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Ghost of Summers Past

by Jason Wilber

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1.
The mourning dove woke me from a dream Of a younger summer She sang her song as my dreamland faded away And for the rest of the day I couldn’t shake this feeling Like I was watching myself walk away Walking on the railroad tracks Walk across the trestle Walking on the railroad tracks Like a ghost of summers past Grandpa used to bait my line And we’d sit and watch the bobbers And we always had plenty of time A soldier and a child sitting hand in hand at the water As a young man waves goodbye CHORUS There was a world for me at the top of a tree I could’ve been anything But now the leave have fallen down And I stand on the ground And rustle around for my yesterdays ---------------
2.
Bottles 04:10
Once full of ships and tonics And messages and medicine they sat now Bottle lined the walls of the crowded little house Once discarded and now collected for the old man’s gallery He lined them up like soldiers in a row Heroes and old friends I’d never known Standing silent on the dusty shelves Every bottle had a story he could tell Chorus: Visions I can’t shake Chase me down and steal my sleep Lessons I learned late Lie like empty bottles next to me Inst I can see his grey reflection Twisting in the waves of green and blue Quietly describing the places that he knew His memories hung like spirits in the room Cut and cracked and broken The words I might have spoken came to me Much to late And they tasted like cheap liquor And they only made me sicker but I was just To stubborn to spit them out CHORUS Inst
3.
She looked into his eyes and smiled And said I love you dear He coughed and he said well I’ll see ya I really need to get out of here So he ran off into the sunrise But still he kept looking around At the silhouette just about his size Chasing him there on the ground You say you don’t think that you understand Exactly what all of this means How he traded the great cow of romance For a handful of mystical beans He stopped running several years later I guess he’d just run out of wind Until the soft breath of one young lady Filled up his sails again So he left without giving a reason And shipped off with the merchant marines Tracked down the French Foreign Legion And wound up cleaning latrines Chorus One day time finally caught him And he was too old to keep running around So a sweet hearted Mexican lady Trapped him and they settled down So gather around me children And I’ll tell you what all of this means How he traded the great cow of romance For a handful of mystical beans Yes, I gave up the great cow of romance For this handful of sweet jumping beans
4.
Once young waitress waits for the cook to ring her bell In a diner between black factories on a 4 lane road to hell People shuffle in and out, they never see her face No one needs a menu though, it’s just another day In never never land The babies all born coughing breathing factory filth Wrap’em in their blankets, from their it’s all down hill Baby face Jim was still coughing when he was 25 At 37 he found salvation in furnace number 5 In never never land Where the rats and the smog and the bums All lend a hand The King adjusts his rusty crown and strikes up the band They all believe it’s never never land A greasy rain drips rhythm through a worn out bedtime verse Tired fingers turn a dirty page and the story keeps getting worse In never never land Chorus
5.
Chase Her 06:56
She’s so far away I see her walk but I can’t tell Which way she’s going I call her my friend But it’s hard to pretend that there’s nothing more Maybe I’ll stop trying But I’m thinking I might have to chase her The man down the road He has a fine house and she likes to go Spend the afternoon sometimes What can I say I have no claim to her body So I watch her walk away And I’m wondering if I should chase her Inst Bridge: Ice tea sweats in the painted glass As the sun falls I hope that she’ll come back And I sit on my front porch rocking ‘til the crickets and the owls and the darkness Overtake me Another sun rise waves These days have a way of just slipping by And piling up behind me So I sit here alone And stare down the road that she once took Never to return And I’m thinking that I might have chased her Inst Bridge Vamp on riff and fade
6.
She wasn’t born rich so she wound up poor She didn’t have much but she dreamed of more While the rich spend money the poor spend time Working and saving and living and dying Walk softly please, cause Rosie’s sleeping now She married a man who went away to war Came back crippled couldn’t work no more So Rose took a job teaching school And as the years slid by, Rosie slipped through But now Rosie’s sleeping Now Rosie’s dreaming About a world without wars and dollar bills If anyone can get there Rosie will Rock-a-bye Rosie For years Rosie lay tucked snug in her bed While sugar plum fairies ran amok in her head Whispered the bedbug in her ear A stitch in time ain’t worth a damn in here I remember the day that we tucked her in There was a friendly fat preacher and an old black man With two gold teeth inside of this grin He said he knew Rosemary way back when But now Rosie’s sleeping Now Rosie’s dreaming About a world without wars and dollar bills If anyone can get there Rosie will Rock-a-bye Rosie Rock-a-bye Rosie Rock-a-bye Rosie
7.
My Great Uncle Jim had a fiddle But I never did hear him play Grandma said he used to farm a little When he was about my age Back before the coal mines Bought up all the land Great Uncle Jim went to work in the mines When he was still a young man So they tacked up signs on the Bruceville Mine Sunshine and Number Five They run them tracks so far in the ground They thought they’d come out the other side Now the old men cough up their insides And scratch at missing legs And they sit and they spit about the Sunshine Mine And how they promised a better wage Hell there wasn’t no town until the mines came There ain’t much here now A few old storefronts still remain And a filling station east of town My Father used to work there Changing oil and pumping gas Hell there wasn’t no town until the mines came And the mining days have passed My Great Uncle Jim had a fiddle But I never heard him play Grandma said he had black lung And he showed me his wooden leg I guess he might have been bitter I never heard him say Great Uncle Jim had a fiddle But I never did hear him play
8.
They pulled into town early one cold Saturday The clouds were raining and the sky was grey He looked at his new bride, Lucy was her name She surveyed the small grey town, smiled and didn’t complain And the rain kept falling Lucy did her best to make their little house a home He looked for work during the day and he left her there alone One night he came home and said I found a job Lucy by the window, watching the rain, began to sob She said I don’t wanna live here if it’s gonna rain everyday He said oh it’s probably just temporary I’m sure it’ll get better any day But the rain kept falling And the years crept right through their back door Late one autumn Lucy gave life to their first boy The boy grew up poor he never knew nothing else Her husbands gone now, and Lucy makes the living herself When the boy was grown he stopped and he took a look around Watched his Mama working so hard and asked her with a frown Why do we live her Mama it rains everyday Lucy said, oh it’s probably just temporary I’m sure it’ll get better any day But the rain kept falling And Lucy smiled with bright and shining eyes She never would give up She found a way to make her own sunshine She said, son if you never give up You’ll find a way to make your own sunshine But the rain kept falling As Lucy said with bright and shining eyes The secret, Son, is never give up [The secret’s never to give up] You’ll find a way to make your own sunshine
9.
Madeline 04:41
Over dusty parlor velvet stares a memory Rockers creak and the knitting needles weave At the quiet house where Christmas never comes Like a lull-a-bye whose rhymes have all been sung Madeline’s Dad was a Shelbyville coal miner He worked all day to provide for his wife and child He used to pass out the prayer books every Sunday But he never would come to church after Madeline died They say her Mama still sets three plates on the table And hangs her summer dresses on the line She sings to a child whose been gone some 30 years now And she turns down Madeline’s bed sheets every night In the sleepy towns the shadows lay forever Generations pass and whisper through the shade Tales twine like ivy in the minds of little children As they creep up the kitchen walls and back door frames
10.
He put his hand out flat and fanned across the skyline that night The city smoldered in the quickly disappearing light And like a falling star is seen before it’s faded She laid her head upon his hear and then she whispered yes So like a pirate sailed his Pontiac to El Dorado Said he’d return with speed and gold would line his pockets But El Dorado held more strength than he would’ve guessed And his trail made the papers all the way up to Milwaukee Oh, far across the river he said You must promise me you’ll wait ‘til I repay my debt The over look down at the park along the water A woman stares out at the sunset with her daughter and She tries to tell her why she never met her father But the language isn’t easy, and she falters once again Bridge: Long ago there lived a King and a Queen Over thrown by the dark knight Economy Instrumental Oh, far across the river he said You must promise me you’ll wait ‘til I repay my debt So watch the road each day for a mortal man with an angel’s face Prison tattoos and a scar across his heart Said he’d be back for you, your 15th birthday Now don’t you treat him like a stranger Understand me he’s your father And he loves you as much as I do Oh, far across the river she said Mom this life is such a mystery to me Oh, standing in the doorway she said Mom this life is such a mystery to me
11.
You were looking for a reason You said looking for a sign You went searching for a season When everything was fine When everything was fine In the morning you’d come early Complaining not your style Sweeping off that sidewalk Always with a smile Always with a smile But you’re a little older now, a little older now You’re a little older now You took that tiny one room Down old Jackson Street The co-op across the alley Where you always liked to eat Man you always liked to eat I still think about you sometimes Mostly when the seasons change I picture you still roaming Somewhere just out of range Somewhere out of range But you’re a little older now, a little older now You’re a little older now I always thought you’d be here I never thought we’d part We’d be friends until the end We were friends right from the start Friends right from the start But we’re a little older now, a little older now
We’re a little older now

about

The story behind Ghost of Summers Past:

Most of these songs were written when I was in my late teens and early twenties. Other than the song My Great Uncle Jim, I don’t think I have even performed any of these songs live since back then.

I started working on this recording in the early '90's, believe it or not. Jamey Reid and I cut most of the rhythm guitar and drum tracks first. Although I had been playing guitar in bands for about 10 years at that point, I hadn’t been singing for very long and I remember that I wasn’t all that happy with my vocal performances. So for that or some other reason, I dropped the whole project midway through. From time to time over the years I was reminded of the orphaned project when one of these songs would drift through my head, or when I would move and have to carry the box of tapes from an old closet to a new one. “Hmmm, maybe I should finish this…”, I’d think, and then a few more years would go by.

Fast forward to 2008. I don’t know why, but one day I decided it was time to finish this record. I still wasn’t happy with those old vocal performances, so I redid all the vocals, and then did the rest of the overdubs. Jamey and I cut a few more songs at Airtime Studios to round out the CD. Around this time I also wrote the song A Little Older Now. It seemed like a fitting addition to the project, which ended up being kind of a collaboration between my current self and my younger self. I hope you'll enjoy it.

- Jason Wilber

credits

released July 4, 2009

Jason Wilber – Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica, Mandolin, Dobro, Keyboards, Bass
Jamey Reid - Drums and Percussion
Karl Meyer - Fiddle
Jon Paul - Bass on Never Never Land

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Jason Wilber Bloomington, Indiana

Jason Wilber is an American singer and recording artist. He is also known as the lead guitar player for singer-songwriters like John Prine, Iris Dement, Greg Brown, and many others. Jason Wilber’s work with John Prine includes the Grammy Award winning CD Fair & Square. In addition to playing guitar on John Prine’s 2017 album For Better or Worse, Jason also served as a Co-Executive Producer. ... more

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