“Whenever I get dressed up/ I feel like an ex-con trying to make good.”
The first time I heard the opening line to Smog’s “Ex-con” I had an almost frightening sense of recognition. You know that thing where you’ve had a feeling you’ve never given words to, and then when someone else articulates it perfectly, you almost feel like they broke into your mind and stole it? It’s an eerie sensation that is ultimately tremendously exciting because you feel less alone. Well, Bill Callahan does that a lot for me, as did his fellow Drag City songwriter, David Berman of Silver Jews.
And then there’s a great bit here that feels so much more true now than it did in 1997: “Alone in my room, I feel such a warmth for the community/ But out on the streets, I feel like a robot by the river.”
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