Jason Isbell Album

Take my body to Seven-Mile Island.
Lay my head down where Indians sleep.
Take your shoes off and walk across the water.
It's been so long so I heard a man speak.

Watch the spillways when the water starts rising.
Take your hat off when the sun goes down.
Keep your eyes on that concrete tower.
Maybe one day it will crumble to the ground.

Mary's crying 'cause she can't hold water
and her clothes don't fit her right.
She used to say that she wanted a daughter,
now she only wants a Saturday night.

There were days when that dusty cave was empty,
back before this city made a claim
on that hotel for wanderers and strangers,
back before you could live off of your name.

We all live in an Airstream trailer
about three-hundred yards up the lake.
Call the doctor, Mary's going into labor
and you can't raise a baby on shake.

So take my body to Seven-Mile Island
Lay some stones down on top of my grave.
Tell my lady I just couldn't bear to see her
Tell my daughter I just couldn't be saved.

They tell me you walk on the water now
I know who showed you the stones
You pray that I banish my appetite and lie there alone

I hope that you've practiced your instrument
I fear it will take you away
You ain't the type to be traveling, so why not just stay

Here it is morning for some folks
and twilight for those of us left
who sleep while the soldiers get sunstroke
and make little fools of ourselves

Are we supposed to get good at this?
What does it mean to give up?
Why did I call you? I shouldn't be giving a fuck
Answer these questions for everyone
so maybe they'll stop asking me
What really happened and where is your masterpiece?

Here it is morning for some folks
and twilight for those of us left
who give up the dangers of sunstroke
and make little fools of ourselves

They tell me you walk on the water now,
but I know who showed you the stones

I need some things to look forward to
Maybe these colors will fade
I never meant to get bored with you
but I never meant to stay

You better watch yourself this time
On your waiting in a long line
Of kicking off a slow crime

I guess the Devil wouldn't have you
But you used who what you're used to
You always seem to somehow
make it through

I know I let myself go
but I try to let you know
it's hard to be alone

I know I never took my own advice
Chased a couple rollin' dice
Somewhere I don't belong

I can't make myself be good
I wish I could
Somewhere my conscience tuned to petrified old wood
I can't make myself do right
On Friday night
When all these shadows they get bigger and bigger in the light

Another night another rope burn
Well I guess that it was my turn
To wash all of the pain down

Maybe you were just a decoy
It doesn't matter much to me, noise
It covered up the voices
I don't want to hear

I let myself go again
I tried to let you know, but then
It's hard to be alone

I know I never took my own advice
I got tired of playin nice
And cut right to the bone

I can't make myself be good
I wish I could
Somewhere my conscience tuned to petrified old wood
I can't make myself do right
On Friday night
When all these shadows they get bigger and bigger in the light

I can't make myself be good
I wish I could
Somewhere my conscience tuned to petrified old wood
I can't make myself do right
On Friday night
When all these shadows they get bigger and bigger in the light

I saw her in Roosevelt Springs, where time doesn't touch anything
She never did say she could sing, but I figured it so
I needed some company then, not sisters or children or men
That's a hell of a spot to be in, but she put me in tow

Money and liquor and lust had taken my heart and my trust
I could see ashes and dust were headed my way
She tended bar in the town, her alto settled me down
I started hanging around, didn't need much to say

She smelled like cigarettes and wine
And she kept me happy all the time
I know that ain't much of a line
But it's the Gods' own truth
She lives down inside of me still
Rolled up like a twenty dollar bill
She left me alone with these pills
In the last of my youth

Wings on her shoulders and feet, a bar on Gethsemane Street
I took time to plan my retreat, and backed out the door
I must be attracted to those who've witnessed a man in the throes
of life that ain't grindstone to nose, but pedal to floor

She smelled like cigarettes and wine
And she kept me happy all the time
I know that ain't much of a line
But it's the Gods' own truth
She lives down inside of me still
Rolled up like a twenty dollar bill
She left me alone with these pills
In the last of my youth

Lost on the dry side of town, my memories slowing me down
She shook me and I came around, I came back to life
With nary a mother or dad she showed me what I never had
The princess of leaves, she gets sad, 'cause I won't take a wife

She smelled like cigarettes and wine
And she kept me happy all the time
I know that ain't much of a line
But it's the Gods' own truth
She lives down inside of me still
Rolled up like a twenty dollar bill
She left me alone with these pills
In my smoldering youth
She left me alone with these pills
In the last of my youth

See the man with the military mind
trying to make us all afraid all the time
trying to make us all stay inside and lock our doors and windows
See the man's got too much to count
try to recollect the sermon on the mount
Blessed are the poor when they're all swinging from the gallows

I ain't afraid no more

However long the night, the dawn will break again
We'll be around when you have lost your oldest friends
There's nothing you can say or do to us to drown out this amen
'cause however long the night, the dawn will break again

See the poet with nothing left to say
Staring down at blank pages all day
Let the alcohol take you away and sleep the way the fools do
See the beast with the gasoline hand
breathing fire, drawing lines in the sand
Pray we find ourselves a better plan or die the way we used to

I ain't afraid no more

However long the night, the dawn will break again
We'll be around when they have found your next of kin
There's nothing you can do or say to us to drown out this amen
'cause however long the night, the dawn will break again

See the woman with the roses in her hair
Bring me lovin' when it's too much bear
Tell me I can make a difference this time
All I gotta do is make it all rhyme

However long the night, the dawn will break again
We'll be around when they have found your next of kin
There's nothing you can do or say to us to drown out this amen
'cause however long the night, the dawn will break again

[No lyrics]

Don't roll away that stone, girl
Leave it where it lay
You think he's coming home but you know it's not today
I think the road will break me and never fill the holes,
but every time I'm saved I stop beating out a soul

I'm too scared to ask the right questions
and too tired to fill the right shoes
so I'll take advantage of the blues
I'll take advantage of the blue

There really ain't no difference
in Michigan and Maine
If you ain't here to see this I'm missing just the same
Your skin as soft as water, same temperature as me
I'd never know I touched you if you didn't let me see

I'd crawl to meet you if you'd just stay there,
and finally have a thing I couldn't bear to lose
So I'll take advantage of the blues
I'll take advantage of the blue

Mark me up so they can see the best of me
Hold me down so I can't find a drink
Dance so I don't have to think

We'll say a friend of mine, a fella I know real well,
came to me on Friday and he had a story to tell
I've heard it a thousand times, but this one hits close to home
The woman who left him I've taken for my own

Love leaves you no choice in the matter
and there ain't a damn thing sadder than a man
in the throes of something real
The woman that lays down beside you,
she can't help or hide you
It don't matter how she wants to feel

So I bought him a round or two and gave him a talking to
I said, "Boy, you can't let yourself get so far"
But you can't tell a man a thing when he's picking out diamond rings
and you yourself don't know who you are

Love leaves you no choice in the matter
and there ain't a damn thing sadder than a man
in the throes of something real
The woman that lays down beside you,
she can't help or hide you
It don't matter how she wants to feel

My hands, they used to be a young man's hands
but I worked 'em to the bone
When'd she even find the time to get to know another man?
"Leave me alone," he said, "leave me alone"

Love leaves you no choice in the matter
and there ain't a damn thing sadder than a man
in the throes of something real
The woman that lays down beside you,
she can't help or hide you
It don't matter how she wants to feel

You want her to try new things
She reminds you she wears your ring
and after a couple drinks she's a little scared of you
A good friend is hard to find
You wish you could spend more time
towing civilian lines, but they're all scared of you

It's not the time that makes it go bad
It's not the thought of what you could've had
It's not the way that her figure has changed
It's just that a soldier gets strange

You know she's a real good girl
She reminds you that every curl
that whips in the wind of the world
is watched by the eyes of God
But lately your mane's gone white
You itch in your veins in the night
Before you "came home alright"
you wielded the lightning rod

It ain't the time that makes it go South
It ain't the liquor that burns in your mouth
Nearly nothing around here's changed
It's just that a soldier gets strange

She turns off the lights so you can't see her body
You can't make her fight when you know that you're wrong
They call you a hero, so many still fighting
This ain't where you belong

Maybe you'll re-enlist
It couldn't be worse than this
But think of the things you'll miss
If you're inside the wire again

It's not the dreams that keep you up late
It's not the world you saw incinerate
It's not the way that her figure has changed
It's just that a soldier gets strange
Most of all you got strange

Where's that angel with dirty knees who wasn't hard to please when we first met?
She don't act like she needs me now and she don't even seem to be upset.
Maybe I cover too much ground, I've been from town to town since I grew up.
Could my dreams take up too much space? I'll never find a place that's big enough.

The chairs go up on the bar now, and the table lights go black,
So I order one last double and start calling people back.

Marc sounds good, he's been working hard. Couldn't punch a card to save his life.
Says he's glad that he quit the road, he says he's getting old, he missed his wife.
Little Em's been asleep since nine, I'm sure she's doing fine, she always is.
Dad won't answer his phone at night, but I guess that's alright, the place is his.

The chairs are up on the bar now and they're asking me to leave,
So I give the girl a bill and start rolling down my sleeves.

In my pocket directions back across the railroad tracks to where I crash.
Maybe I should wave down a car, I won't be going far, and I have cash.
Think I blocked just a park away, but I can't really say, it's been all night.
How I wish you would call me here, but you just disappeared, it wasn't right.

And the streetlights help a little, but they're barely half alive
I don't feel much like walking and I sure as hell can't drive.

Close your eyes and remember this. It won't be back again, it's almost gone.
Even times that don't seem like much will be your only crutch when you're alone.
Time moves slow when you're seventeen and then it picks up steam at twenty-one.
Pretty soon you'll remember when you could remember when you loved someone.

Come run away with me
This ain't the world we signed up for
Echoes across the open sea of a place without any range war
This is the last song I will write
This is the last time I will fight for you

Momma lost her second love
at a time when she really needs it
He could not have been enough,
so small and still bumping the ceiling
This is the last dream I will have:
my lady, my love, and my mom and dad
floating away to Spain

You who work up on your feet,
your neck turns red from the sunshine
It's you who've seen my worst defeat
crawling through crumbling coalmines
These are the words I will sing
'cause this is the end of everything
I'm crawling away to the sea