Struck by a Change
Music & lyrics by Jessica Owen
I could lie to myself again
Simple is as simple does
Quick as a heartbeat as easy as it was
But simple died last year
Took a ride and left me here
One big hurt inside a tiny little glove
I couldn’t get any rest, no
The mystery was much too loud
The same crazy players in that shaky part of town
Then crazy disappeared
It took a while but the trouble cleared
That was then and this is where I’m standing now
After all this time after the climb
At the end of the game
I’m waking up on the bright side of this change
I’m expecting a month of sunny days
Right here on the dry side of this rain
I’ve been struck by a change
Now I said, everything is exactly as it should be
Sometimes it’s hard but that makes sense to me
I’ll get strong enough if I can keep it up long enough
Under the weight above our gravity
After all this time I can sleep at night
It’s all in the way
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I have finally drawn the line
So you can stay on your side I’ll be here on mine
No foul, no blame just a flash into flame
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Jessica Owen – vocals, acoustic & electric guitars
Andrew Hollander – Wurlitzer, Optigan, Mellotron, organ
Steve Conte – electric guitar
Dom Richards – bass
Tony Mason – drums & percussion
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Mr. Billboard
Music & lyrics by Jessica Owen and Andrew Hollander
I can’t say that I recommend running at the mouth like you do all the time
Just saying exactly how you feel or how it is ‘cause that’s not what they’ll find
It’s vicious and it hurts, it’s silly and it stings
But that’s how it works oh I know it’s a crime
So you and I, Mr. Billboard, together we’ll create a very clever design
I can’t say that I could carry the situation any farther than this
Just a simple suggestion in your humble opinion
Raise your right to rejection hold it out with your wrist
It’s vicious and it hurts, it’s skinny and absurd but that’s how it works
And I can’t tell which miscalculation brought you stumbling upon
A revelation like this
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh I was once where you are now
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh I was once where you are now
Please excuse me, excuses for me, thanks but not for me
Just a little adjustment to the left of your judgmental fantasy
It’s vicious and it hurts, no one helps you when you fall
But that’s how it works and I think you’ll see
That you can’t rely on anything I say, unfortunately
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Don’t it always seem to break
Don’t we always seem to make it
Don’t it always seem that way
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Jessica Owen – vocals, acoustic & electric guitars
Andrew Hollander – keyboards, drum loop
Steve Conte – electric guitar
Dom Richards – bass
Tony Mason – drums & percussion
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Falling
Music & lyrics by Jessica Owen and Andrew Hollander
I walk down the same familiar street
The store-fronts faded, lights all burning low
And heaven knows the corners always bring the same
People passing by they never change, nothing new
One step sideways off the tracks
I hope I get there soon
Falling, falling, never touching down
Calling, I’m dreaming out loud
I wish you’d come around
With my feet here on the ground
Crashing back into this lonely town
And so it goes, I’ll keep looking just the same
Past the empty lots and roadside bars without a name
One step sideways off the tracks
I hope I get there soon
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Run as fast as you can
Run as fast as you can
It’s not all that you planned so hold on tight
And run as fast as you can
One step sideways off the tracks
I hope I get there soon
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Jessica Owen – vocals, acoustic guitar
Andrew Hollander – piano, keyboards
Steve Conte – electric guitar
John Conte – bass
Tony Mason – drums & percussion
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You Take Me Back
Music & lyrics by Jessica Owen
I’m glad you’re doing fine
Me, I’m amazed at how we’ve made it living different lives
Now the storm you left has passed
And mercy’s rainbow hangs up high
Still the sight of you takes the distance from these miles
You take me back to a place
So bitter-sweetly behind
You will be safe in this heart
Safely behind me now
I try to pretend
But nothing keeps me strong
When true love comes back again
And all the concrete that I have laid
The bricks, the metal and the sand
They fall around my feet and they crumble in your hand
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The days keep roll’n one by one
From there to here I have become the happiest I’ve known
And what I else I know
Is one day you’ll stop this coming ‘round
And I’ll get used to the sound of you not coming around
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Jessica Owen – vocals, acoustic & electric guitars
Andrew Hollander – keyboards
Steve Conte – electric guitar, background vocals
Dom Richards – bass guitar
Billy Beard – drums & percussion
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Love Song
Music & lyrics by Jessica Owen, Andrew Hollander & Diane Scanlon
This is the story of a dream waiting for someone who can see
The promise of a possibility
But I spend so much time alone
The phone must ring when I’m not home
So I’ll keep waiting here for someone who believes
Moving pictures from afar out my window in my car
I’ve been watching how to get things done
No more sleeping in for days
The doctor swears that I’m okay
He says I’ll always get exactly what I need
What I need is you and a pretty view
I’m sure you’ll see things my way
I can hear it all through a glass to your wall
I’m getting closer everyday
For every day that doesn’t fit for every lost, forgotten wish
Before the moment fades to memory
Well I have heard it all before
All this thinking makes me bored
How about showing me a little sympathy
What I need is you and a pretty view
I’m sure you’ll like things my way
I can see it all through that hole in your wall
You’re looking better everyday
I’ve been up, I’ve been knocked down
There is so much to live for so I’ll turn myself around
And it’s okay to be afraid sometimes
What I need is you and a pretty view
You’ll grow to love me in time
We could have it all if you’d only just call
Can’t you spare a fucking dime
What I need is you . . .
Jessica Owen – vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, fuzz bass
Andrew Hollander – keyboards
Steve Conte – electric guitar
John Conte – bass
Tony Mason – drums & percussion
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Over the Moon
Music by Jessica Owen and Andrew Hollander
Lyrics by Jessica Owen
I’ve got time in my pocket
To think about your picture in my locket
And I hope that you’re smiling again real soon
And I’ve been making my way
With a heavy foot past these heavy rains
I’ve been searching for something to get us through
Are you gonna fly away over the moon
What ya gonna do when it all points back to you
Are you gonna fly away over the moon
What ya gonna do when it all points back to you
What ya gonna do
Everyone gets it wrong at times
It’s not always smooth like an easy ride
Down an open road on a gentle breeze of June
So you can own up you can learn how to make it
Or close your eyes just sink in and fake it
Here’s your chance boy to play it true
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Sometimes sorry comes a little bit too late
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
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Jessica Owen – vocals, acoustic guitar
Andrew Hollander – piano, organ
Steve Conte – electric guitar
John Conte – bass
Tony Mason – drums & percussion
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This Time
Music by Jessica Owen and Andrew Hollander
Lyrics by Jessica Owen
I took myself out walking underneath the sky
I thought I heard someone talking
The whisper of goodbye
I know I should have seen it coming
I should know I never do
Still all the while that sky kept on watching and waiting
For me to make my move
And everything is clear when I am fasting forward
And the rest disappears
This time I will learn what it is to be real
This time I will learn
This time I’m sure of this
So I moved out of my castle
I traded in those rooms for feeling free
No more walls to hold me down
No more ceiling like a cloud between the sky and me
And it’s not so hard to take
It’s just one small step, one giant leap of faith
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Jessica Owen – vocals, acoustic guitar
Andrew Hollander – keyboards, drum loop
Steve Conte – electric guitar
Dom Richards – bass
Tony Mason – drums & percussion
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Build Me a Bridge
Music & lyrics by Jessica Owen
Build me a bridge across the river
Build me a bridge across the river
And I will be fine, I will be fine
Build me a bridge across the ocean
Build me a bridge across the ocean
I will make it in time
I will have plenty of time
Because a bridge is sound, steady and strong
It will remain when you are far from home
And when hope dries up that bridge will stand
And it will carry you back across the sand
So build me a bridge, build me a bridge
Build me a bridge it will deliver
Build me a bridge it will deliver
And we will be fine, we will be fine
Build me a bridge and it will conquer
Build me a bridge and it will conquer
It will conquer this in time
All in good time
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Everyone needs something
Solid ground for walking on
Under footsteps, over struggles
Steadfast for holding on
When years have come and gone
I’ll have this bridge for walking on
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Jessica Owen – vocals, acoustic & electric guitars
Steve Conte – slide & electric guitar
Andrew Hollander – pump organ
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Out of This Blue
Music & lyrics by Jessica Owen
It was a day that seemed like every other day
I was hang’n back in my chair and dream’n
Then somehow, something, somewhere changed
Ever-so-slightly rearranged
Shifting my ordinary into extraordinary
Turning around out of this blue
It’s all that I can do
I am tearing it down and making it new
I am out from under you
I’ve been making room for all the small details
Now there’s nothing left for living lonely
I will shake off this habit and dust off my best
Take what I like and throw out the rest
Shouting my ordinary into a Holy Mary
Turning around out of this blue
It’s all that I can do
I am tearing it down and making it new
I am finally breaking through
Turning around and out of this blue
I am out from under you
I like what slowing down can do
It gets rid of the blur and tightens the view
One step closer to it, closer to getting through
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Jessica Owen – acoustic & electric guitars
Andrew Hollander – Wurlitzer, additional guitars
Steve Conte – electric guitar
Dom Richards – bass
Billy Beard – drums & percussion
Teddy Kumpel – drum loop
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Thirty-one
Music & lyrics by Jessica Owen
He said I am thirty-one, can’t stop thirty-two
And I know I had it made when I was with you
How I’ve wished for a winter to come and freeze my heart
‘Cause I am almost thirty-two and I’m still
Thinking of you
I’m thinking of you
Thinking of you
I’m thinking of you
He said I guess it’s been a while, girl
But you seem well
And I can see you haven’t lost that smile, girl
Or that sweet, sweet smell
How I’ve wished for a winter to come and freeze me here
‘Cause I am almost thirty-two and I’m still
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There’s a moment that falls from the sky
Only to realize too much has flown by
I have read that it only takes time
Uninvited somehow it remains
Tied up in forget-me-nots, tied up again
One foot always outside of the end
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Jessica Owen – vocals, acoustic guitar
Andrew Hollander – drum loop
Tony Mason – drum loop
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American Highway
Music & lyrics by Jessica Owen and Bree Sharp
Twenty miles to go before I run out of gas
I’ve been counting state plates and driving too fast
The sun is setting a fiery scene
Truck stops, thrift shops and me
I don’t care where I go, I go for the ride
Tried to stay in one place too long and I almost died
I found my soul in Tennessee
I lost it in a bar in New Orleans
American Highway
Pave me a star to the edge of the sky
On to a new day, let me go
Set me free on the American road
Stumbled onto a shotgun wedding in Blue
An hysterical bride at the side of a drunken groom
I blended in and out of the crowd
Snapshots, a suitcase, I laugh out loud
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I tune the radio in color girls are sing’n
Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do
I’m out of money again, I don’t care, I’m sing’n
Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do
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Jessica Owen – vocals, acoustic & additional electric guitars
Andrew Hollander - keyboards
Steve Conte – electric guitar
Dom Richards – bass
Billy Beard – drums & percussion
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If I Could Sleep
Music & lyrics by Andrew Hollander and Karen Novy
If I could sleep, sleep the days I spend dream after dream
Dream the years away to a place
All the comfort of home is a snapshot in time
In a frame on the wall
If I could hear
Hear the sweet old tune you would sing
Sing to me every time we would spend
While we wished on the night light
Moon as it hangs casting shadows of puppets from hands
As they danced on the wall
Jessica Owen – vocals
Andrew Hollander – Wurlitzer
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Dear Sir
Music & lyrics by Jessica Owen
May I trouble you for a ride dear sir
May I trouble you for a ride
May I trouble you for a ride dear sir
On my way to the pearly gates of Home
I was lost and I cried out in pain to the Lord above
Won’t you help me, oh please, set me free
I believe, I believe in what I need to make this real
Won’t you lend me Lord, oh lend my Lord Your lead
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I saw Your light shining bright
Right through Heaven’s holy name
And I reached out, I reached to touch the sky
My heavy head fell right down as I saw Your holy crown
Won’t you help me Lord, oh help me Lord get by
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Jessica Owen – vocals
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These True Things
Music & lyrics by Jessica Owen
The rain had settled in to stay
I was afraid you wouldn’t notice I had gone
I took a change a chance to rush away
And I never thought I’d be this long
And so I write a page for you each day
And it’s a page each day I’ll never send
‘Cause sometimes it’s standing still
And sometimes it never ends
But on the shine of my shoes
I will move to these true things
These are my eyes and I will see it through
These are my hands to hold on to
This is my life and I will make it good
Well I remember from some time ago
You said, ‘I hope we have more fun when we grow old’
Well I don’t know what you’ve been carefully saving up for
To be carefully undone, to carefully become these true things
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This is all there is you can see it for yourself
You’ve been thirsty for years take the bottle from the shelf
Call it high when it lands always let it mend
Take it right of the shelf, take it easy on yourself
Take it right off the shelf
These true things
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Jessica Owen – vocal, acoustic guitar
Kurt Swinghammer – electric guitar
Maury Lafoy – bass
Andy Stochansky - drums
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Always & Forever
Music & lyrics by Jessica Owen
There’s nothing quite the some as you
There’s nothing quite the some as knowing you
I long to be with you at the end of every day
Locked inside and safe from growing old
No one can smile the same as you
The only smile that I’d surrender to
Forgive me my distractions and on any given day
I’d wear you on my sleeve, I’d wear you on my sleeve
Always and forever
All in one big breath
I will always remember
To hold on to these moments as they pass
And I’m not ashamed to mention I’d do anything for you
No one can shine as bright as you
A star in my sky I will surround you
In a world that spins around us, I have only eyes for you
And the miles between us fade and melt away
But I can’t stand to be alone
And with every certain certainty, with every single bone
If I had to be without you I would drown here in my grief
I’d ache that you were near, I’d ache that you were near
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Jessica Owen – vocals, acoustic guitar
Kurt Swinghammer – electric guitar
Maury Lafoy – bass
Andy Stochansky - percussion
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Time Will Stay
Lyrics written by Jessica Owen
Music written by Jessica Owen & Maury Lafoy
Stepping out and chasing down a smile
Chasing down a mile that’s endless to see
Where all the footsteps washed away
Are a sign that there’s a better day
Where it’s better to be
And looking back to learn a thing or two
To learn that putting things away should never do
And wishing just to let them go, to carry on
One blink of an eye so they would go
Time will stay especially with me
Time will stay
Time will stay here with me
The strongest things will always know to fight
And then repair themselves when everything’s done wrong
And all that’s real the looking glass reveals
Staring back at something new, something gone
Chorus
Constantly is tiresome
When all there is, is knowing you need guidance to see
And constantly is always right beside
It’s all around, it’s running dry, running free
Chorus
Jessica Owen – vocal, acoustic guitar
Kurt Swinghammer – electric guitar
Maury Lafoy – bass
Andy Stochansky - drums
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In the Arms of Tomorrow
Music & lyrics by Jessica Owen
I’ve been running and my heart is racing fast
I can’t slow it down to keep from rushing past
Just wrap me up and let me fall where I may
I will hold my breath and I will wait
So the door has opened and my house is on fire
And I’ve untucked my wings to fly a little higher
I can see it picture perfect down below
In the hearts of everyone I’ve known
I am not going to disappear
And I will not be afraid of being here
And I am not going to cave in
Afraid that I won’t win
And in the arms of tomorrow I will follow my heart
The world’s been whispering sweet words into my ear
Through all the sweetness I have wrestled with my fears
I’ve thrown my caution and a voice into the wind
I will take my chances once again
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I am here, I am with you, I am shouting at you now
And I can feel that I’ll be there before you lose your faith in me
And I can reach just as far around the bend you wait and see
Before you notice I’ll be gone
Chorus
Jessica Owen – vocals, acoustic guitar
Maury Lafoy – acoustic bass
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Sometimes
Music & lyrics by Jessica Owen
Like a fire that didn’t know why it raged
You ate up all the scenery and shot sparks while you played
And when you put yourself out in the world
You let go of the girl
So then there was smoke and smoke lingers for years
In your hair, on your skin, you keep breathing it in
What it all boils down to is this
You snapped away like a blade from a switch
Sometimes I wake up and call for you
Sometimes I reach out to feel if you’re there
But each day grows better and brighter without you
And I know love will land here again
But I don’t know when
I don’t know when love will pass by
Easy and slow, taking its time
I don’t know when
Like a memory that holds on a tattered screen
You’re faded and silent and soft like a dream
Then it rushes back hard like a gun
It tears you up then it’s gone
But honest is real and real bites like the wind
Through the doors and windows it keeps blowing in
So as the sun slips away from the sky
Cover me and curl me up tight
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I don’t know when love will pass by
Easy and slow, taking its time
Not knowing where, not caring why
Careful to stay but aching to try
I don’t know when
Jessica Owen – vocals, acoustic guitar
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:: © 2003 Jessica Owen/Sway Gypsy Records