Jason Molina

 Songs: Ohia - Didn’t It Rain

Didn’t It Rain
no matter how dark the storm gets overhead
they say someone’s watching from the calm at the edge
what about us when we’re down here in it
we gotta watch our own backs
but if you do see that golden light
that it shines in its fiery eye
go on and catch it while you can
go on and catch it if you can
let it course through you
and let it burn through you
if it’s the light of truth (x2)
if they think you got it they’re going to beat it out of you
with work and debt whatever all else there is
you got to watch your own back
try to see the light of goodness burning down the track
through the blinding rain through the swaying wires
if i see you struggle i will not turn my back
i’ve seen a good man and a bad man down the same path
i’ve seen the light of truth keeping out of it and told them to watch their own backs
if i see you struggle and givin all that you got
i see you work all night burning your light to the last of its dim watts
i’m gonna help you how i can, if you see me struggle all night
and give me a hand cause i’m in need i’ll call you friend indeed
but i’m going to watch my own back
didn’t it rain

Steve Albini’s Blues
on the bridge out of Hammond
see them brake lights burning feel my motor turnin
on the bridge out of Hammond
see the big city moon
see how it close comes (x2)
watch my wiper blades pound it like a drum
on the bridge out of Hammond (x2)
think about what’s darkening my life (x2)
see the light of the afterworld shining on the ruins
it’s the light of nowhere else burning to the west
see its sulphery shine (x2)
from the bridge out of Hammond (x2)
see the big city moon (x3)
between the radio towers
between the big diesel rigs
in the Midwest’s witching hour
i watch the whole town eclipse
from the bridge out of Hammond (x4)

Ring The Bell
help does not just walk up to you i could have told you that
i’m not an idiot
i could have told you that
in every serpent’s eye watch you go where you go
every serpents double tongue takes a turn with your soul
if you let them ring your bell (x2)
they’re ringing the bell (x2)
why wouldn’t i be trying to figure it out
everyone tells you that
everyone tells you not to quit
i can’t even see it to fight it
if it looks like i’m not trying i don’t care what it looks like
cause i stood at the alter and everything turned white
all I heard was the sound… of the world coming down around me (x2)
why wouldn’t i be trying
why wouldn’t i try (x2)
cause those double tongues are singing hear the wail of the choir through the fog
the sound of that choir through the fog
they’re always close they’re always so close always close always so close
if there’s a way out it will be step by step through the black (x2)
why wouldn’t i be trying to figure it out it don’t mean i’m not trying if i don’t make it back
i know serpents will cross universes to circle around our necks
i know hounds will cross universes to circle around our feet
i know they’re close
step by step one’s beside me to kill me or to guide me
why wouldn’t i be trying to figure which one out (x2)

Cross The Road, Molina
wolf headed conjurour in the cross roads
green eyes and alien chant brought the lightning down
set my pulse to the short waves pulse
set my pulse to the great lakes pulse
to wreath the moon in a head dress of neon flames
must take concentration from that heavy old bird
blue chicago moon swings like a blade above the midwest’s heart
swings like a blade (x2)
swing that blade above us(x2)
show us how close it can get
show us close you can get
show us how fast we can lose it how bad we’re out numbered
set my pulse an electric pulse
set my pulse to the blues
them black sad eyes (x2)
if i never see them again tell them goodbye
and i set my pulse to an electric pulse
i set my pulse to the blues
i send my pulse to the vixen’s hearts
i concentrate like that heavy old bird

Blue Factory Flame
when i die put my bones in an empty street to remind me of how it used to be
don’t write my name on a stone bring a Coleman lantern and a radio
Cleveland game and two fishing poles and watch with me from the shore
ghostly steel and iron ore ships coming home
where i am paralyzed by the emptiness(x4)
clearly iron age beasts you can tell by the rust and the chains
and by the oil that they bleed the crew and crows fly the skulls and bones
they fly the colors of their homes i fly the cross of the blue factory flame
stitched with heavy sulpher thread/threat
they ain’t proud colors but they’re true colors of my home
where i am paralyzed by the emptiness (x4)
every mile for ten thousand miles and every year for a thousand years
every night for a thousand more i hear them calling
they never say to come home (x2)
where i am paralyzed by the emptiness(x4)

Two Blue Lights
two blue lights
one’s the blue light of the late night bus
one’s the blue light of the moon over us
one’s got the diesel fuel on her breath
one’s got the damp taste of the earth on it
two blue lights
there’s a dead archer in the tower you can’t hear it but you can tell
when the bells ring twelve times in hell the bells ring twelve times in this town as well
two blue lights (x2)

Blue Chicago Moon
out of the ruins
blood grown heavy from his past
his wings stripped by thunder
but those storms keep coming back
singing birds in sickness
sing the same blues songs
when they fell out of the emptiness
they must have brought along
space’s loneliness (x2)
gotten so good at hiding it
even he does not admit it
that glittering flash in his eyes
makes it look like he might be alright
if the blues are you hunter
then you will come face to face
with that darkness and desolation
and the endless depression
but you are not helpless
and you are not helpless
try to beat it (x2)
and live through space’s loneliness (x2)
you are not helpless (x2)
I’ll help you to try to beat it