable.

What do you mean? What are you talking about?

We've been very consistent here in terms of our approach and the way we've dealt with issues that have come up, ... I think the players, especially for a veteran team, appreciate a direct honesty and a direct approach. We don't pull punches and we're on the same page. We're working together toward one cause, one goal.

We've been through quite a bit of adversity this year, and to culminate this season with this type of victory feels very good.

We're preparing as we talk to the National Weather Service. If people have ever had flooding issues (and need) to get sandbags before flooding occurs, now is a good time. (Preparation) is pretty routine. We hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

We talk about the race and how we are positioned in it... and how the race could shape up. Yeah, the race is something we talk about because that's the main thing. That's our goal.

He can only sign a letter-of-intent one time from my understanding. You can have the ability to sign a tender or a financial aid agreement. He elected to go elsewhere, but I don't know if that battle is over yet. We'll see.

I thought we went hard. We were outmanned, they were bigger than us and went hard to the board. But we went hard with them. They are very talented and did a nice job, but I thought our effort was there tonight.

I thought the game was over. But evidently it wasn't.

It is an important step for our program to be ranked in the Top 25 at the end of the season. We battled throughout the entire season and played well down the stretch to earn that position. That ranking is something we can build on as we move into the 2006 season.

K-State is a true sleeper in every sense of the word. You just can never discount Bill Snyder.

Our motivation is really internal. This is a team that loves to play football and that loves to win. That is always our goal here and that is always our motivation to win. Our team is of that mindset. We really focus on what we need to do and we really don't pay much attention to what is out there or what other teams are doing.

Someone is making a big deal out of something that's nothing, ... I really don't know what you're talking about.

That contingency was constantly discussed and talked about. This wasn't any shock or any surprise to the team, to the players, to Harrison Beck, to his family, to the coaching staff, to the fans or to the media ? everybody knew this was coming.

I thought it was an opportunity to go for it all. I never thought in any vein or any context that it was too big. I never felt that. Never sensed that. But I did know that I had nothing to lose.

I thought it was over. I was doused with water, so I lost perspective. I'd have to see the replay to see how it really worked. We're fortunate we stayed alert.

I'm sure a win will do a lot for us. It will give us more confidence in what we are doing, more confidence on the road and in recruiting it can springboard your program. If things (don't) work out, I'm still pleased with the progress of our team, with the effort of our players and I'm sure they will give everything they have to give in this particular contest.

That (would have been) bad sportsmanship to have put her back in. I would have loved for her to get the record, but we don?t run our program that way.

That's the name of the game right now. Spread out as many receivers as you can, get yourself a mobile quarterback and go to work.

I was not going into get into a situation where I was going to take a quarterback just to take one. There are a lot of great quarterbacks coming up in the (2007) class that we've already visited, so I'm in no rush. I want to make sure it's the right guy.

We put in a whole new system with much different terminology last year. Sometimes it was hard to communicate this system to the players, but they're adapting to it now.

When I saw one second hanging on the clock, with another down to attempt another field goal, obviously I was immediately concerned.

Those are the little things. The little things come back and beat you. They just got us out of our rhythm and we just didn't respond. That's the bottom line. They out-hustled us, outplayed us, out-everything-ed us. They wanted it more than we did.

We're not that type of team, offensively. We're not going to throw the ball 25 times in a row and get into a no-back set. We have a complement of running backs. We have six of them here that we call the committee. If we went to no-back, I think there would be a few people knocking on my door.

We want to keep emphasizing the run. We wanted to set the pace for our offense and get our guys working in that phase, especially early.

When Jon first left, we were taken aback. He made a decision that was based and predicated on what was best for him and his family. We understood it the best we could, and we moved on.

We don't like to see him take hits. He's a courageous young man. He stays right in there in the pocket. There's flurry all around him, he stays as calm as any quarterback I've coached.

We have been extremely supportive of Leon Jackson's development in our football program and we are disappointed to see him leave so early in his career.

We are spending an inordinate amount of time on special teams this year, ... We've put special teams in the middle of practice. We have an additional 10-minute period at the end of practice with an additional specialists period.

We've got to do a better job as an offense, and we understand that,

We've got to be the dumbest team in America in terms of playing the game.

We need to get a lot better. Obviously.

We got a lot of repetition in. It was great work, especially for our young players. ... We are still working to build our depth, and that provided us with a lot of insight about our players today.

We want to extend ourselves to the state of Nebraska and embrace the walk-ons here, and I want the walk-ons in the state of Nebraska to understand we do want you here.

We just kept running. Our line deserves a lot of credit, and of course Cory, for performing at such a high standard.

We changed the offense last year and we'll change again. We'll do whatever we've got to do. I'm pretty flexible in that respect.

Every home game at Nebraska has a great atmosphere, but there is added electricity for a night game at Memorial Stadium. It will also allow us the opportunity to get prospects here from all parts of the country into Lincoln to see the best game-day atmosphere in college football.

I see our team becoming better, being more consistent, closing the gap in a lot of areas.

I understood that my coming here would represent a cultural change,

The start of the game really put us behind the eight-ball. We didn't start fast. We didn't start the way we want to start normally.

Our defense didn't let them get into their sets too often. Changing our sets we had them confused often.

Something definitely needs to be done about this. This is just not good for any neighborhood.

A number of us talked about what we would do if we had come on him when he was loose, and you wouldn't be having a trial right now if that had occurred.

This, ... is after his head has been splattered on the floor.

This is the type of team that has their back against the wall, and that's a dangerous opponent with a great quarterback,

There's a tremendous amount of mud and debris inside the homes. There's also a 12-foot-high wall of mud and debris in their backyards.

It's fairly safe to say that an African-American coach with a record like that wouldn't immediately be handed the keys to one of the most prestigious programs in America.

It wasn't their speed; it was that we didn't execute. I really thought it was more us. We just couldn't get our sync going, or our rhythm. We didn't come out and play our usual game today.