Jeri Smith-Ready

All I want for my birthday...

...is a downloadable (and therefore uploadable into a playlist) copy of this studio acoustic version of Death Cab for Cutie's "Soul Meets Body":

EDITED TO ADD: Thanks to blog readers Carmen and Cari for finding it for me on Rhapsody! My life is complete.



This was how I first heard the song on the radio last year (yes, I know the song is several years old--I'm a Jeri-Come-Lately to DCFC). I was driving to a book club meeting at the Barnes & Noble in Camp Hill, PA, when it came on. I played it again and again on the satellite radio player, because it was

Just

So

Perfect

for Shift, the sequel to Shade. It's absolutely the theme song. How often does that happen, especially during the first few chapters of a first draft? For me, never. The song has kept me going through long periods of doubt--about how big this book can be, about how much I'm asking readers to believe in the impossible.

So anyway, I bought the album, Plans, which I'd been meaning to buy for over a year, since I adored Narrow Stairs. The studio version of "Soul Meets Body" frankly disappointed me after hearing the purity of the acoustic. The words are still the same, but the emotion gets sucked out by the perfection of the production, you know? I like my recordings a little rough and spontaneous (which is one why reason why I loved Narrow Stairs--on that CD, they kept in all the mistakes).

So if this studio acoustic version is out there, available for legal purchase and offline possession (as a fellow creative artist, I'm against stealing music), please let me know. I'd be eternally grateful. Until then, let's enjoy the YouTube version.

I want to live where soul meets body
And let the sun wrap its arms around me
And bathe my skin in water cool and cleansing
And feel, feel what its like to be new

Cause in my head there’s a greyhound station
Where I send my thoughts to far off destinations
So they may have a chance of finding a place
where they’re far more suited than here

And I cannot guess what we'll discover
When we turn the dirt with our palms cupped like shovels
But I know our filthy hands can wash one another’s
And not one speck will remain

And I do believe it’s true
That there are roads left in both of our shoes
But if the silence takes you
Then I hope it takes me too
So brown eyes I hold you near
Cause you’re the only song I want to hear
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere

Where soul meets body
Where soul meets body
Where soul meets body

And I do believe it’s true
That there are roads left in both of our shoes
But if the silence takes you
Then I hope it takes me too
So brown eyes I hold you near
Cause you’re the only song I want to hear
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere

Labels: craft, music, SHADE series

• posted by Jeri @ 10:01 AM
• 9 comments