Jewel - Stephenville, Texas

  주얼(Jewel)의 [Goodbye Alice In Wonderland]는 비록 그녀의 빅 히트작 [Pieces Of You]나 [Spirit]만큼의 히트를 거두지 못하고 앨범차트에서 물러났지만, 그 내용물의 완성도에서는 절대 뒤지지 않는 그녀의 성숙함이 절정에 이른 걸작이었다. 그래서 히트와 상관없이 이번 앨범에서 꾸준히 팬들을 위한 프로모션 비디오를 제작하고 있는데, 가장 최근작인 [Stephenville, Texas]를 공개한다. 노래 가사에서도 언급되고 있듯, 노래의 제목에 등장하는 이 마을은 바로 그녀가 현재 교제하고 있는 (동거하고 있다고 해야 옳을) 전직 로데오 챔피언 타이 머레이(Ty Murray)의 고향이다. 두 사람은 지금도 그 곳에서 살고 있는데, 인터뷰에서 밝힌 바에 따르면 이 노래는 그녀가 타이와 교제하면서 이 곳에 처음 정착하게 되었을 때의 자신의 감정을 노래로 옮긴 곡이라 한다. 이번 앨범 이후 긴 휴식을 가질 것이라고 어느 인터뷰에서 밝힌 바 있는데, 부디 좋은 곡들로 그녀를 다시 만날 수 있기를 기대한다. (웨딩 소식도 언젠가는 들려오려나?)

Jewel - Stephenville, TX

Housewives trying to recapture their youth
By wearing floral print and suede
Fixing their hairdos with PC, chemical-free hairspray
Martha Stewart taught them to make on TV
I was raised a farmgirl
I'm too far from home, all alone on the road
Trying to figure out who I am now the the stardust has turned to sand
And the sand has turned to stone on the starmaking machine
I'm 31 years old
That ain't the end but it sure ain't where I began

And my daddy, he wrote songs and he broke colts
And he went back to school to get a degree
Now he teaches music to kids, he taught music to me
And this Alaskan girl was living in Stephenville, Texas
Yes, you guessed it, I moved here because I fell in love with a man
And I moved his ex-old lady's things out of the closet
The same closet I had to move my things back in
It didn't make me feel that great, as if to demonstrate
Everything's temporary given enough time
And I'm 31 years old
That ain't the end but it sure ain't where I began

But hey, I've got nothing to lose
I'm a singer for crowds, I'm a writer of songs
Hey Mom, look, I'm an entertainer
I'm a modern day troubadour trying to find justice with six strings
Trying to make the world make sense out of me
Trying to be loved completely, trying to love honestly
Trying to find a decent high noon cup of tea
In another shitty hotel
I'm trying to listen to the leaves speak
Trying to steal secrets from fishes in the creek
Trying to figure out who I am
A singer, a pretty bad cook, maybe a good mom
What will it be?

I'm trying to figure out who I am
But there's no hand to hold, no Doctor Martin Luther King
There's just syncophants
And the mindlessness on TV or in the magazines
On the latest ways to behave
So why not follow me, the blond bombshell deity?
I'll sell you neat ideas without big words
And a little bit of cleavage to help wash it all down
Hey, everybody thought Godard was a clown
And that ain't gonna be me

And I'm 31 years old
That ain't the end but it sure ain't where I began
Guess that just means I'm in Stephenville, Texas