Jason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed

Jason Isbell is one of those songwriters

that makes you feel like

you know him and he knows you.

This film is a document

of some of the most personal songs

that Jason Isbell has ever written.

And I wanted to discover

where the life and the art connected.

For Sam's camera to work...

we gotta go back to about right here.

But I don't like that as much

so I'm gonna move Sam's camera back a little bit.

That good?

I think so.

We are recording.

I forgot to ask you what key it was in.

It's in E.

- Let's start the... - I started doing it in A.

- Start the recordings over. - Okay.

Where's...

We did it one more time the last time through.

Shit. Let's start the recording over.

- Ready? - Wait. No.

Now it's saving or something.

- Okay, now. - One...

two...

Do it again?

- The beginning. - I liked that intro.

- Oh, I'm sorry. - You didn't like it?

- I'm sorry. - Okay.

- I thought you missed it. - I didn't. Okay.

One, two, three, two. Three...

- Good morning. - Hey, how are you?

Good.

- Morning, Sadler. - What's up, man?

- How are you? - Good.

- Good to see you, bud. - Good to see you.

- What's up, Darrell? - Hey, I know you.

There's really no more intrinsic value to making a record

than there is to writing in your journal

when you're 15 years old, you know?

It's really for the same purpose.

There's something that we have to say

and in the process of figuring out how to say that

we learn who we are.

But I need to move forward as a person

through this work.

For me to do that

I have to come to terms with things

that don't make me look cool

or don't paint me in the best light or don't, you know

promote an idea I have

of controlling my own image because...

I think controlling your image

is the opposite of creating art.

My songs are things that are under the surface

of my own mind

things that I'm dealing with and working through.

But the trick for me

is to make a rock and roll record

about all these things

because you don't really want people to feel like they're singing along

with some sort of a self-help catalog.

- That sounds good. - Really cool.

She sent me a message today. Let's see.

I love you so much

and how much music are you gonna make?

Hello, Mercy.

We are going to make an album

which is nine or ten songs.

And so it's like

about...

45 minutes long.

And then she said, to all that, she said...

That sounds great.

She's so funny, man.

Took forever to get you to trust me

Like I was feeding a bird From my hand

And if this isn't love Then it must be

Another answer I don't understand

To a prayer that was please And not thank you

To a question I wrote in the sand

To a wish that I made on a satellite

From a witness in tears on the stand

Running with our eyes closed

Running with our eyes closed

Well, you are who you are When you're angry

When you're scared or you're sad Or you're bored

When a stranger has slipped you A room key

In a hotel you couldn't afford

We can never go back and be strangers

All our secrets are mixed And distilled

But you've taught me To temper my anger

And you've learned it's all right To be still

Running with our eyes closed

It's fucking unbelievable.

- Unbelievable. - Thank you.

Play me that change

from just the last chord to the bridge.

- We're running with our eyes closed - One, two.

Two.

Prior to Jason

any recording I've done

there would always be weeks of rehearsal.

This was kind of a new territory for me

where he brings in the song the day of.

You don't know the song

you write your number chart out.

Then you're sort of off to the races and coming up with parts

and trying to lay it down.

Running with our eyes closed

It's ridiculously hard and the stupidest part of recording.

Can't practice it because Dave doesn't like a demo.

And then if I mess up

somebody's gonna wanna try to keep that probably.

I don't... It's just really scary.

This might be a weird suggestion.

I like your weird suggestions.

What if you play it acoustic going down

then we take time with the electric sound?

- That's good with me. - Because it's such a cool part

I don't wanna dig, just run past it.

- Yeah. The riff is a hook. - You know what I mean?

- It's a hook and a half. - Yeah.

Amanda has heard the songs

but that's different, you know?

That's a different kind of collaboration.

Like, I still don't really think of it

as she's in the band.

I need her to do different things

and I think she needs to have a different role.

Did you write "to?"

"A stranger slips you a room key

to a hotel room you can't afford."

- But I think that you are... - But there's no slipping one

with inside the room key even when...

Yeah, there is. If you're at the hotel bar

and the stranger is trying to pick you up

they would slip you a key in the hotel.

No, but you're...

I've already went, like, through this in my brain

- about a dozen times. - Well, this will just be

permanently disagreed with

because it sounds like when you're on, like, you're reading

that you're in the room, slipping the key.

- This has already happened. - How about...

- How about "for?" - Past.

- "For," for is fine. - Or...

Or we just leave the article off and say...

When a stranger has slipped you A room key

On a hotel room You couldn't afford...

Or... see, I've already said room, though.

That was my problem.

I didn't want to use the room again that quickly.

- Do whatever you want. - No. I'm...

- It's not going to be a big deal. - I'm not making...

I'm really, like, just discussing it.

Why don't you just make up a word?

You're talking about it in the past

so it's like "in" is not helpful.

I feel like "in" and "to" are in the same tense.

"When a stranger has slipped you a room key."

- Yeah, so you're in the present... - And see, you're moving

- tenses within... - You're in the present participle.

- Who is? - Because the person...

the people who are existing here are in the present participle tense

which means that they're existing in the now

- No. But... - but discussing something

that's happened in the past.

No, okay. But see, then...

then you're mixing up all this in this middle.

Just sing whatever you want and then think about it later.

No, I want to get it right. That's...

Then put "to."

I feel like if I put "to"

it's gonna read like you're getting the key

to the entire hotel.

- Don't you think? - To...

- I see what you mean. - You know?

You know, Amanda has a master's degree

in creative writing.

She gets in there with her pen and gives him honest feedback.

She's the only one that hears anything

before they go into the studio.

I mean, you could also say...

And a stranger has slipped you A room key

For a room...

To a room you could never afford

- See? I like that. - That's better. "To" a room, yeah.

"To a room."

Once the songs get past her, nobody scares me.

Nobody. I don't give a shit.

I know it's right.

Part of the reason why he trusts me

is because I can't suffer a bad song

or like, a cliched lyric

unless it's turned a little bit.

It works. It's hard. It's a hard thing to do.

You have to let go of your ego.

If I was making people dance