The Magic of Music: Jason Isbell

I love songs with honest and powerful lyrics that really tell a story. I got a recommendation from a friend of mine about a songwriter called Jason Isbell and I couldn’t help put post this great but sad song called Elephant. The lyrics are amazing.

She said Andy you’re better than your past,

winked at me and drained her glass,

cross-legged on the barstool, like nobody sits anymore.

She said Andy you’re taking me home,

but I knew she planned to sleep alone.

I’d carry her to bed and sweep up the hair from her floor

If I’d fucked her before she got sick

I’d never hear the end of it.

she don’t have the spirit for that now

We drink these drinks and laugh out loud,

bitch about the weekend crowd,

and try to ignore the elephant somehow…somehow.

She said Andy you crack me up,

Seagrams in a coffee cup,

sharecropper eyes and her hair almost all gone.

When she was drunk she made cancer jokes,

made up her own doctor’s notes,

surrounded by her family, I saw that she was dying alone.

I’d sing her classic country songs

and she’d get high and sing along.

She don’t have the voice to sing with me now.

We’d burn these joints in effegy,

cry about what we used to be,

and try to ignore the elephant somehow…somehow.

I buried her a thousand times,

given up my place in line,

but I don’t give a damn about that now

There’s one thing that’s real clear to me,

no one dies with dignity.

We just try to ignore the elephant somehow.

We just try to ignore the elephant somehow.

We just try to ignore the elephant somehow.

Somehow.

Somehow.

Isbell’s new album Southeastern is fantastic. I haven’t listened to much of his previous work, but the song Alabama Pines is also great.

Well, I moved into this room

If you could call it that, a week ago

I never do what I’m supposed to do

Hardly even know my name anymore

When no one calls it out, it kind of vanishes away

And I can’t get to sleep at night

The parking lot’s so loud and bright

The A/C hasn’t worked in twenty years

Probably never made a single person cold

But I can’t say the same for me, I’ve done it many times

Somebody take me home

Through those Alabama pines

You can’t drive through Talladega

On a weekend in October

Head up north to Jacksonville, cut around and over

Watch you’re speed in Boiling Springs

They ain’t got a thing to do, they’ll get you every time

Somebody take me home

Through those Alabama pines

Somebody take me home

Through those Alabama pines

If we pass through on a Sunday

Better make a stop at Wayne’s

It’s the only open liquor store north

And I can’t stand the pain of being by myself

Without a little help on a Sunday afternoon

Well, I needed that damn woman

Like a dream needs gasoline

And I tried to be some ancient kind of man

One that’s never seen the beauty in the world

But I tried to chase it down, tried to make the whole thing mine

Somebody take me home

Through those Alabama pines

Somebody take me home

Through those Alabama pines

I’ve been stuck here in this town

If you could call it that, a year or two

I never do what I’m supposed to do

I don’t even need a name anymore

When no one calls it out, it kind of vanishes away

No one gives a damn

About the things I give a damn about

The liberties that we can’t do without

Seem to disappear like ghosts in the air

When we don’t even care, it truly vanishes away

You cannot NOT love a verse like this:

And I can’t get to sleep at night

The parking lot’s so loud and bright

The A/C hasn’t worked in twenty years

Probably never made a single person cold

But I can’t say the same for me, I’ve done it many times