From the recording The One Thing You Need (2020)

If a diamond wrote a song to itself, cataloguing the alchemy through which time and faith and the compression of opposing forces had forged its perfection, and then radiated the fractal light of that kept faith outward in music to illuminate the upturned faces of the lost and the listening, it would be “Hang On.” This clarion anthem for our time breaks the relentless drive of The One Thing You Need with drums that generously open up rather than hurtle forward, revealing and cradling like a jewel a joyful choiring of voice and guitar that churn and swirl through a rousing spiritual of hard-won affirmation. A Taoist wisdom of acceptance and trust in nature (“Hang on, don’t worry about the weather, the wind will blow through the trees, the trees will stand together, and they will be forever”) folds into a Buddhist notion of karma (“Everyone has a price to pay, and baby that’s just part of the deal”) that in turn gives rise to a Christian sense of fellowship (“Don’t worry about your friends, we’re right there beside you until the bitter end”), works (“Go write that letter, then burn it up, you’re gonna feel better”), and trust and faith (“You gotta hang on to the light to the light to the light”). One senses that these distilled truths derive from Webster’s own long journey through love and artistry, but they’re given generously, with a Carly Simon–like bravado that itself suggests redemptive transcendence and implicitly embodies in tone its delivered grace.

Written & Produced by Billy Webster
Lead Guitar - Carl Basler
Recorded at The Jersey Dream
(c) Shampoo Girl Music, 2020

Lyrics

I said hang on...it’s gonna get better
I said hang on...to the things you believe
I said hang on...don’t worry about the weather
The wind will blow...through the trees

The trees will stand together
And they will be forever
I said hang on...don’t worry about your friends
We’re right beside you, until the bitter end

And when I said I will always be around
I didn’t mean that I won’t end up...six feet under ground
I just believe that it’s gonna come around
And around and around and around and around…if you just hang on

I said hang on...I know it’s tough
The water is high...the water’s running rough
I said hang on...to your dreams
No matter what they are...or as crazy as it seems

Hang on to...what you feel
Never doubt...this is real
I said hang on...there’s no such thing as luck
It’s just the mud...and honey you got stuck

And when I said you’re gonna be alright
I didn’t mean that you’ll never cry yourself to sleep at night
But when you do, you gotta hang on to the light
To the light, to the light, to the light, to the light...and you just hang on

And I know that you want me to say
That I don’t know how you feel
But everyone has a price they must pay
And baby, that’s just part of the deal

I said hang on...go write that letter
Then burn it up...you’re gonna feel better
You never know...what life has got in store
And everything you see is something
That you’ve never seen before

And when I said that the night is long
I didn’t mean that to wander in the dark is always wrong
The will is weak, but the Way is strong
And my love, you belong, you belong, you belong
So just hang on.