Get all 8 Jahn Sood releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of We Were an Island (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), In A Sea of Faces (Greenpoint Demos), Where I Sleep, The Disappearing Man: Cloud City Sessions, With You Always EP, Vital Signs, Arts & Crafts EP, and The Disappearing Man (early demos).
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Arts and Crafts in Mourning
by Jahn Sood
I’ve built an island in my attic
For a hundred years.
And late at night it breaks the static
When the radio’s in tears.
The smell of plaster, dusty lights and
Paint pour through the air.
There’s a newspaper on my nightstand,
A wet towel on my chair,
I know something nobody else knows
I go places nobody else goes.
I built mountains out of rocks and paper,
Filled all the oceans in with glue.
And so the island let me shape her,
Until all I dreamed was true.
Then the settlers’ came with axe and hoe,
Felled all my plastic trees.
But I held a flashlight in the sky so
I could see what no one sees.
I know something nobody else knows
I go places nobody else goes.
She said, “At the end of my life
When I go,
I want you near me.”
I said, “Squeeze my hand
One more time
So I know if you can hear me.”
When I’ve grown tired and my eyes
Have swollen, sunken deep,
I turn out the flashlight; with great sighs,
The island people sleep.
I go back to my bedroom, and I
Roll the covers down
And dream about my island queen
Pretend she’s only gone to town.
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2. |
St. Valentine's Feast
03:19
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St. Valentine’s Feast
Jahn Sood 12/8/10
On the day of St. Valentine’s feast
There were lilacs pinned to the doors.
And the soldiers came back from the east.
And we washed our swords by the shore.
The board was set,
The beast was slain,
And I looked for my love at the table.
Isabel,
I’ve caught your spell.
You’re my favorite fable.
So I climbed to the top of the mountain,
To the place where we used to play.
I ran through the woods to the fountain,
But it was ivy grown over decay.
So with a swollen chest,
And a fallen crest,
I went back to feast where I came from.
Isabel,
I loved thee well,
But there’s an empty seat in the kingdom.
I watched a hundred brothers die.
Their blood is on my hands,
But through war and peace and other lies,
I’m a stranger in these lands, with out you,
Isabel.
On the day of St. Valentine’s feast,
Some come for the barley wine,
Others come for the roast beast.
But some come to know the divine.
She’s my Holy Ghost,
My heavenly host.
I remember when she was mine.
Isabel,
I loved thee well.
Please come give me a sign.
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3. |
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To Rebekah, Before the Flood
by Jahn Sood
I loved you when I set sail, Rebekah.
I loved you through wind and hail, Rebekah.
And now I’ve come back home.
Now I’ve come back home.
And I can’t find the words to tell you
I can’t find the words.
You’re in my breath and in your death
You’ll ring above these chords.
When the heavens start to pour, Rebekah.
And the trees fall off the shore, Rebekah.
Please climb up on the hill.
Don’t stay to watch the spill.
I wish I’d come before you let go.
I wish I’d come before.
You’re in my blood and in this flood,
Our love can be restored.
Even if it’s for the
End of our lives
I made it just in time to watch your
Face disappear beneath the waves
I’ll appear to be so brave
But I fear I cannot save you.
When the windows finally break, Rebekah.
And the walls all start to shake, Rebekah.
You’ll know this song is done.
There’s no place we can run.
Everything we built together
Everything we built.
Or our teddy bears, our kitchen chairs
Our cottage on the hill
Will be gone forever,
Rebekah, goodbye.
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4. |
Brooklyn Lovesick
04:31
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Brooklyn Lovesick
Jahn Sood 10/13/10
Across the river I'm Conrad's Kurtz
I keep secrets until it hurts.
Lost in a jungle of Brooklyn bricks.
Surrounded by kids with the same old tricks.
Converse All Stars, yellow tights,
Their beating drums keep me up all night.
I only killed one and they all bowed down.
It was easy for me to take the crown.
Please don't tell my intended.
In Brooklyn, I'm Captain Ahab.
I throw harpoons from in a cab
To kill the beast that came and ate
My stable ground and steady gait.
But even blood will not return
My severed limb, my vital burn.
In Brooklyn I seek revenge alone.
I wish she'd call me on the phone.
This was never what I intended.
I am Greenpoint's Odysseus
Lost on a crosstown Brooklyn bus.
Been headed home since the Trojan War.
But Ithaca's not what it was before.
Not after I've heard the sirens' call,
Seen Circe's cave and the Cyclops' fall.
Brooklyn's poetry; Brooklyn's death.
When songs of home run out of breath,
My secret world will have ended.
She said, "I can't go to New York, baby.
Go chase your legends, then come back
Maybe I'll be home."
I went alone.
When I wrote the Inferno in a coffee bar
I thought maybe I'd gone too far,
But the Italian Roast and Beatrice
Said, "You can go down deeper than this,
You and your heroes read too many books.
Don't give up on love for those dreamers and crooks.
Virgil made it back from the center of Hell.
Brooklyn's just part of your story to tell.
Your life is not upended.
She said, "You've got to stay in New York, baby.
Go chase your legends, then come back
Maybe she'll be home."
So, I went alone.
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5. |
Airplane
01:51
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Airplane
Jahn Sood
10/19/10
You wanted to build an airplane
So you called me on the phone
You said, “Bring the propeller,
I can’t do it alone.”
And it was two in the morning,
Didn’t give me that much warning,
But you made me want to
Fly to the unknown.
So I went to your doorstep
With a propeller on my chest
To make grilled cheese sandwiches
And watch North by Northwest again,
You said that I could fall asleep
But you were really in too deep
You saw my eyes and
Said, “I’ll do the rest.”
“Leave the propeller at the door,
You won’t need it anymore.”
You built a fort to climb inside
You offered me a place to hide.
“Imagine it’s a castle, we’re at war.”
When I woke up that morning
Head to toe in desert sand.
I could see from all broken parts.
You’d never learned to land.
But I don’t think you care that much
You never really need a crutch
I think it happened
just the way you planned.
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6. |
The Night Was Not For Me
03:28
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The Night Was Not For Me
By Jahn Sood
1/16/11
When I was maybe six or seven
I went to bed before eleven
But back then I didn't want to stay
Away.
But the night was not for me.
I knew my folks were still up talking
Lay awake rocking and rocking
I could not push the day
Away.
The night was not for me.
I shoved the covers off of my bed
Planned it out inside of my head
I had to see the show
I know,
The night was not for me.
I saw them at the kitchen table
Behind the staircase I was able
To watch them while they play
Away,
The night that's not for me.
At first it looked like they were talking
And Dad said, "Well, it isn't shocking,"
And Mom said, "J. I tried,"
Then they cried,
And the night was not for me.
I put my head around the corner
I thought that maybe I could warn her
I was really far too young to say
Run away
And the night was not for me.
Now I've been through my own break ups
My own whispers, my own shake ups
But I won't for get the yellow glow
My first show
Of the night that's not for me.
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Jahn Sood New York
Jahn Sood is a songwriter, impresario and colored-pencil wielder who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
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