Every Moment Has A Song

The Bills: “Nowhere To Be (And All Day to Get There)” (2005)

The Bills’ 2005 album Let Em Run is one of the most stylistically schizoid albums I’ve ever had the confusion of listening to. It touches equally deftly on folk, jazz, bluegrass, zydeco, ragtime…and sea chantey. The record begins with the type of overture you’d associate with an opera, in which several of the melodies to follow are represented, each in a distinct style. Genres change with dizzying frequency throughout the rest of the album, sometimes mid-song.

The Canadian band who shortened their name from the Hill Billy Band to simply the Bills hasn’t been heard from since this, their third album. But clearly they were a unit whose competence over a diversity of styles was quite impressive. And this particular track is still the only song I know to use the word “insouciance”, for what that’s worth.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2023/01/02/songs-you-may-have-missed-735/