Jason Webley Album

Hey, do you know where you're going?
Have you noticed its snowing?
Although it is June?

They said your weakness was showing
That your rapture was growing
Just a little too soon

But under these mountains, the nights and the shadows grow long
The stars up above you feel wrong
This is not your sky

Pray to a strange constellation
Thank God for your isolation
This forever goodbye

Dawn throws its light on the covers
In this bed there's another
Asleep at your side

Gone, the embrace of a lover
And the fire you discovered
Already has died

Her body recoils as your hand goes to touch her again
She's a temple that won't let you in
At her side you're alone

On her back is the same constellation
Confirming your alienation
No, this flesh is not home

You carry a vague conviction
This life rose from an eviction
Out of your homeland

True but it's also addiction
To this soft crucifixion
Under these foreign hands

And like all Christs before you, you kneel down beneath the night sky
To look into your father's eyes
And only feel lost

Crucified to a strange constellation
A new king awaits coronation
But there will be no great revelation
Your journey is your destination
Discomfort could be your salvation
Here under the Southern Cross

The swing set is rusted, the picture frame's cracked
The photos have faded to gray
The faces you trusted just never came back
Yes, childhood has eroded away

The songs that your mother sang as she rocked you to sleep
You howl out of tune when you're drunk
Wear good shoes on these streets or you'll soon cut your feet
On a piece of a broken cup

After so many Johns and Janes have stained your sheets
Is it habit or thirst fills your glass?
After so many pipers have played on these streets
Who is missed more, our children or the rats?

Yes we've traded our toy choo-choo trains and rosary beads
For a bottle of gin and a fuck
Now we sit 'round the bar, proud of how bored we are
As we sip from our broken cup

We sing everything, everything, everything is now permitted
All the oaths we've taken have been graciously forgotten
And every sin, every sin is now forgiven
And every sip somehow tastes rotten

So let's drink to the men who forgot what they lost
They wear the best shoes that money can buy
And a toast to impotence, to cowardice and sloth
Nothing matters, don't bother to try

And three cheers for Mary, our virgin, our whore
If she favors you it's just bad luck
Now I'll lift up my glass to a life on our ass
Brothers, raise your cup high while your waiting to die
May we all find a trace, a faint echo of grace
Through the crack in our broken cup

Show me the way home
Show me the way home
Show me the way back

She is my ripe tomato
She's my carrot on a stick
I've been drunk upon her juice so long
I don't know where I am

Now show me the way home
Show me the way home
Show me the way back home

She says the cup is broken
Now she tells me it is full
Mary, Mary, quite contrary
I don't know where to go

Now show me the way home
Show me the way home
Show me the way back home

She whispers, "Surrender, come blind to my side"
I will be on the twelve o-clock train
And I walk through the world, stunned by beauty,
I am king today

Now I watch the hours and the boxcars go by
Still I am waiting in the rain
Oh, she gives, she gives, she gives
And she takes away

Now show me the way home
Show me the way home
Show me the way back home

Where is that song tonight?
I need to hear
Walked so far today
Walked so far today

I remember eyes so bright
A voice strong and clear
Feels so far away
Feels so far away

The sheets in this room are soft and warm
My shoes are resting by the door
But where is that song
I heard here before?

At night I wake up, think I feel teeth tug
At hair I don't have anymore
Now where is that song?
Where is that song, where is that song?

I've often seen a man,
Yardstick and clock face instead of hands.
He has measured pain and pleasure both to death.
I've felt the kiss,
Of his narcotic lips,
He has probed in the folds beneath my dress.
I watch my feelings,
Fade way revealing,
A cold pathway to a bridal bed,
But when he lays me down
I just feign sleeping,
Cause it's not time to go yet.
No it's not time to go yet.

There's cancer in the air,
Think I've never been so scared,
Of the cold metal numbness in my chest,
Don't go to sleep,
Stay beside me while I weep,
Or I don't think I'll make it through this test.
If you still see me,
Please don't leave me,
Alone with the devils in my head.
Push, stretch,
This night into morning,
'Cause it's not time to go yet,
No it's not time to go yet.

The worn out pilgrim tells,
Of the forging of great bells,
That shall sound when his feet can finally rest.
Cast in the fire,
That has burnt through all desire,
And cooled by the milk of mother's breast.
They ring sweetly,
Promising me,
Release from the labor of this breath.
But when I hear those bells,
I just keep walking,
'Cause it's not time to go yet.
No it's not time to go yet.

Everybody come dig along
I'll steal your soul, put it in my song
The melody like a shrunken head
I will you immortal, I will make you dead

Everybody come dig along
I'll steal your soul, put it in my song
The melody like a shrunken head
I will you immortal, I will make you dead

You've got to put it in, you've got to put it in
You've got to put it in the ground
You've got to put it in, you've got to put it in
You've got to put it in the ground

Everybody come dig along
I'll steal your soul, put it in my song
The melody like a shrunken head
I will you immortal, I will make you dead

You've got to dig it out, you've got to dig it out
You've got to dig deep down
You've got to dig it out, you've got to dig it out
You've got to go deep down

You have done this all before
And you will do this all again
You have done this all before
And you will do this all again

Everybody come dig along
I'll steal your soul, put it in my song
The melody like a shrunken head
I will you immortal, I will make you dead

You've got to put it in, you've got to put it in
You've got to put it in the ground
You've got to dig it out, you've got to dig it out
You've got to go deep down

You've got to put it in, you've got to dig it out
You've got to put it in, you've got to dig it out
You've got to put it in, you've got to dig it out
You've got to go deep down

Moons pass, but the sun never rises
And something in the air says to eat what's on your plate
And maybe you're walking across an endless sheet of white beneath an almost endless night
You've never been so cold

But you feel something warm and bright

She's strange, she is so familiar
You just look at her back and your hair stands on its ends
And maybe she leads you to a garden and invites you to release your lips and bite
Through all that you've been told

You drink from a cup that is broken
And it's lonely in this crowd, guess you'll just walk home to bed
Maybe you're caught beneath a softly shifting sky and find that somehow just behind
Is every sacred thing you thought you'd sold

She's strange, she is so familiar
And something in the air says to eat what's on your plate
And maybe you're feeling a bit harder to excite, you're thinking maybe it's not right
You've never been so old

And maybe your walking 'cross a river late at night
A friend you can't remember is standing softly at your side
And you feel the current pulling but you have no need to fight
Because you see yourself reflected in the water and her eyes

Look up
Look up tonight
She's dancing
The Northern Lights

To the old chrome cassette of my mother's voice
I still cry when I hear her sing
The clock struck twelve, the voice I love so well
Was eaten up by the machine

It was eaten up by the machine

When the glass is full, drink up, drink up
This maybe the last time we see this cup
If God wanted us sober, he'd knock the glass over
So while it is full we drink up

A toast to Mary, a girl I once loved
Oh Lord, why do things have to die?
If drinking beer could bring her back here
I'd drink the damn place dry

Yes, I'd drink the damn place dry

When the glass is full, drink up, drink up
This maybe the last time we see this cup
If God wanted us sober, he'd knock the glass over
So while it is full we drink up

Here's to the old house on Lily Pond Lane
And the room where my boots used to rest
One day I gave the foundation a shake
But my home, it did not pass the test

No, my home, it did not pass the test

When the glass is full, drink up, drink up
This maybe the last time we see this cup
If God wanted us sober, he'd knock the glass over
So while it is full we drink up

I can't remember the face of my wife
But from halfway around the world I can smell her hair
And every stranger that brushes past becomes the love of my life
But I can't betray her, her arms are everywhere

She said don't just touch, I want you to crawl inside
As she backed out the door with both hands on my gun
Well, I never knew my father, so I guess I don't expect
I will ever meet my son

Now I surrender
I'll come blind to her side
I guess I'll spend the evening
In the passenger chair

Yes, I've studied the scriptures, the guidebooks and maps
Oh I drank, I drank more from habit than thirst
Somehow I never noticed that you only touch your shadow
When your feet are on the earth

And I can't remember if I'm still on the train
But I'll just trust the driver
I just trust the driver, I just trust the driver
Her arms are everywhere

Please don't tell me where we're going
Just drive, just drive
Please don't tell me where we're going
I like to be surprised

How can we enjoy
The flavor in our mouths
When already we're dreaming of
The taste of the next bite?

How can we enjoy
The flavor in our mouths
When already we're dreaming of
The taste of the next bite?

I drink in the tears of the lovers at the station
As they part I watch them from above
Is everyone I love turning into a stranger?
Are these strangers all becoming the ones I love?

Goodbye forever once again
Goodbye forever once again
I'm standing in the rain with my lovers and my friends
Singing goodbye forever, once again

You and I made love between the train tracks and the graveyard
For just a couple hours, you were mine
Now I watch the sky, it helps me forget your face
So I can touch your lips again for the first time

Goodbye forever once again
Goodbye forever once again
I'm standing in the rain with my lovers and my friends
Singing goodbye forever, once again

I keep all the embraces that once kept me warm
In a scrapbook I flip through sometimes
I get drunk on nostalgia
And tell myself this life's been good

But so many pages are wrinkled and worn
The faces are fading away
Just snapshots of graceful decay
And I don't know if I'm holding on to the things I should

The bent trunk of a tree, white flowers in the meadow
The path of each leaf dancing in the wind
Every star you see, each ripple in the river
Whispers goodbye forever, once again

Goodbye forever once again
Goodbye forever once again
I'm standing in the rain with my lovers and my friends
Singing goodbye forever, once again

We keep singing the refrain
Even though the song will end
Goodbye forever once again

I know that you've been feeling tired
I hear your voice is wearing thin
I know you've slept so many places in the past few days
You can't remember just what bed you're in

There's something familiar about this room
Anywhere you go, it's just like you've been there before
'Cause if you want to step outside this body and this world
You're going to have to go through a different kind of door

And this train only runs in summertime
The children have been let out of school
You haven't packed, the bottoms of your shoes are cracked
But your passport has been kissed by the holy fool

He's smiling, cross-eyed, barefoot, dressed in rags
Bent down, talking to the crows
He's got no words to tell you, just some magic beans to sell you
Plant them and in time the tracks will grow

And this train only runs in summertime
Parents are lying beside the pool
The cup is cracked, it's broken by the tracks
But your passport has been kissed by the holy fool

Are you looking for salvation?
Are you looking for answers, for Jesus, for dancers to serve you some warmth on cold nights?
Are you looking for the thing that looks out through your eyes, for something that won't leave your side?
On this lonely planet where everything's waving goodbye

I know that you've been working hard
You want the whole world to see how brightly you can glow
But if you'd just trade everything for that small bag of dried-up beans
It's only time until the whistle blows

And this train only runs in summertime
The children have been let out of school
You haven't packed, the bottoms of your shoes are cracked
But your passport has been kissed by the holy fool

And this train only runs in summertime
The only contradiction is the rule
It's moving past, but it's not going too fast
And an open empty boxcar stares at you