Get all 21 Jess Klein releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of L.O.V.E., Jess Klein & The Berlin Brothers Vol. 1, When We Rise, That Was My Family, Never Gonna Break Me, My Own Beating Heart (single) , Another Man Done Gone - 100% of proceeds to NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Back to My Green , and 13 more.
1. |
Learning Faith
04:50
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For two years I been walkin’
walkin’ on my feet
because I had a vision
a vision leading me
a vision of a bridge
braided out of rope
crossing a great canyon
a bridge made out of hope
I remember looking
off of that cliff
at how the bridge would swing
each time the wind would shift
and yet I felt the need to grip the guardrails in my palms
the need to move forward
the need to carry on
Chorus:
If I had known what it would take
I would have turned and run away
instead of standing here learning faith
learning to let it fly
instead of standing here learning faith
learning to not ask why
and walkin’ til the day I die
You would not believe
how few words there are to say
when you spend your days
moving this way
mostly all I’m thinking
is the next two foot stretch
and mostly all i’m feelin
my toes gripped round the edge
voices say I’m crazy
I know that it’s true
but on the day I close my eyes
and bid this world adieu
I will not pray for heaven or fear the fire below
I will simply be asleep
with nowhere left to go
Chorus
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2. |
So Fucking Cool
02:59
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I am so fucking cool
I could take her skinny ass to school
she’ll take her toll
but I’ll keep my soul
because I am so fucking cool
I wish I could fake it like her
but I guess I gotta deal with the breaks
of a heart that’s pure
and for me, love is not a pose
it’s just standing here with my guts exposed
how I wish i could fake it like her
yeah she’s got the hundred dollar jeans
and she’s staring down her plastic nose at me
she might catch your eye
but I know how to grit my teeth
and turn the lies
into something sweet
I’ll turn the lies into something sweet
Because I am so fucking cool
I learned all the finest tricks at underdog school
and everyone loves a story
bout someone nearly lost who gains victory
that’s why I am so fucking cool
I am so fucking cool
I am so fucking cool
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3. |
If There's a God
03:22
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Down at the State House
it was 5,000 to 1
The air was electric
something real had begun
we sent our speaker in
to talk about where we had been
when I got to the chamber
I could not speak
the stories told there
make a strong man weep
but you threw back the blame
said our lot was God’s domain
caused a change I can’t explain
like a slap ‘cross the cheek
made me believe
If there’s a God
if there’s a God
God is gonna rain down hell on you
I’d sleep at night knowin that was true
if there’s a God
if there’s a God
God is gonna rain down hell on you
I may be only one
but I am singin this song
and I hear others
I hear them singin’ along
in a world of constant change
I know one thing remains
a heart broken in pain
beats in anger too
makes a body move
And If there’s a God
if there’s a God
God is gonna rain down hell on you
I’d sleep at night knowin that was true
I’d find the strength to carry through
if there’s a God
if there’s a God
God is gonna rain down hell on you
Down at the State House
it was 5,000 to 1
the air was electric
something real had begun
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4. |
Surrender
04:20
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surrender surrender surrender
lay down my sword and shield
surrender surrender surrender
kneel on this battlefield
take it apart
the metal plate over my heart
leave the whole thing revealed
surrender surrender surrender
heed the voice that drowns out all I’ve know
surrender surrender surrender
hear the drum that beats all on its own
driving me to what some part of me knew
but I’ve never been shown
When it all falls down
and returns to dust
in the thick of night
and i wake up stoned
down to my bones
and i cannot fight
feel my way out into God knows what
but it must be right
surrender surrender surrender
where my sweet acceptance lives
surrender surrender surrender
where angels heal me with a kiss
a choir sings
voices lift
manna for this
When it all falls down
and returns to dust
in the thick of night
and i wake up stoned
down to my bones
and i cannot fight
feel my way out into God knows what
but it must be right
feel my way out into God knows what
And I see the light
the light
the light
surrender surrender surrender
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5. |
Loving You
03:03
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It’s different than it used to be
we’re older than our parents were
a funny world for you and me
seems colder than it was before
but one thing hasn’t changed
and that’s the feeling of loving you
so natural, so strange
so timeless and so new
With flashing lights and cluttered minds
crowding us out everywhere
the little things get left behind
while we run off trying not to care
but one thing makes me stay
and that’s the feeling of loving you
it won’t be washed away
or proved to be untrue
Some things we can’t explain away
some dreams have gotta see their day
come what may
And so the human race goes on
and swears it’s on a road to doom
and still I’m moved to sing a song
and pull some kind of magic through
a hero in my way
all for the feeling of loving you
come to state my case
for all the things you do
come to state my case
for all the things you do
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6. |
Wish
04:16
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Took me to Chez Gaston
told me I could order anything I want
showed me to the best seats in the house
for My Fair Lady, the one the critics raved about
I learned the actors’ names
friends came back to our living room
you said that my smarts must have come from you
then the party was over
time for them to go, you and me alone
then the change came
Chorus:
Yelling curses
hurling dishes
turned my wish
cold and blue
sudden anger
bred constant fear
of what was hidden inside of you
I tried hard
not to upset
like any child
learning to survive
mama since the
day we met
I’ve tried to keep my wish alive
Bitter medicine to swallow
not only for the patient
but for the one who opens the bottle
but this illness is real
and spells you don’t recall
left wounds i still gotta heal
to stop the bleeding
If I rip the bandage off
expose it to the air
can it be the act of love
we’re needing
Chorus
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7. |
Dear God
04:44
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Dear God
tell me what I’m gonna do
between bad and worse
what am i gonna choose
I tried
to see the doctor today
but the governor slammed the door
right in my face
and I’m seventeen years old
is my time already told
with the baby of a baby on its way
Chorus
And it’s life
it’s life
it’s life that’s got me talkin’ now to you
was it life
sweet life that brought me down
or some old man who says he speaks for you
Dear God
I planned on going to school
keepin’ up my grades
gain the proper tools
now I’ll
be stuck here just like everyone else
stackin’ boxes on some WalMart shelf
or carryin’ to term
a child who’ll never learn
why his mama gave him up to someone else
Chorus
Dear God
gonna go down to the depot tonight
do what I gotta do
in the flickering light
got the name of a place
out on 56
for some kind of price
they’ll give me some kind of fix
In the land of the free I’ve come to this
Chorus
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8. |
Only the Blues
04:11
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Since the day I left my hometown
been lookin’ for a place
to lay my burden down
I walked around memphis
I pranced around paris
I drove across texas
and I knelt before Jesus
and I don’t know why
and I don’t know how
but only the blues
will take my burden now
Everybody asks me what on earth I think I’ll get
that I haven’t gotten yet
it won’t be riches
probably not fame
I still got my freedom
But the price is my pain
and i don’t know how
but only the blues
will take my burden now
so go call your doctor
go pray to your saint
buy yourself a new house
with a new coat of paint
I’ll keep my last dollar
on this three chord riff
three chords and a microphone
give me some kind of lift
and I don’t know why
and I don’t know how
but only the blues
will take my burden now
so baby I love you
with all of my heart
I will til the end
I did from the start
but when my eyes are teary
don’t think you got the cure
and it ain’t because
your love ain’t pure
I don’t know why
and I don’t know how
but only the blues
will take my burden now
only the blues
only the blues
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9. |
Open Road
04:48
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You and I had seen the open road
had the nerve to give it one more go
with a car from your old job and my book of songs
a Mexican blanket to cover the guitars
and the faith of those whose race is not run
hey it might get rough out there
I know
but we can do this
take my hand lets go
Said you loved to drive through the night
drove us up to Michigan alright
then the old friend you never thought you’d see again
came out in Cleveland, started buying you rounds
you toasted freedom
but your eyes were looking down
I tried to ask “are you alright?”
you didn’t answer
just drove through the night
out on the open road
where long shadows show
and riders pray for the light we know
not to be dyin’
the same old friend showed up in three more towns
seemed to turn your old nerve around
somewhere near Buffalo that old car slowed
too much weight
too many miles
I guess you knew something had to go
like a dream your old friend took the wheel
left me by the snowbanks
with the pain you wouldn’t feel
Now sometimes I see you around
I can never seem to make a sound
I heard you’re working an office job now
I’m still out here
I don’t always know why
I think about you
and it darkens my eyes
but I guess this life still gives me hope
some kind of freedom
some kind of rope
out on the open road
where long shadows show
and riders pray for the light we know
not to be dyin’
And all us souls wanna turn around
And crawl back underground
but me I’ll head for the light I’ve found
or grow old tryin’
you and I had seen the open road
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10. |
Long Way Down
04:25
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I had been there before
old man worry hangin’ round my door
heard his heavy silence outside
wishin i could run away and hide
poured myself a stiff drink of gin
looked around that hole i’d been in
felt the old man’s whiskers
ticklin’ my fingers
as i opened the door and
pushed him aside
and it’s a long way back
its a long way down
it’s a long way
won’t get there today
but i won’t be turning around
Hailed a cab and sped up the road
to my lover’s abode
thinkin’ bout the good times
thinkin’ bout those sweet rhymes
and all those funny dreams i hold
I swept in there ready for the kill
tried to move him by the sheer force of my will
I pulled his arms around me
said, ‘ain’t ya glad you found me?’
and he just stood there, stone still
chorus
And I don’t know how long the road
don’t know how hard the right
only that I’m goin’
though I’m only knowin’
of one friend
who’ll stay by my side
Now I’m here by the northern line
and I am lost as a lone turtle dove
watching lovers kiss
in their lovers’ bliss
while that old train rattles above
chorus
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Jess Klein Hillsborough, North Carolina
Rochester, NY native Jess Klein is known for staking out brave lyrical and musical territory with such albums as Wishes Well Disguised (1998), Draw Them Near (2000), Strawberry Lover (2005), City Garden (2006), Bound to Love (2009), Behind A Veil (2012) and Learning Faith (2014) which Folk Radio UK calls “unquestionably the finest album of [her] impressive career.” ... more
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