JENNY USED TO LET ABSOLUTELY ANYBODY CRASH AT HER PLACE. IT WAS LIKE A YEAR-ROUND CHRISTMAS MIRACLE. IF YOU HAD ANY SECRETS, SHE DIDN'T WANT TO KNOW, AND THE ONES SHE HAD SHE KEPT TO HERSELF. THERE WAS A WALL HEATER DOWN AT ONE END OF THE HALLWAY AND A BIG, DARK LIVING ROOM AT THE OTHER. ONE ELECTRIC LAMP BY THE COUCH IF YOU NEEDED IT, ALL EXITS VISIBLE TO THE EYE FROM THERE. SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAD NEED OF JENNY'S PLACE WERE ALL RIGHT AND SOME WEREN'T EVER GOING TO GET RIGHT, AND SHE'D ALREADY GOTTEN SEVERAL LETTERS FROM THE CITY ADVISING HER TO KEEP A LOWER PROFILE UNLESS SHE WANTED TROUBLE BUT THEN I ENTERED THE PICTURE. BAD LUCK. LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE WHO CAME THROUGH I WAS TRYING TO FIND A BETTER DIRECTION BUT IT DIDN'T WORK OUT THAT WAY. PRYING EYES SHOULD HAVE TENDED TO THEIR OWN BUSINESS. PEOPLE DON'T THINK TOWNS LIKE OURS CAN TURN INTO BATTLEGROUNDS BUT WE HAD A WAR HERE. THERE. I DON'T LIVE THERE ANY MORE EITHER. I LEFT WHEN JENNY LEFT. IT'S JUST A SPOT ON THE MAP NOW. WE RODE TOGETHER FOR A WHILE BUT THEN WE LOST EACH OTHER. SOMETIMES I THINK I HEAR FROM HER BUT OTHER TIMES I THINK I'M JUST DREAMING. NOBODY KNOWS WHERE ANYBODY LANDED. YOU DON'T KEEP IN TOUCH WHEN THE WAR DOESN'T GO YOUR WAY.
The narrator of "Cleaning Crew" —the "I"— is Jenny from All Hail West Texas. She's speaking to the narrator of "Source Decay" from the same album. Enterprising travelers will work out the rest.
One from East St. Louis[3] with a scar beneath his eye
Left the kitchen spotless on the day he said goodbye
Breakaway republic[4] dude, supremely filthy mouth
Copiah, Mississippi[5] points much further south
It's never light outside yet when they climb into the van
Remember at your peril, forget the ones you can
Leave home feeling empty, change planes in Taipei[6]
Stay awake the whole time, end up several worlds away
The house was almost full that day, they made a space for you
This world is sad and broken, gotta fix a crack or two
Rest until you're rested, climb back onto the caravan
Remember at your peril, forget the ones you can
And then just when you think you've learned how to forget
You learn it's just the ones who haven't risen to the surface yet
Absence after absence, keep the place secure
This will be the last time that I do this, I'm pretty sure
No one lasts for long in this profession, so they say
Maybe see you again someday
Every endpoint fixed forever on the day its arc began
Remember at your peril, forget the ones you can
Forget the ones you can
You can make out all the exits
From a static position
One quick walkaround will give you
All the relevant information
Never going to break my neck
Falling downstairs
Tan and mustard-yellow I-beam[9]
Visible from the air
Tall space heater
Down the main hallway
Blue pilot light
Hissing all night
We sleep light in the shadow of the cloverleaf[10]
You can light a cigarette
Against the cooktop if you need to
Feel the heat against your forehead
Let it bleed through
You're never going to get by
On three hours' sleep a night
Unless you absolutely have to
And then you get by all right[11]
Move in silence
If you can't stay still
Nobody sees your face
Through the security grille
We sleep light in the shadow of the cloverleaf
You're going to get a wrinkle on your forehead
You're gonna get a click in your knee[13]
You're gonna tell the doctor that you can't sleep
And you're up every night until three
You're gonna make a bargain with the bad guys
You're gonna make some choices you regret
There's no place to hide from the prophecy
Since nobody told you it falls to me
There's only one way out
There's only one way out
There's only one way through
No matter what you do
You're gonna have to watch for the signs
You're gonna have to learn how to read
Nobody's gonna hand you a flashlight
You're gonna have to steal what you need
You're gonna have some trouble at the border
They're never gonna let you forget
I'm just passing on the information
Beaming down to me from a distant station[14]
There's only one way out
There's only one way out
I've been told there's only one way through
No matter what you do
But if all that's true
What about you?
What about you?
Tattoo of the seventh shield[16]
Still wet on my skin
You're all crumpled up at the curb there[17]
I think I'm going to take you in
Always had to follow my instincts
Usually I'm out on my own
You there by the road, wet and helpless
What happens if I take you home?
Well, you may forget the whys and wheres
Of an old tattoo on your forearm there
But usually you recall the day you got one
And usually it fades in the sun
Headed for a season in exile[18]
As the oracle predicted
According to reliable sources
In thirty days I'm getting evicted[19]
Trying not to scratch where it itches
It takes a certain level of discipline
Not even half a second by the light switch
Let the future flood right in
Well, you may forget the whys and wheres
Of an old tattoo on your forearm there
But usually you recall the day you got one
And usually it fades in the sun
Usually the lines grow faint
Like old house paint
Just a way to mark the years gone by
You lay on the couch three weeks
Until the color came back into your cheeks[20]
I'd seen ones like you before
Plenty came through before
Legend on the shield in Greek
"What's that say?" you said
I gave you an answer that I thought you'd buy
All of this will disappear in the twinkling of an eye
Well, you may forget the whys and wheres
Of an old tattoo on your forearm there
But usually you recall the day you got one
And usually it fades in the sun
But not this one
You were passed out on the sofa
Cigarette burns and coffee stains
Loose change in your pocket
Naltrexone[22] in your veins
They got a scanner at the airport now
And a dropout in a Kevlar vest[23]
I can hear the timer
Ticking in my chest
What are you gonna do?
What are you gonna do?
What are you gonna do when the cleaning crew
comes through?
When you get out on your own again
If you ever do shake free
If you find yourself in Portland[24]
Ask about me
Dig up the first revision
The one who's got less to lose
Look on every lamppost[25]
From here to Baton Rouge[26]
Ask yourself one question
Then ask yourself again
What are you gonna do?
What are you gonna do?
What are you gonna do when the cleaning crew
comes through?
It's better if you have a plan
It's better if you have a plan[27]
I saw the future in an oil slick[28]
It told me what I needed to know
Leave a little stain behind you everywhere you go[29]
I'm in the repair bay casting spells
Mystic in the glow of the spotlight
Ringing out the funeral bells[31]
Tending the fires, gathering power
May I present the man of the hour
Placing his faith in the strength of the safety visor
Placing his faith in the strength of the safety visor[32]
Leaving only slightly diminished
Older but wiser
I'm down on the concrete with a bucket and rag[33]
When you've got a big job to do
You notice how the moments drag
Live in the present, savor the grind
Relish the time before you have to leave it behind
Placing your faith in the strength of the safety visor
Placing your faith in the strength of the safety visor
Leaving only slightly diminished
Older but wiser
Smarter but scared, now
Wearing an exile's mark[34]
One that's going to glow in the dark[35]
I'm out on the sidewalk, scrubbed clean
Take all your worry and care
Feed it to the big machine
Once you commit to the turn[36], you're going to have to follow through
Cover your eyes when the splash comes[37]
It's the only thing you can do
Placing your faith in the strength of the safety visor
Placing your faith in the strength of the safety visor
Leaving only slightly diminished
Older but wiser
I recall the curb[16]
Waiting for the bus
Flaky yellow paint
What's become of us?
Searching in the snow
For something in the distance
When the vision comes
I have no resistance
It's one of several iterations
It gets hard to keep track
On your custom Kawasaki[39]
With the stinger[40] on the back
Walk across the bridge
Used to get so scared
Signed out AMA[41]
No one really cared
It wasn't in your nature
Taking in the strays
But you handed me your helmet[42]
I clung to you for days
But I am strong now, I am strong now
That was all years back
On your custom Kawasaki
Chrome yellow and black
It's somewhere in a wreckyard now
Never see it again on this earth
Let the scavengers proclaim
How much it was worth[43]
Out here on the median
Not sure what to do
Figure something's got to happen sometime
I wait all day for you
Flak jacket full of holes
Kevlar coated and dusty black
On your custom Kawasaki with the stinger on the back
You were still attached to your Civic sedan[45],
Although the brakes always needed repair
You were headed out to buy some supplies
You could smell the threat of rain in the air
I can only see the scene second-hand[46]
I can only try to understand
How a small amount of pressure in the right place
Breaks the strongest link in the chain
In your car with your head in your hands
At the far end of the Walmart parking lot[47]
Trying not to buckle under the strain
Every single night after prime time[48]
Loud enough to hear in your sleep
The salesman from the lot half a mile from here
Yelling down the hood of his Jeep
I’ll take anything that the others won’t
I can see the value where others don’t[49]
Just a small amount of pressure in the right place
Two fingers to the temporal vein[50]
In your car with your head in your hands
At the far end of the Walmart parking lot
Trying not to buckle under the strain[27]
Striking a bargain with the imp in your brain
Prepared to take another knock for the short gain
But you can ask any veteran running back[51]
Eventually your joints complain
You were headed home at 80 miles an hour
With your fingers sweating under your gloves
Everyone deserves a little light in their hair[52]
Everybody needs to love, and be loved
That’s what all the people say, anyway
I can save my thoughts for another day
Maybe a small amount of pressure in the right place
Anything to help with the pain[53]
In your car with your head in your hands
At the far end of the Walmart parking lot
Trying not to buckle under the strain
Moving lights on an overhead map
Have to be headed somewhere
There's probably going to be a building burning in town
When you smell smoke in the air[55]
Small hopes are seen to still be small ones
When the hour grows late
And a body floating in a water tower
Is bound to take on weight[56]
Somebody comes bearing the standard[57]
Just when you need to see it held high
You never miss your water[58]
Until you're parched, riding home from the slaughter[58]
Oracles are seen emerging
From the northern mists
And a body floating in a water tower
Is bound at the ankles and wrists
Bound at the ankles and wrists
Marks in the skin
From where the ropes have been digging right in[59]
Men of legend built the cities of the prairie
To rise from the horizon at night
Feel something bigger than me
When I see them trapped in the headlight
Head east, head north by northeast
Get my bearing and know
That a body floating in a water tower
Only has one way to go[60]
Float downstream
Let me float downstream
Floating downstream
Jenny was a warrior, Jenny was a thief[62]
Jenny hit the corner clinic begging for relief[63]
Never thought we'd see the day when she wiggled free
But she did
Long before we did
Nights in crackling emerald
Signal hot and live
Fastest in production
As of 1985[64]
Didn't guess we'd ever come to dread that engine's roar
But she did
Long before we did
Nobody will ever know for certain
The names of all the secrets
She held back behind the curtain
Jenny came to get me
She'd been gone for several years
Aging motorcycles purr like cats when they grow near
I was crying, I could barely make the frame out through my tears
She did
Long before we did
She did
Long before we did
Jenny, you did
Long before I did
Nobody's ever gonna pour
Plaster in my tracks[67]
My exit will be clean
When I vanish from the scene
You won't find any thumbprints
To dust your powder into[68]
Just mute donkeys[69] still as statues
In each saloon I've been through
Going to Dallas
As far as anybody knows
Maybe Montana [70]
Depending on the way the wind blows
No blinking red light on the line tonight[71]
Or any night out in the future
Kiss the people you hold dear
Forget that I was ever here
If world should reach you from the field
Be cool
Try not to talk out of school
Make them beat it out of you if they want it
Live like a pack mule[69]
Going to Dallas
As far as anyone's concerned
Maybe Montana
Depending on the way the roads turn
And if they steer me wrong
I'm just going to play along
Remember this when the time comes
Try to let it soften the blow
Let me go to no haven anyone would yearn for
Burn a hole in something for me[72]
Turn around and let me go free[73]
Going to Dallas
In the morning when the wind is fair
Maybe Montana
If I've got enough gas to get there
On the morning when I stop looking back
I'll be up to see the sunrise in deep bruised black[76]
And bright blood red, and pale desert rose
And several other colors like those
Great pirates testing the waves
Great pirates testing the waves
Everybody gone from here
May you all emerge free and clear
And may you do some good where you go
High in the hands of the crosswinds,
or in the arms of the undertow
Great pirates testing the waves
Great pirates testing the waves
And calling the roll - let's see:
Just me
And checking the rigging before
Heading off to war
Peach rose black sky up early
Carry what I need to carry
Bury what I have to bury
Dancing, whistling, singing past the cemetery
Great pirates testing the waves
Great pirates testing the waves
Recorded January 16-22, 2023, at the Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Produced, Recorded, and Mixed by Trina Shoemaker, assisted by Isaiah Page and Cade Roberts. Mastered by Brent Lambert. Played by Alicia Bognanno, John Darnielle, Matt Douglas, Peter Hughes, and Jon Wurster, joined by Matt Nathanson and Kathy Valentine. Arrangements for strings and horns by Matt Douglas; strings played by Karen Galvin. Trombone by Evan Ringel.
Jenny from Thebes was released October 27, 2023 on Merge Records.
Release notes from Bandcamp: Today, we release Jenny from Thebes, recorded in Tulsa earlier this year with legendary producer Trina Shoemaker at the helm. This is the first album since Tallahassee to consist entirely of songs about a character or characters from previous songs. That character is Jenny, a woman who rides a motorcycle, was beloved of an unnamed narrator who thought of their life together as resembling that of the pirate—free, criminal, reckless, and joyful—and who, when we first meet her, is about to disappear. In these songs, she hasn’t yet escaped. As with every living human being, there are as many versions of Jenny’s story as there are possible futures; this one’s a little sad and a little sweet and a lot violent. The songs I wrote for the album that we didn’t end up using were perhaps less sad and more chaotic, but still just as violent: what can I say? Some stories merit a little violence. This one’s about somebody who gets an eviction notice she didn’t deserve. Who is to blame when the cleaning crew comes through, I want to ask: the one who made the mess or the one who insisted somebody needed to clean it up? We are so proud of this record.