“Cover Me Up” Lyrics & Meaning (Jason Isbell)

Cover Me Up is an extremely personal song for Jason Isbell.

He talks about the love of his life, and also how he finally emerged victorious from his years-long struggle with addiction.

Because it is so personal, many fans feel other artists should not cover it.

Much of this hate has been directed at Morgan Wallen, mainly because his cover is the most popular.

However you feel about that, you can’t deny that both Isbell and Wallen perform this song beautifully.

But what exactly was Isbell trying to get across with this gorgeous tune?

Keep reading for a detailed breakdown of the Cover Me Up lyrics and their meaning. This will only make you love the song even more.

 

Cover Me Up Lyrics And Meaning

Jason Isbell wrote and performed one truly amazing song in Cover Me Up. In fact, the song is so good that it won the “Song of the Year” award in 2014. And while it does not have as many views on YouTube as some popular releases, this love song is definitely worth a listen.

There are many covers as well, most notably by Morgan Wallen. He has actually been criticized many times for singing this very personal song, with people suggesting that he couldn’t and shouldn’t sing about other people’s real-life emotions.

But he loves it so much that he said he would perform it as long as he can. In any case, the beautiful lyrics accompanied by beautiful slow music make this song very special. Let’s take a look at the lyrics, before diving into their meaning.

 

Cover Me Up Lyrics

A heart on the run
Keeps a hand on a gun
You can’t trust anyone
I was so sure
What I needed was more
Tried to shoot out the sun
The days when we raged, we flew off the page
Such damage was done
But I made it through, ’cause somebody knew
I was meant for someone
So girl, leave your boots by the bed
We ain’t leaving this room
‘Til someone needs medical help
Or the magnolias bloom
It’s cold in this house and I ain’t going out to chop wood
So cover me up and know you’re enough
To use me for good
I put your faith to the test
When I tore off your dress
In Richmond on high
I sobered up, I swore off that stuff
Forever this time
And the old lover’s sing
“I thought it’d be me who helped him get home”
But home was a dream
One that I’d never seen ’til you came along
So girl, hang your dress out to dry
We ain’t leaving this room
‘Til Percy Priest breaks open wide
And the river runs through
And carries this house on its stones
Like a piece of driftwood
So cover me up and know you’re enough
To use me for good
So girl, leave your boots by the bed
We ain’t leaving this room
‘Til someone needs medical help
Or the magnolias bloom
It’s cold in this house and I ain’t going out to chop wood
So cover me up and know you’re enough
To use me for good
So cover me up and know you’re enough
To use me for good

 

Cover Me Up Meaning

“A heart on the run keeps a hand on a gun, it can’t trust anyone” – this connotes a self-defense mechanism, a heart that has been hurt before, and now it can’t trust anyone.

The singer is always on the run, always running away from love. His heart is closed and ready to defend itself when needed.

“I was so sure what I needed was more, tried to shoot out the sun” – After a hard breakup, he couldn’t settle down. He was always looking for more. More sex, drugs, booze, and similar destructive behavior one can go through when hurt.

“Trying to shoot out the sun” can mean either he was doing so much of this that he felt he could take down the sun, or metaphorically to kill the sunshine in his life and remain in the dark.

“Days when we raged, we flew off the page, such damage was done” – This part can be interpreted in different ways. One idea is that he’s remembering his fights and why he broke up with his girl.

They were angry and fighting for a while, so much that they separated completely and the damage was unfixable.

The other explanation could be a continuation of the previous lines, indicating that he wasn’t alone in his self-destructive behavior. He raged so much with others that he thought he was lost forever.

“But I made it through, ’cause somebody knew I was meant for someone” – Luckily, this phase has ended, and now he’s back to being himself again.

This somebody who knew can either refer to God or his last love, with whom he broke up. In any case, that somebody found a way to bring him back from the darkness and let him experience love again.

“So, girl, leave your boots by the bed, we ain’t leavin’ this room ’til someone needs medical help or the magnolias bloom” – The fire is set alight again, they are back together, he missed her so much that he doesn’t want to leave her side.

They will be in bed making up for all the time they spent apart. The only thing that can make him leave her is either a medical intervention (due to unfortunate sickness or simply a sex injury) or if she wants him to bring her flowers.

“It’s cold in this house and I ain’t goin’ out to chop wood, so cover me up and know you’re enough to use me for good” – Obviously, it’s winter time and there is no wood in the house to be put into the fireplace.

It’s cold but he doesn’t care, they will stay in the room, on the bed, covered and together. It’s enough for him to keep him warm – their love, their bodies.

“Put your faith to the test when I tore off your dress in Richmond on high. But I sobered up and I swore off that stuff forever this time” – He’s asking her to trust him again. Apparently, he tried to force her to have sex before breaking up, which is probably one of the reasons why they split apart in the first place.

Richmond is named here as that was the last time that Jason got drunk. He was wasted on alcohol and the next day he stopped drinking.

Now that he is back together with his love, he is swearing that this time is for good, meaning that he might have been promising her to quit drinking (or even doing drugs) before, but without success. This time is different, now he’s changed and asks her to trust him.

“And the old lover’s sing, ‘I thought it’d be me who helped him get home’. But home was a dream, one I’d never seen ’til you came along” – In his journey while being apart from his life, Jason probably met girls who all thought they could be the ones to settle down with him.

But that home wasn’t on his mind, the home came after getting clean and sober and reuniting with his love. He gives much credit to her for straightening him up and giving him what he couldn’t even dream of before.

“So girl, hand your dress up to dry, we ain’t leavin’ this room ’til Percy Priest breaks open wide and the river runs through and carries this house on the stones like a piece of driftwood” – Percy Priest is a dam near Nashville.

This can explain why her dress is wet (by being close to the dam) and he asks her to take off the dress, and be in bed with him. Again, he’s asking her not to leave the room even if the dam were to break and the house were swept away by the flood.

He wants to spend time with her again so much that not even the cold, not even a flood, can separate them.

“Cover me up and know you’re enough to use me for good” – Let’s be together forever, you’re the one.

 

Cover Me Up Lyrics Meaning: Final Thoughts

Cover Me Up by Jason Isbell is the perfect love song. But it also reaches out to people who have struggled (or are struggling) with addiction, by demonstrating how swearing off alcohol and drugs can make a person happier.

While performing this song, fans always acknowledge the victory that Jason Isbell has achieved over drugs and alcohol. The performer has stated in interviews that this means a lot to him.

Many songs have been written about drugs, but far fewer about beating drugs. That makes this song a little more unique. Check out the Semi-Charmed Life lyrics meaning for an example where drugs are made happy, but in a sad and depressing way.

Then there are songs that everyone thinks are about drugs, but that turned out to be about nothing at all, really. Learn about the lyrics for 25 Or 6 To 4 and their meaning, for a good example of his from the band Chicago.

Finally, let’s take a look at another artist who struggled with addiction but (supposedly) got sober in our discussion of the meaning of the lyrics to Post Malone’s Psycho.

 

Photo Credit

Cover photo by Bryan Ledgard from Yorkshire, UK: Jason Isbell, CC BY 2.0, cropped and modified to add text.