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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ELLA
When I climbed the himalayas,
I ran out of breath.
Yes, it’s true our lungs betray us
When we're facing death;
I saw the sun,
Slide up the ridge
Over ice and cobalt blue
When I saw the sun I gasped:
"I never said goodbye to you."
When I swam the yellow river
I thought I had drowned
I prayed the tides would just deliver
Me to solid ground."
The river charged
Between the rocks.
Time passed: the waters grew.
When the river charged I yelled:
"I never said goodbye to you."
I don’t need you.
I walked away.
I touched the sky alone.
I’m not afraid of ice
Or glaciers,
White capped waters,
Woods unknown.
I crossed the earth,
The oceans wide:
With all emotions locked inside.
You know I ran
You know I tried to stay away.
But when I saw you yesterday
I could barely talk.
I had a world of things to say,
And lungs filled up with chalk.
I saw your face.
And couldn't breathe
Time passed: I know its true,
But i saw your face again:
I never said goodbye to you.
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2. |
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ELLA
When I got the job
DAVID
In China
ELLA
We wrapped a loaf of bread in tinfoil
DAVID
And put it in the oven.
ELLA
We drank cheap wine.
DAVID
From plastic
ELLA
Until I fell asleep.
DAVID
I watched the movie by myself.
ELLA
I woke up crying.
DAVID
I didn’t want to let you go
ELLA
You had to
DAVID
I made you oatmeal
ELLA
And walked me to the train
DAVID
That spring, you went to china
ELLA
And you stayed here.
BOTH
It was cold when you were gone
Under covers,
Wind and naked trees
Cold
DAVID
And I sold the sweaters
And the coffee pot,
Everything off of the shelves
BOTH
I read your letters
‘til my eyes
were sore
and the photographs were fading.
ELLA
We wrote letters for a year
DAVID
Like soldiers
ELLA
I carried you in my breast pocket
DAVID
With the cigarettes and playing cards
ELLA
When I came home I was older
DAVID
You said you liked my beard
ELLA
I thought you looked wild.
DAVID
I thought I looked like my father
So I cut it off.
ELLA
You didn’t kiss me for a week.
DAVID
In protest.
ELLA
Then you changed your mind.
DAVID
I asked you to move to boston
ELLA
And i agreed.
BOTH
It was fall when we moved in.
Cardboard boxes,
Mud and yellow leaves,
Fall.
We put all the fiction in the living room
Magazines under the bed.
We made a mobile
With the shells
From home.
From the place we might get married.
DAVID
I am old like dusty books,
Ancient widsom,
Prayers and melodies
Old.
And I told you
I won’t be forgiving you
After you walked out the door.
I’m gonna rise,
Above the clouds,
And glow.
And the photographs are fading.
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3. |
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DAVID
And on the fourth day,
We discovered our bodies fit together
Like Russian dolls.
When your spine lined my chest
You were exactly one size smaller.
And we made love that way
With the back of your head sitting gently
Under my chin.
Then we slept in a knot
As if my arms could reach around you twice.
At dawn:
You read the news out loud
And I—
I held both cups of coffee
So you could keep on sitting in my lap.
When all the words were read
You said, "It's time to go to work."
And I let in the day
Tied the curtains back
And let the light burst in
Through the floating dust.
Then my room was empty
And my arms were empty
And my lap was empty
Just like my eggshell heart.
ELLA
I know the world is incomplete.
There is a notch in the corner.
I want to fit in
Jigsaw snug;
I want to be the missing piece.
I know the world is incomplete
Because we’re all hungry.
I ladle soup into styrofoam cups
Every day
And no one’s ever full.
I know the world is incomplete.
How your edges always fray.
I want to be your thread.
I want to be your yarn.
I want to unravel you every night.
I will keep knitting ‘til you return.
I know the world is incomplete.
God gave up before the last day,
But we don’t have to.
My world is incomplete without you.
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4. |
Chess (feat. Ben Moss)
03:11
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DAVID
When you're alone it’s not such a sin.
To play a game of chess against yourself.
I poured two cups.
I drank for you.
And kept the bottle off the shelf.
And when the morning sun came in
Just like it always does,
I called, "I hope you slept ok.
I made you breakfast just because."
Then I said " I love you."
I said, "I love you."
And then I wrote a story every day.
And memorized them all by heart.
I spun the tales.
I read aloud
And somehow my stories felt like art.
And in the stories you were here
Just in another room.
I made a ghost of you to love.
And so i smelled your sweet perfume
And i said, "I love you."
I said, "I love you."
It was easy to do
It was quiet, I confess
Delusional, I guess
But it's easier to dream, than know what's true
It's easier to dream than just love you, Ella.
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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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