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. |
Shy Girl
03:48
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If I stand perfectly still, eyes and nose aimed at the ceiling
If I act cool, to the point of chill
Frozen limbs, and no sign of feeling
While the world around us seems to dip and twirl and sway
Maybe I’m afraid to show how hard my heart’s been pounding
Since you looked my way
And if you wanted me
I would not stand a chance
Because through me you’d see
The shy girl at the dance
A shy girl, who’s dreamed about this night
Lookin’ back on an old photograph
Homemade dress, and her eyes reflecting the spinning lights
And the hopes that never came to pass
The crowd moves with the band
I’m trying so hard to refrain
But when you hold my hand
Spinning lights appear before my eyes again
Chorus
You there holding up the wall, don’t you wanna tear it down?
With the simplest of moves, maybe turn this thing around
Chorus
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2. |
The Great Ones
04:23
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The only cure for loneliness is to feel it for a while
The only cure for loneliness is to feel it for a while
Know your pain, own your pain, til the owning makes you smile
And that’s why the great ones sings the blues
The only balm for anger is to let it burn
The only balm for anger is to let it burn
Sweat your flames, name your names
Til your precious peace returns
And that’s why the great ones sings the blues
Liquor won’t cure it
Making love won’t do
Betting high won’t save your soul
Neither will aiming low
You gotta walk up to the devil and let him pass right through
And that’s why the the great ones sings the blues
The only fix for bitterness is to let it dry you up
The only fix for bitterness is to let it dry you up
Til you weep with relief to taste the bitter stuff
And that’s why the the great ones sings the blues
The only clear way out of fear is to shake in your shoes
The only clear way out of fear is to shake in your shoes
Shake until you’re cold and still and then you will have paid your dues
And that’s why the great ones sings the blues
Liquor won’t cure it
Making love won’t do
Betting high won’t save your soul
Neither will aiming low
You gotta walk up to the devil and let him pass right through
And that’s why the great ones sings the blues
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3. |
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For two years I been walking
I been walking 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 with my palms
The need to lean forward
The need to carry on
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 walking 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 thinkin’
Is the next two foot stretch
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
To 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
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
Instead of standing here learning faith
Learning to say goodbye
Instead of standing here learning faith
Learning to let it fly
And walking
Walking til the day I die
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4. |
Their Young Eyes Shine
03:53
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I watch the children play and I wonder
What if they were mine
Would I let their light pull me under
Laughing all the time
Would I jump with them on the trampoline
Would I catch them when they fell down crying
Would I know enough to never know too much
When I saw their young eyes shine
With their hopes so high and the longest sigh
Parents choose our names
But when we arrive, how we fight
Being called the same
Til the moment when we no longer can
Bring ourselves to judge them for the question put above them
Would we know enough to never know too much
When we saw their young eyes shine
Would you look at me running round a tree
Free as I was then
Would you trust in me and the world I’ve seen
To take care of them
When they went away, would we always stay
Young as they would have us be
Young as all eternity
Would we know enough to never know too much
When we saw their young eyes shine
Would we know enough to never know too much
When we saw their young eyes shine
When we saw their young eyes shine
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5. |
My Man is Comin'
04:19
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You might not see it
But I can feel it
He’s walkin up this road
With a boyish smile
And some funny way
Of lightening my load
You might not hear it
But I do
When he says goodnight
It might sound foolish
But when I’m worn and blue
This vision holds me tight
My man is comin
He’s walking towards me
He’s made his own way
Now he’s longing for me
He’s longing for something true
Now he can see me too
He can see me too
When life bears down on us
We’ll find a way to laugh
To lessen the toll
We’ll find a way to trust
Each others’ better halves
And believe each others’ souls
Times when we might
Lose our bearings
When our fears lead us astray
Those are the times we’ll hold tight
To the ground we’re sharing
Til the fears melt away
My man is comin
He’s walking towards me
He’s made his own way
Now he’s longing for me
My man is comin’
He’s walking faster
With a love more sure than
My last disaster
My man is comin’
He’s stepping closer
And he won’t be turning
And running no sir
And I am ready
I’m holding steady
To this one dream
We can make come true
My man is coming
And he can see me too
He can see me too
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6. |
Old Screen Door
04:53
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She stands on her stoop, hand on her hip
She welcomes them
With a smile and a laugh, but takes no lip
From boys or men
But inside her kitchen, the table’s spread
With the cards she reads
When late at night and all alone
She asks for what she needs
She stands inside the old screen door
Weighing strength and sin
And wonders when he will appear
And when she’ll let him in
She’s known her share of weary travelers
Who took a liking to
The knowing girl who’d give them laughter
For the world they knew
But once she’d let the screen door open
Let her longing win
They’d swing back out and kill her hoping
For what might have been
Chorus
She knows
She knows
Something’s gotta change
Someday
She’ll have to look inside again
He’s steady as a stone ridge mountain
And he’s slow to shift
Even through the ups and downs
That make some others slip
He sits outside on his front porch
And thinks about a girl
Who’d lift him up from time to time
From his earthly world
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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