Added: 5 years ago
From: aubscure
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  • hmmm to play at my wedding or my funeral?........

  • fuck everything

  • what album/ep is this from?

  • @Humanfly4 kicking a couple around EP

  • sometimes i like to howl the lines 'tonight i'm swimming to my favourite island... and i don't want to see you swimming behii-iiinnnd' in a monotone voice while i'm driving along in my car. it's quite soothing, you should try it.

  • @bmargarete OMG. I did the exact thing today. We're smog mates!

  • I LOVE THIS!!!! FOREVER!!!!!

  • Ears, hugs, lovers, friends, reflection, all included here. SMOG is a friend. No hate nor silly explanation please

  • what album is this on?

  • Une des plus belle chanson qui soit pour "accompagner" une séparation

  • Billy Callaham - Kunstlied - anders als in der "klassischen Musik"

  • his coughs make funny noises 1:43

  • love

  • My ears hug this music

  • It's interesting how people perceive the meaning of these lyrics. Callahan has talked about it before. He said, himself, that it's A) about a friend of his, and B) about a person who doesn't "tend" to the girls he goes through. The act of breaking horses is a metaphor for breaking women. : /

  • i can't get over this song. i can relate to it so much because after getting out of a long term relationship all i really want to do is break horses.

  • Is this a Fred Neil original, and breaking a horse simply reffers to the act of training a horse to take a saddle and a rider.

  • this is me :(

  • I like this song because it tells a real story of a real person, he doesnt speak things he doesnt understand like some other do

  • ..bill callahans got it sussed

  • first time ever hearing smog...

    i think im in love :)

    Lol

  • @HyuugaSempai I am happy that you are a new fan! Welcome mate,

  • i feel like a broke horse sometimes

  • it's a song about breaking in women who are sexually inexperienced and then refusing to 'tend to them' or fulfill their emotional needs.

  • @BoneGrafting not necessarily inexperienced... perhaps wild at heart :)

  • this reminds me of slaughterhouse 5

  • @jjumpsuit why ?

  • @jjumpsuit the part when the U.S soldiers mistreat the horses and they break down like a car

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  • I have discovered some new depression meds....

  • My favorite Smog song, I always find myself returning to it for a quick smile.

  • This gets fun, if you replace break with "rape".. then sing it in the shower.

  • there's a version on accumulation:none - not this version though, no idea where this is from...@ARRRGGGGHHHH

  • which album is it on? i cant find it on wikipedia :)

  • @ARRRGGGGHHHH it's from his EP, Kicking a Couple Around

  • A great poet. I love the lo-fi feel to his music. It makes it more true and intimate.

  • This reminds me of when those damn pigs took my love away...

  • Let me get this straight...we have a 'poem' celebrating the inability to either get close, or stay close to a woman (who apparently is attached), as a general principle; and we have 190k+ people cheering him on for this wonderful poetry, typically how it reflects their own life and philosophy ("reminds how i left the only woman i ever loved." ehhh...wtf why?). I'm unsure if this funny, or deeply sad.

  • @onegnometorule He said that he wrote this song to help a friend of his understand why someone she'd slept with wouldn't call her back. Just because a song is about something, doesn't mean that it's 'celebrating' it. If weirdos want to take it as like the theme of their life or something, that has nothing to do with Bill's intention for the song. It is beautiful poetry; poetry doesn't have to be celebratory nor indicative of a songwriter's general principles.

  • @onegnometorule Mark Twain is such an asshole too.

  • @onegnometorule welp pretty sure it isn't funny

  • this ver. is waaaay better than the "Accumuation:None" one.

  • Great song by Bill.

    Watch, listen and rate our new single.Por favor x)

  • power sometimes reveals itself with less than more, and bill has proven that over and over. a true artist. much love

  • First things first his voice is great, the poetry is great, the production is Lo-Fi to perfection, what else is there? It's a killer tune.

  • my favorite smog song

    thank you Bill for this wonderful poem . keep breakin 'em

  • I hate to ask this, where can I get this song? be it MP3 download for Album, someone please let me know.

  • @xerxerxex Two versions that I know of.

    This one) Its on an EP called "Kicking A Couple Around"

    The other one) Its a Peel Session and available on "Cold Blooded Old Times" single or the "Accumulation: None" Compilation.

    I personally prefer the version presented here for its closer, more intimate vocal.

    Both are available through iTunes.

    Hope you get it, all the best.

  • @karaloca THANK YOU!!!!!

  • simple art is sometimes the most brillaint form of art.

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  • I love this

  • It's about being prepared to sleep with people but not get into relationships. The lyrics are quite graphic in that respect!

  • The 7" version is better

  • Bill Callaham en linea muerta, folk singer minimal para derrotados

  • lest the cowboy be a fool for it is not in him to be more than he is.

  • cute song??!?!??!

  • @misterite : in my opinion it's a song about people who are not able to be with someone else but who are not much able to be alone ; it's a song about the dream of lonely island and the impossibility to get it. not exactly "cute" actually.

  • damn, i just came across this track so randomly. Basically im getting into production of music. That said i started reading about techniques of Lo-Fi recording. I then read about SMOG. I typed it into youtube. and listened to this song.

    Damn its so good =D. Real talk i always say Style over Technicality.

    Like ive read the comments in here say, he may not be the most technical with the guitar, or nice with the singing but the man has got soul. no question.

  • heart wrenching....

  • I know I have already commented on this, but... It's amazing.

  • haven't broken a horse in what seems forever..lordy..lol

  • Whithout words...

  • I think this is something you either get into - - or you don't "get it" . .

    I'm not feeling this one. It does remind me a little bit of Lou Reed's

    type of style in a few of his songs

  • <3<3<3

  • god, this song hurts more and more every time i listen to it...

    bill is just genius...

  • wonderful, sooo good

  • that shot @ 2:30 where his hand is hanging off the chair then a smaller more delicate hand comes into frame to adjust the volume or something, is simply beautiful.

  • Accumulation:none has a whack load of tracks from different albums.

    This is one of them.

  • i break horses...

  • I love that part in the end where he goes "Tonight I'm swimming to my favorite island...and I don't want to see you swimming behind" That hits me somewhere deep. I don't know why though...By the way, this version is taken from the EP "Kicking a couple around" , not "Accumulation:None"

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  • that is so sad to hear . smog has always been there during the bad times. do you know will oldham

  • @guilhermebaldin very sad..

  • @guilhermebaldin "swimming to my favorite island" is an odd reference to masturbation

  • @guilhermebaldin i had to walk away from the only woman i loved too. great song

  • Another poignant song from a troubled genius!

  • @yipmaster

    You argue that this is boring when this is one of smog's most artfully songs. Smog has made clear that he is not musically gifted in guitar or vocals, but to dismiss the lyrical genius is just ignorant.

    Smog tells an honest story of love, not one bedazzled in jewels. Just an honest account of pure heart wrenching love.

    Being able to produce music with meaning is admirable in a pop-culture where much of it means nothing.

    It's a cute song about "breaking horses"

  • @Scaredypantss

    did Smog write this song ?

    

  • @Scaredypantss

    why is not gifted in voice?

    bill callahan has a beautiful voice

  • @Scaredypantss What you said is true. But it's still boring.

  • oh my god

  • Ah, the first song that introduced me to Smog. Saw this video on British MTV late at night back in '96 - I think the show was called Alternative Nation. This will always be THE version of IBH for me. Understated and  beautiful.

  • pink eyes' favorite break up song

  • 5-10-15-20 :P

  • Lyrically genius and I love the Lo-Fi production. This is one of the most perfectly crafted and recored songs ever.... yes I'm jealous

  • Hahahaha "Lo-Fi production" does anyone agree that this is an oxymoron? This song and most the EP was recorded with Albini.

  • Is this on any of his records?

  • Two versions one on 'Kicking A Couple Around' & another on 'Accumulation: None' This one is from the former, and in my opinion is better - mostly for the vocal.

  • I agree, I'd like this version so I'll track down the record

  • extra wow. you people know way too much about his personal life

  • accumulation: none

  • great song

  • i love it

  • Put a lil tear in the side of the eye

  • For all the people taking this incredibly seriously, he wrote this to explain to a female friend how a man could have a one-night stand with her and never call back.

  • Can't it still be taken incredibly seriously even if that is the motivation for the song? I just don't understand whysomething like a one night stand has to be taken lightly...

  • That was directed more at LeatherWriter and her continuous accusations of misogyny towards Bill Callahan and everyone who enjoys this song.

  • @th1s1sm1n3 that comment just made a great video even more interesting.

  • Wow, someone is angry at their parents. And I don't mean in the video...

  • dude leatherwriter is an insufferable nerd. feel bad for you, dog

  • wtf is with some of these comments? its just a song. plenty of classic songs have very strange lyrics. Just because you dont like the song doesnt make the singer a 'sociopath'

    btw this is a great song

  • how funny I find you here!

  • hit me in the centre..

    tonight im swimming in my favourite island

  • Who isn't a little self-obessed? That's what this genre is all about- lo-fi, garage rock that was cultivated in the early 90's, by the isolated tv generation. So, I think what your saying is part of the appeal.

  • I have never agreed and disagreed more with a comment.

  • great song ,love it

  • Don't think I'm the easily played one here partner.

  • @LeatherWriter Get a life.

  • Well done, you crushed his fanbase and destroyed his reputation as a singer/songwriter. Now all that money he makes and critical acclaim will be gone. And to think, it only took one noble youtube comment. Generations of people will look to you in admiration. You have defamed the beast. With this, you will be remembered.

    No one asked you to come here and talk about yourself. I don't think Jakefilms was the angry narcissist...

  • No shit you fucking idiot. What do you expect to happen when you go onto a music video and talk about how much the artist sucks and how everyone who listens to him is stupid and how cool you are? A pat on the back for being so brilliant and unique that you could go onto the internet, beat you fists like a fucking five year old, and jerk off in a bunch of peoples faces? Get over yourself jackass. It's one thing to say all that, but it's another to obsessively shout it where you're not welcome.

  • Seriously dude, go find some people who care if your opinion is so important.

  • Then you must be very lonely.

  • I was as cool as you THINK you are at your age(14-17),and cooler now at 46...you frickin' dumbass kid

  • with mild good sense a context becomes clear that the song is written from the pov of a character, not necessarily the singer. if it felt 'real' to you then he was successful. i suppose you are too retarded as a point of character (wtf), to do anything but recoil in horror from e.g. Lolita or augusto roa bastos' Yo El Supremo, and shit mindless babble all over the youtube comment box like every other moron in the world. nice.

    hey -- you sound sexy though. i break horses.

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  • You're right, everyone's scared of you.

  • Maybe, someday, you could learn that you need to reply to my comment in order for me to read it. But that may just be wishful thinking. Kind of like you, wishing people cared about what you have to say.

  • wow i am afraid at the end of your life you will realize you missed out on what it was all about

  • How you picked up on this, and his entire personality from one song just makes me think he must be a really good writer. Good job.

  • The reply button is to the right of this sentence.

    It's blue and it says "Reply" right next to another word that says "Spam". Not that hard to see, not that hard to click. My life's too short for me to come back to this video to talk at (a conversation requires you to be actively adding to the discussion) someone who refuses to do something so simple.

  • change your huggies? thats the best you can do? how about this, if you dont like a songwriter. dont watch his videos and piss on those who enjoy his music. second, bill callahan is neither self-indulgent nor a whiner and with all due respect to your bitchy comments has a better mastery of the english language and its subtleties and nuances than you have demonstrated here.

  • And at least Bill Calahan doesn't leave shitty comments.

    P.S. - I didn't know you can have a sense of talent.

  • Haha i agree with Mr JakeFilms.

  • bög jävel

  • does anyone know where i can find "A Guiding Light"?

  • it gives me goose bumps when i hear him. he is so fucking good. i cover blood red bird.

  • Damn I had no clue there were this many people privy to Smog... but this video has over 80k plays. Im gonna have to do a cover of "It's Rough", I agree, he is an amazing song writer!

  • Bill Callahan. Will Oldham. Mark Linkous. No one needs anything more.

  • He's amazing. Just wish Id heard more of his stuff long b4 now

  • hi-there, Norway says hi. Words, instruments, lack off instruments ( and my english ...) and air, space, makes you think, dosen't it

    Mike ( nothern Norway )

  • superb

  • greeting from serbia!!! :)

  • love him so much

  • I once had 270 dollars a tank of gas and had (had as in imperative) to get to Tahoe.. from Florida. The only CD I had with me was A river aint too much to love four thousand miles in three days. That damn album is part of me now.

  • mate, I wish I could have been there with you. I would have brought the beers!!!!

    Kev (UK)

  • i don't really know if there are many albums you can do that with... or people for that matter. i know the feeling.

  • This has to be one of the most amazing songs ever recorded.

  • i agree

  • on "accumulation: none" there is the version of this song recorded during a John Peel session. piano and drums are added. it's so poignant. makes you wanna cry even more. i love (smog) so much.

  • I value youtube because it keeps me connected, against my will, with adolescence. Otherwise, I would only have the18 year old cashiers and cart chasers at Walmart to remind me of my wasted youth.

  • you're only ever 1 day old, 'til the day you die. The past years do nothing but die all over again, every day. The past died 1 second ago, and impressively enough, it can repeat that trick.

  • love it

    vessel in vain is awesome too

    though i can't judge.. as these ar the only songs i've heard by smog so far

  • Sniff, sniff... I'm not crying... this is... the rain!!!

  • i prefer this version to the accumulation one, its got the atmosphere i like in a song

  • this is so good.

  • ...cringe

  • Well I rode out to the ocean

    And the water looked like tarnished gold

    I rode out on a broken horse

    Who told me she'd never felt so old

    She asked me if I'd feed her

    And ride her now and then

  • thank you for the words..

    I break horses,

    I don`t tend to them.

  • No no no, no no no, no no no, I break horses I don't tend to them I break horses They seem to come to me Asking to be broken They seem to run to me I break horses Doesn't take me long Just a few well-placed words And their wandering hearts are gone
  • At first her warmth felt good between my legs Living breathing heart-beating flesh But soon that warmth turned to an itch Turned to a scratch Turned to a gash I break horses I don't tend to them Tonight I'm swimming to my favorite island And I don't want to see you swimming behind Tonight I'm swimming to my favorite island And I don't want to see you swimming behind No I break horses I don't tend to them
  • he proves good music doesn't need to be complicated...he's my favorite songwriter...'supper' his best album, does anybody know his record 'neath the puke tree? grtz, d

  • I've got 'Neath the Puke Tree. I believe its an Australia only tour E.P. It has a killer live version of 'I was a stranger' and four forgettable B-sides one of which was on 'Sewn to the sky'. I agree with piotrtom the live version from Accumulation: none is way better then the original. I dunno it just has so much more.....life.

  • This is brilliant, what album is this trackon?

  • i would advise you to check this track, in a little different version, on a "Accumulation: None" album. on youtube there is also this different version.

  • It's from the 'cold blooded old times' EP. (the recorded version is even better, It's in my top ten songs of all time. 'Chosen one' from the same EP is just as special....go buy it!!!!!

  • does anyone have any early videos of smog? there used to be a recording of bathysphere and sleepy joe with cynthia dall on here.

  • yeah i think his account was suspended? bummer because those videos were amazing.

  • I am really starting to get into Smog. This is what they out to be playing on the radio and make the cover of RollingStone.

    Very intelligent, colorful song.

  • Love this song and video also, but I think that better version is on "Accumulation: None" album.