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Women

by Graham Weber

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1.
Sweet Virginia Brown We sleep in a basement Feet on the pavement Under the rug I wouldn’t dispise you If you should decide to Abandon our love Cause I know It’s not fair to you And I know I can’t care for you And so I won’t marry you Today You didn’t see the Worst of the evenings When you went away And now that you’re back here I put on this act dear Everyday Sometimes we die laughing And just as it’s happening I start to say I’d love to explore you And maybe adore you In so many ways But I know It’s not fair to you If I show That I care for you I’ll only embarrass you someday Sweet Virginia Brown I will Let you down But baby don’t worry I’m not in a hurry I’m not gonna go I know it sounds selfish But I can’t help It’s a drag on my own I know It’s not fair to you And I swore That I’d swear to you And although I may burn in hell I’ll lie so I won’t lie again alone Sweet Virginia Brown I will let you down Sweet Virginia Brown I will let you down
2.
I'm Already Lonely Baby I I know you’re tired of me runnin round Drunk all the time Baby I’m Sick and tired of your empty threats But you’re so soon to forget You punish me with leavin And putting on a show I’m already lonely You don’t have to go Lately I Try to find Ways to explain myself But I can’t find the lines Maybe my Childish displays seem unjustified To your naked eyes Deep inside me somewhere There’s a man you can’t know I’m already lonely you don’t have to go Broken Glass As the sweat slips the grip on my hands And it lands and explodes I loose my grasp And the ice melts as fast as the Shattered shards slice through my toes And my bloods on the floor It’s there by the door Stop pretending it’s yours Honey why Wouldn’t I lie (to you) When I known I can You wont understand If your goodbyes Were for good I might die Or just fade away So you might as well stay I’m believing all your reasons But I’ll beg even though I’m already lonely you don’t have to go I’m already lonely you don’t have to go
3.
Settle Down 05:13
Settle Down This phone call’s all too familiar Your gonna bleed us dry again To try and pull a fast one I’ve heard it time after time That last time was the last one When are you gonna settle down When are you gonna settle down Cause my time is growing shorter And the savings is the same I’m always in your corner But I’m afraid to take your name Cause your heart might go astray again Or you might go away For good Like you said you would I been leaving the light on for too long It’s been a beacon that the blindest eyes were bound to notice In the night You lost focus And I know this is not what you thought it be like When are you gonna settle down When are you gonna settle down Cause it’s not like a sad movie Where the hero has to die You swear you listen to me So I’m unaware of why You’re heart is set on loosing And you’re too afraid to try When you know you should Like you said you would We could move out by the ocean Where the buckets are catching the rain Cause it’s the cheapest water we can buy (deepest ?) When the well goes dry A couple Robinson Caruso’s On an undiscovered beach And we’d teach those children love’s the only reason Baby I wish we could Like we said we would
4.
Lander, WY 03:54
Lander There’s a cabin in Wyoming I’ve been thinking about going there To get my head together With the way I want to live My old friend wed a graduate That moved out west to pay her debts Now he seems at peace At least more than he ever did And Lander’s looking like Where I might let go of my vices for a while And get acquainted with the signature I sign I’m looking for a god Or at least all that I’ve been told that god is like Or an open ear That will not bat an eye I’ll dry out for a spell And smell that western air away From all the cars and bars And so called stars on the accent And all the friends who knew me In quotations Will they realize I’ve left Or much less speculate On where or why I went See there’s an open room On a wooded lot With hills to climb and logs to chop And the cops don’t know I’ve heard the locks Latch cold too many times I’m searching for escape From all the things I do to keep myself immune And loose those memories Of long forgotten nights You can’t catch a falling sun But I can wish on a western moon That I’ll be home soon Good as new Good as new So I’ll leave the one I love for a few weeks Or maybe months Till I can shake the primate that’s been Hanging on my spine I’ll return a man she never knew I hope she views me in a Fashion that is favorable And forget I made her cry And Lander’s looking like Where I might finally get some answers To this endless stream of inquiries That occupy my mind
5.
Dinah Blue 05:19
Dinah Blue I can’t offer you nothing I have nothing to show After a lifetime Of letting go I’ve been Under the rainbow You looked Over the sea I looked in the mirror And couldn’t find a trace of me My time Was wasted on my youth Now I Haven’t Got a clue What I Should say Or do Wish I Knew what to tell you Dinah Blue I can’t put food on your table And I won’t sent you a thing To help you To remember me It’s not that Indian summer It’s hot here all of the time And I don’t want to be the one Who’s left behind With all that I’ve put you through The pitfalls where the pendulum is swinging If I call let the phone keep ringing It’s just me singing more lies disquised as truths Dinah Blue That night out on the veranda The sky’s white ashes were falling The ashes were falling like fireflies Dying before our eyes Its true we’ve little in common But who’s to say that’s the trick I’m not perfect In fact I’m far from it She’s waiting by the lake And she stays beside me till the break Of day And smiles when I awake The way you did when we were new Dinah Blue
6.
My Millvena Dean You’re like Ms. Molly Brown You’re sailing off today On a titanic boat So far away And if it goes down I hope you’re heart inflates And floats you safely on the sea And the Gulf Stream brings you back to me When you’re sail unfurled I stayed and paced the pier And once your ship and shrunk And disappeared I wound up drunk And cursed the hemisphere That you’d be docking at in days Where the sunshine gets to take my place And I hope those waves don’t change your taste
7.
Baltimore 04:11
Baltimore I got nothing left to drink Ain’t nothing open I got you to think about And nothing to smoke And I got a pristine view Of where your hometown meets the water And you got a phone that won’t answer when I call But if I told you once I must have said a hundred thousand times Marie I would have loved you scars and all I knew if I could get to Baltimore I’d have a place to shower See my cousin Bill’s a bellman at the Belvedere Hotel And if their under booked he’ll let me Stay under his name and I live it up like Vanderbilt or Poe And I’ll order up the finest strongest thing ten bucks can buy And I’ll lie in those fine linens all alone It’s the weekend And I got nothing but a dream of you My dear When I think about the solace of your ever loving arms I drift away But tonight I’ll stay Inside with you You might have thought you got the best of me You only got the most I was dressed for the occasion And you didn’t even show And though there never was a future For a flash I fell forever For the greatest love since Juliet went cold for Romeo I only came back here to see ya It nearly broke the bank But I didn’t give a second thought After hearing what you said I brought back the sunglasses You forgot in my car And I laid them on the pillow Where you should have laid your head It’s the weekend And I got nothing but a dream of you My dear When I think about the solace of your ever loving arms I drift away I am confident to follow in the footsteps of a woman led astray But tonight I’ll stay Inside with you
8.
Black & White You had your head on your hand on my shoulder Looking out longinginly into the lens I had a guitar between my lap and my ring Half smiling wonder if I was thinking That I Would keep this and find it When I need you and you’re not there Remember when I wore a hat and you had your hair all tangled up with chopsticks Love was in the air and I knew we had found it Times were tough but times were always tough for us Now I can’t decide if I want you back because You said you’d had enough But I need you now and you’re not there I turned on a little Jimi lit a match and slid down on the carpet Closed my eyes and flashed back to how your arms fit around me The sky was the same shade as today and the stereo was drowning We unplugged the phone and laid alone in our familiar surroundings It was the day you finally found me I can still feel you’re heart pounding And you’re not there You had your head on your hand on my shoulder Staring into the camera with black and white eyes I still see their olive tint and I envy the boy to your right
9.
Unrequited Love Well look at what the cat dragged in He tips his tilted brim And cracks that crooked grin He patented back when he always came He hesitates to greet him For oh so many reasons It’s been a set of seasons Since she has had to hear that boy complain He used to come to her to ease his pain She could have loved him once but he was runnin down the drain She’d pick him up and dust him off And he’d let her down again How’ve ya been Glad you’re still breathin He’d driven by a million times He missed her shining eyes Tried so many lines that never sounded right while talking to himself But he dreamt of her cold flowing hair Reflecting in the rear view mirror And hoped that she could hear his words when last he’d heard she’d turned To someone else She used to make his heartbeat like a drum Content to wait all day incase the next one didn’t come To see her face could fill a space and change the shape he’s in How’ve ya been Who you been seeing? Unrequited love of mine Old unrequited love And I don’t know where the time went I just wish That I’d spent More of mine with you He couldn’t help he thought of her to often to ignore All he could have done before Prevented his forward progress endlessly But you can’t turn back a turned page Even if you creased the corner Should have let the lying dog she knew remain in slumber Fast asleep Out of sight and out of seen He came crawling back to her to ease his pain The sun had touched her skin and she had flowers in her name Ivy in her first and Spanish roses in her last She poured two shots of protestant and pressed the shallow glass Against the lips He’d kissed but should’ve savored at the time He took the toast and left it all behind She let him go but never left his mind Unrequited love of mine Old unrequited love
10.
All About You The sad ones never hurt the most The happy ones are hard They used to make you glow and I miss your dancing The way your limp left hand would shake At every instrumental break You looked just like a little girl on Christmas They were all about you They were all about you I hope that you knew that all along When I’d expose my heart aloud And you were standing in the crowd You’d hush em down and drown out all thier laughter When you’re not where you ought to be And no one else is listening I wonder who you’re looking at and after They were all about you They were all about you But I like to think you knew that all the time Every accidental imperfected rhyme I had to leave where we had lived The street still wore your locket And the driveway thinks you’re coming home to see him The clubs where I had cut my teeth Are filled with only empty seats And the drinks are not enough to keep me singing They were all about you They were all about you They’re still all about you But I know that you knew that all a long Every night and day And every simple song
11.
Still Be Mine Lately I've been looking for a reason To try and wake myself out of this dreaming A lightning stike, can charge a battered heart back to life But it's forty nights and there aint no sign of rain Have all your silver linings flashed before you Did crowds of clouds harass and then ignore you I've seen 'em too, they always blocked the better part of my view But the truth is I'd see you through anything Baby weren’t we gonna set the world on fire, wern't ya dancing on the white floodlights Did you make a splash and turn around and wind up wet in the corners of your desperate eyes Don't cry, you can still be mine Waste your days retracing faded Aprils All you could have saved, arranged and stapled The numbers don't add up, no money can't buy you luck And you're stuck back in the gutter one more spring I won’t ask more questions, I am only asking for a remedy Can I ask one favor, could you pretend to try to love what's left of me Forget the rest of me and all you thought I'd be Baby weren’t we gonna set the world on fire, hold me closer 'cause I'm starting to slide Could you bite my bottom lip and whisper something sweet, always loved the way you looked when you lied It's all right if you like, you can still be mine
12.
Sleep It Off 04:59
Settle Down I’ll be the boy You be the girl You come around We’ll play I’ll make you smile You’ll make me think Of things I shouldn’t say We’ll dance around in circles And where we fall we’ll lay Then we’ll sleep it off And start it all again You cut the deck You count em out You flip one for a game I try to win You always do But I love you Just the same We’ll stay up and talk for hours With out nothing real to say Then we’ll sleep it off And start it all again You’ve made my heart a featherweight contender You’re the lightest load I’ve shouldered for some time I’m hoping you’ll still want me when we’re older I hope you will forget we are from time to time YOU You be the girl You be the boy I’ll try to make you stay We’ll clown around And hunker down And drown It all away We’ll kiss goodnight And kiss goodnight And in my mind I’ll pray That we’ll sleep it off and start it all agian

about

www.austinchronicle.com/music/2011-11-18/graham-weber-women/

Graham Weber Bio
WOMEN

In the six years since moving “sight unseen” from Ohio to Austin, Texas, Graham Weber has staked his claim in the Live Music Capital of World as one of the area’s finest young singer-songwriters — not quite famous but highly respected by peers and fans “in the know” on the strength of both his live performances and three exceptional albums (2003’s Naïve Melodies, 2006’s Beggar’s Blues and 2008’s The Door to the Morning). In the summer of 2011, he joined his buddy Mike Schoenfeld’s roots-rock band So Long, Problems as a co-pilot and songwriter, with plans to hopefully enter the studio soon to record an EP together. But first and foremost on his agenda is the November release of his long-overdue fourth solo album, Women. Recorded in Austin with co-producer Britton Beisenherz, the title nods to the impressive lineup of female singers and musicians featured throughout the album. It’s a project Weber’s dreamed about for years, now finally come to fruition in what is unquestionably both is most ambitious and uncompromisingly personal album to date.

“The idea of having all the women sing on it is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, just because I’ve met and become friends with so many great female singers and artists,” Weber says. “But I never really felt like I could get all the people I wanted to do it, and also, I just didn’t think I had the right songs.”

Rounding up his dream team of female guests actually proved rather easy. The formidable cast he assembled — acclaimed singer-songwriters Carrie Rodriguez, Amanda Shires, BettySoo, Dana Falconberry, Bonnie Whitmore, Leslie Stevens and even his own wife and muse, actress/singer Michelle Keffer — speaks volumes about both the talented company Weber keeps and his standing as a true songwriter’s songwriter. (That term may get tossed around a lot these days, but Weber earned his certification when none other than Slaid Cleaves recorded one of his songs, “Oh Roberta,” on his 2006 album, Unsung.)

That said, though, coming up with just the “right songs” for Women was no walk in the park. In order to write the album, Weber first had to endure the worst year of his life.

“I’m very gun shy in calling it a ‘concept album,’” Weber says, “but it’s pretty much about my marriage and this pretty dark year we went through in 2009. It kind of starts leading up to that, and then just tells this story about a relationship.” (Spoiler alert: After nearly a year apart, Weber and his wife are happily back together and recently celebrated their eighth anniversary.) In the interest of giving a fair and balanced account of the situation (albeit with a distinct bias against himself), Weber wrote several of the songs from the female point of view — “or at least I was thinking more about that side of the argument than I had before.” That’s where the women of Women — including his wife — come in.

“A lot of the songs in the middle of the record, it’s just me singing, which makes it kind of a lonely time in terms of the story and the way I sequenced the album,” he explains. “But when there are songs about two people dealing face-to-face with some of the problems and issues that come up in the relationship, I wanted female vocals on there to make the story a little more realistic. Even when it isn’t an actual duet, where it goes back and forth, you still feel the presence of a female voice or a female being there in that moment of whatever that particular song is describing. And I think they really enrich the songs. I may play a lot of these songs solo live, but when we added the women to them, it just made them more real — to me, at least.”

That female presence isn’t the only extra something-something that sets Women apart from Weber’s previous three studio albums. Although he can certainly hold his own playing solo acoustic (as proven over countless performances at Austin’s famed Cactus Café and at venues around the country, opening for such esteemed artists as the aforementioned Cleaves, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Eliza Gilkyson, Todd Snider and Guy Clark), Weber and Beisenherz decided early on not to restrict themselves in the studio. “We both were like, ‘If we’re going to make a record, let’s make this a record,’” Weber says. “I hope people listen to it on good speakers or stereo headphones, because we put a lot of stuff on these songs — more so than I’ve ever done before. There are parts of the record where it’s still pretty sparse, but overall we really tried to give it more of lush feel and thicker sound. There’s a fair amount of strings on there, by Bonnie and Amanda, and we multi-tracked all of their parts. And there are horns here and there (by Jonathan Doyle, of Austin’s White Ghost Shivers and the Jazz Pharohs), plus a lot of baritone guitar and of course allthe harmonies and backing vocals — all stuff to kind of make it beefier. The most produced song on the record is the first one, ‘Sweet Virginia Brown,’ because I really wanted to kick off the record with something big. We were shooting for a Harry Nilsson kind of vibe, and putting the horns, organ, baritone guitar and Dana Falconberry’s vocal harmony all on there really made it feel like an old-school song.”

None of the sonic bells and whistles on Women come close to covering up the naked honesty of the album’s dozen songs, though. The confessional writing’s on the wall from the get-go, with “Sweet Virginia Brown” finding Graham (aka the male protagonist) admitting early on in the relationship that, as much as he loves the girl, he’s guaranteed “to let you down.” In the chaser, “I’m Already Lonely” (a spare, tear-in-beer country lament graced by Amanda Shires’ harmony vocal and Luke Jacobs’ lonesome pedal steel), things are already unraveling, with the woman grown weary of her ne’er-do-well man “runnin’ ’round drunk all the time” and threatening to leave, to which he retorts: “I’m already lonely, you don’t have to go.” “Settle Down” (featuring Leslie Stevens), shifts to the female point of view, with the woman on the receiving end of what’s apparently not her lover’s first call from the county jail: “You’re gonna bleed us dry again … the last time was the last one.” In “Lander, WY,” Weber daydreams about escaping to a cabin in the woods, far away from home — not to get away from his partner, but to clean his act up, shake the monkey off his back and “return a man she never knew.” Alas, he’s all talk and no action, and the cold, hard facts of the inevitable separation come to a head in “Dinah Blue” and “My Milvena Dean” (named after the last living survivor of the Titanic), in which there’s nothing for him to do but watch her float away. The first half of the album ends with the rock-bottom loneliness of “Baltimore,” which features nothing but Weber, his regrets and a lone nylon-string acoustic guitar.

“Side two” opens with “Black and White,” the devastatingly bittersweet centerpiece of the album. “It’s about a photograph of Michelle and I from not long after we got married that I found when we were split,” says Weber, who recalls his estranged wife balling her eyes out the first time she heard the song when he played it at a show opening for Guy Clark. The actual photograph is included in the album’s liner notes, and Michelle herself sings the harmony on the song. “Having her sing on that song — it’s as honest as it gets. But when I wrote it, there was no chance in hell that that was ever going to happen.”

When the characters finally meet again, after a year apart, in “Unrequited Love,” hope of a reconciliation slowly begins to bloom. In “All About You” and “Still Be Mine” (the later featuring Carrie Rodriguez), Weber is through confessing his own shortcomings merely as a line of defense; what’s done is done, and things definitely didn’t work out as originally planned, but “could you pretend to try to love what’s left of me?/Forget the rest of me and all you thought I’d be?” Time heals all wounds, and opens the door to the new beginning suggested in the closing “Sleep It Off,” which co-stars Austin rising star BettySoo. The song and album’s last line is, “In my mind, I’ll pray that we’ll sleep it off and start it all again.”

Weber will release Women on November 11th, a month after his 31st birthday and a little less than two years after he and his wife did indeed get back together. “I like to think that I’ve grown a lot since then,” he reflects, “and kind of become a person that I like a lot better by changing a lot of things in my life and not acting like an idiot.” But in talking about the album, it’s clear that the songs — along with the decision to share them on record and onstage — still leave him a bit unsettled.

“This is definitely the most personal thing I’ve ever done — and to be honest, I don’t know if I could ever get that personal again, or even want to,” Weber admits with a rather nervous laugh. “But at the same time, just getting some of those songs down on paper when all that stuff was happening kept me from going bat-shit crazy.

“I definitely spilled my guts on this thing,” he continues, “and I didn’t do it for any other reason than I felt like I wanted to and needed to. But even thought story is based on my experience, I think a lot of people have gone through a lot of the same things. I feel incredibly lucky that my wife and I were able to work things out, because some people aren’t that lucky. But I know that when I was down and out, all I wanted to do was listen to and get solace from other people’s songs that dealt with what I was feeling but maybe couldn’t get my head around yet. So maybe other people will be able to hear this record and identify with it, and hopefully it’ll be a good experience for them — or at least help them through a really bad one.”

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released November 11, 2011

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