Oscar-winning actor/director/writer/musician Billy Bob Thornton was raised in Arkansas by his high school basketball coach father and psychic mother. After hitting it big in Hollywood, Thornton decided to return to his first love, music, and record an album. The dark and personal Private Radio arrived in 2001. Thornton has stated on several occasions that he has obsessive-compulsive disorder; he and rock singer Warren Zevon became close friends after sharing their common experiences with the disorder. He is known for various idiosyncratic behaviors, well-documented in interviews with the actor.
There are voices in my head / and demons in my soul / Sometimes they keep me warm / sometimes they leave me cold
There are strangers in my bed / to caress my jaded skin / And squeeze my body tight / and forgive me of my sins
And I know I am not Insane / if I am I ‘m not to blame / It is just this damned old hungry pain / Like a drug inside my veins
And I’ ve sown just what I’ ve reaped / And my thoughts are mine to keep / And through my chilly bones they creep / And they whisper me to sleep
When the nighttime goes away / and the voices have all gone / I fumble with my clothes / and put myself back on
I walk out on the street to face another day / I know I ‘ll meet my fears somewhere along the way / As i climb the mighty steel and watch the river flow / i’ll drown beneath the waves of my own private radio.
