Since the beginning of October, folk icons Bill Callahan and Bonnie “Prince” Billy have been recording and releasing covers, each time with a guest. Earlier this month, they released interpretations of Cat Stevens’ “Blackness of the Night” (with AZITA;) Hank Williams Jr’s “OD’d in Denver” (With Matt Sweeney;) and Dave Rich’s “I’ve Made Up My Mind” (with Alasdair Roberts). This week, the pair have covered a song that’s a little out of left field: “Wish You Were Gay,” a single from Billie Eilish’s massively successful debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
Featuring Sean O’Hagan, Callahan and Billy’s Eilish cover turns the track — which, on Eilish’s album, features just her and ukulele — into a strange, burbling thing, replete with squelching synth noises, unique affectations, and more. Shifting in style more than once over its runtime, it turns the track — a fairly lightweight part of Eilish’s album — into an epic. It is an extremely strange version of the track, and it is also hugely enjoyable to hear. Listen above.
Billie photo: ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images
Listen to Bill Callahan’s weird-ass cover of Billie Eilish’s “Wish You Were Gay”
