Jason Isbell
Jason Isbell
Jason Isbell
Jason Isbell
Jason Isbell
Jason Isbell
Jason Isbell
Jason Isbell
Jason Isbell
Jason Isbell
Jason Isbell
Jason Isbell
Jason wrote this song about the type of life he lived before he got sober, and who he was after he quit drinking.
“Isbell: I quit drinking. I got married. I cleaned up my life and became a citizen — an adult, really — for the first time. And you have concerns when that happens. Obviously, a lot of...
There's a man who walks beside me; he is who I used to be
And I wonder if she sees him and confuses him with me
And I wonder who she's pinin' for on nights I'm not around
Could it be the man who did the things I'm living down?
I was rougher than the timber shippin' out of Fond du Lac
When I headed south at seventeen, the sheriff on my back
I'd never held a lover in my arms or in my gaze
So I found another victim every couple days
But the night I fell in love with her, I made my weakness known
Through the fighters and the farmers diggin' dusty fields alone
The jealous innuendos of the lonely-hearted men
Let me know what kind of country I was sleeping in
Well, you couldn't stay a loner on the plains before the war
When my neighbors took to slightin' me, I had to ask what for
Rumors of my wickedness had reached our little town
Soon she'd heard about the boys I used to hang around
We'd robbed a Great Lakes freighter, killed a couple men aboard
When I told her, her eyes flickered like the sharp steel of a sword
All the things that she'd suspected, I'd expected her to fear
Was the truth that drew her to me when I landed here
There's a man who walks beside me; he is who I used to be
And I wonder if she sees him and confuses him with me
And I wonder who she's pinin' for on nights I'm not around
Could it be the man who did the things I'm living down?
Well, I carved her cross from live oak and her box from shortleaf pine
And buried her so deep, she touched the water table line
I picked up what I needed, and I headed south again
To myself I wondered, would I ever find another friend?
There's a man who walks beside her; he is who I used to be
And I wonder if she sees him and confuses him with me
Live Oak was written by Jason Isbell.
Live Oak was produced by Dave Cobb.
Jason Isbell released Live Oak on Tue Jun 11 2013.