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Small Town Girls

by Jessi Robertson

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1.
You and Me 04:30
We walk in shadow, we walk in light and what’s to become of us? There may not be another tomorrow or tonight so why do we waste today on the same old fight? don’t stop now, we’ve only just begun don’t stop now, we thought we were so young but you and me, while we can sing and we can breathe there’s still time to believe in something and I believe in you and me The moon turns red, the sun grows weak and it breaks our hearts Can’t look at what’s looming above or what’s beneath So where do we turn when the earth shudders under our feet? don’t stop now, we’ve only just begun don’t stop now, we thought we were so young but you and me, while we can sing and we can breathe there’s still time to believe in something and I believe in you and me I believe in something I believe in you and me
2.
When things got bad I’d sneak away with a book Or scribble poems laced with blood and tears No one thought to ask if something was wrong While I withdrew to the prison of my fears Small town girls learn how to tell big lies When the neighbors know all the details of your lives And gloss over the heartache in your eyes Yeah, small town girls have to learn to tell big lies I’d read all night until the sun scorched my face And stumble dazed into the hallway Playing out the colored Classics in my head While sleepwalking through another shabby day Small town girls learn how to tell big lies When the neighbors know all the details of your lives And gloss over the heartache in your eyes Yeah, small town girls have to learn to tell big lies I thought someone was coming to rescue me A savior or a hero or destiny I waited patiently, expectantly And I learned to save myself eventually Small town girls learn how to tell big lies When the neighbors know all the details of your lives And gloss over the heartache in your eyes Yeah, small town girls have to learn to tell big lies
3.
Half-Moon 04:16
Half-circle moons glow in my palms The mark will fade if that’s what I want But I need it to conjure your trembling ghost You’re still the drug I crave the most You meant well, yeah you meant for good But it all turned to shit like we knew it would Now I can’t see your eyes or taste your lips Your moon killed my sun in a noiseless eclipse Will it wax, will it wane, the way I feel? Will it reveal that we are strangers? Some of us lie together, some of us lie alone but we all lie to hide what we cannot show I feel my body break away from me Fragments spinning out without gravity In the stereo static I can’t be read I tried to laugh but I screamed instead You put me together, you pulled me apart You cradled my head, you buried my heart The day was too long but it ended too soon My sun wastes away in the glow of your moon Will it wax, will it wane, the way I feel? Will it reveal that we are strangers? Some of us lie together, some of us lie alone But we all lie to hide what we cannot show So I straighten my shoulders and hold up my head Pour out my wine and break my bread I wanted to walk but I danced instead Under the half-moon Will it wax, will it wane, the way I feel? Will it reveal that we are strangers? Some of us lie together, some of us lie alone But we all lie to hide what we cannot show
4.
I know the lock won’t hold I could pry it open with a butter knife and the door’s only a cheap piece of plywood but I still get the urge to check it twice I sit on the floor with my back against the door trying to disappear, just don’t come in here please just don’t come in here I wrote on the wall with black ink A caricature saying, “happy holiday” Then I drew all over my arms and legs It’s permanent but it washes away I sit on the floor with my back against the door trying to disappear, just don’t come in here please just don’t come in here I never wore a cap and a gown They said I’d never get out of this town But I defied everyone I always knew how to hide, then I learned to run So I don’t have to sit on the floor with my back against the door Trying to disappear, please just don’t come in here please just don’t come in here just don’t come in here
5.
I reached through my own skin Deep between my lungs and ribs I fought to hold my heart down Until it stopped struggling You can’t live with so much pain So you learn to turn it on and off again I can only be free when I sing Then I have to hurt myself again You don’t want to taste my heart You don’t want the band-aid off But I can’t stop the flow of blood til it pours out in a flash flood You can’t live with so much pain So you learn to turn it on and off again I can only be free when I sing Then I have to crush myself again You think I shut the deluge down When I chatter and I play the clown But the fall just takes another form I lie in the center of the storm I can only be free when I sing I’m only free when I sing
6.
SunStorm 03:56
This morning’s rain is clinging to my blue coat it still lays in glistening lines on the highway outside my window the sound of turning wheels whispers a siren call the warning bell sounds again and I don’t mind it at all I know how this story goes You’ll never leave me You’ll never leave me alone and that’s why I want to go You rise like the sun scattering the clouds I wanna lay in your warmth and hear you say my name out loud but when the storm rolls in I want electricity crackling on my skin the thunder and the lightning to strike me again and again I know how this story goes You’ll never leave me You’ll never leave me alone and that’s why I want to go Will I see you again? Will I see you again? This is all my fault but I can’t change who I am and that’s how the story ends that’s how the story ends
7.
I don’t know why I get up each day and pick up my guitar and start to play pin down my thoughts so they don’t slip away then bite my tongue like I’ve got nothing to say I forget where I am which country, which continent all the places I long for but have never been I guess you’re the only one who understands with no promises and no demands Let’s just run away while we still can It’s not too late, give me your hand We could drive off and drift around Playing songs in little beat up towns For tips and free beer and a place to lay down Then off to the next one, till the money runs out I forget where I am which country, which continent all the places I long for but have never been I guess you’re the only one who understands with no promises and no demands Let’s just run away while we still can It’s not too late, give me your hand
8.
Where were you when she was drinking too much in the middle of town? We were afraid that she’d pass out. They poured water on her head until the ambulance came, and I watched through the car window as they rushed her away. we believed, we believed Where were you when he was suffering? He could barely speak but he knew he had to feed her. They hung him out the window by two little feet, and when he played make believe everyone was falling. we believed, we believed we will be ok, ok, ok at least, that’s what we’d always say Where were you when she tore up her skin and crippled the hand she used to paint with, when she crashed her car into a wall on purpose? She always walked away with new scratches. but we believed, we believed, we believed
9.
A real woman drinks whiskey and smokes cigarettes Until the room’s spinning she feels no regrets And when closing time comes she’ll face the night alone A real woman don’t need a man to walk her home You ask if she’s lonely, she says, “Not for one minute. I strangled trouble before you could begin it.” You don’t understand her and how distant she gets When she drinks her whiskey and smokes those cigarettes She gets under your skin and stays there somehow You cannot possess her, but you can hold her for now She’ll leave you with questions, she’ll leave you with regret Someday she’ll just leave you even though you can’t see it yet ’cause a real woman don’t need anyone’s help getting home A real woman don’t feel lonely even when she’s alone A real woman conquers you and then quickly forgets A real woman drinks whiskey and smokes cigarettes

about

Lucid Culture's review:
lucidculture.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/jessi/

"Why is there so much madness in small towns? Because that’s where dreams get ground down into the dirt? Because anyone who can get out does, and those who stay behind are hell to be around? Jessi Robertson explores themes like these on her intense new album Small Town Girls. The women here want one thing and and one thing only: to escape. In a breathy, occasionally gritty contralto, over smartly arranged Americana rock, Robertson chronicles how they do it, or what they substitute for the real thing. More often than not, it’s impossible to turn away from. If you like the idea of Lucinda Williams but don’t like all the cliches she falls back on, Jessi Robertson is for you."


Songwriter Monthly's review:
www.scribd.com/doc/49533442/Songwriter-s-Monthly-Feb-11-133-Jessi-Robertson
"Through the difficult lyrical terrain traversed on her debut full-band studio album, Small Town Girls, Jessi offers an abyss of insight, understanding and victory that ultimately provides hope."

"Jessi is staggeringly vulnerable in her music. She risks all for the truth. But it's a truth that's sung with beautiful, soul-weary vocals that resonate with compassion, making Robertson's performance absolutely mesmerizing."

credits

released March 1, 2011

Jessi Robertson - vocals, guitars
Chris Cubeta - arrangements, guitars, bass, piano, percussion
Greg Tuohey - arrangements, guitars
Ryan Vaughn - drums, percussion
Jim McNamara - upright bass
Paul Basile - vocals on "the travelers"
Mark Lord - bass on "whiskey and cigarettes"

Produced by Chris Cubeta
Recorded, engineered, & mixed by Chris Cubeta, Jeff Berner & Gary Atturio at GaluminumFoil Productions studio, Brooklyn, NY
Mastered by Mark Lord

All songs by Jessi Robertson

Album artwork by Jessi Robertson
Back cover photo by Emily Raw
Inside photo by Larry Hyland

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Jessi Robertson Nashville, Tennessee

Jessi Robertson is a Nashville-based singer/songwriter whose work navigates the boundaries between reality and imagination, and lays bare her own emotional truths.

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