Written, performed, and produced by: Sebastian Son
IG: @singsebastianson
YT: singsebastian
Album: A Summer in Quarantine
Album Art by: Chuan Nitta
IG: @jooo_ahn

I wrote this song in 2020, in the middle of the pandemic. At the time my girlfriend was living in Colorado, I was in New Jersey, and we were about to celebrate our first anniversary. So I wrote this song, using things we had said to each other during our video calls, and I played it for her over the phone. And she thought it was pretty cool.


Lyrics:

Its Saturday
Not got up from bed
Just lying here
Underfed

This stuffy room
It plays pretend
The shadows on the walls 
They dance around my head

We're on week one
Or week two

Got up today
Brushed my teeth
Changed my shirt
Washed my sheets

Held some scissors
To my hair
Thought about some bangs 
But then I got real scared

We're on week two
Or week three

This quarantine
Is draining me

I havent had
A hug in a week
And I am an affectionate bean

My dad wakes up
It's 6 am
He says hello
I go to bed

It's hard to think
We've still got school
But at least I see you 
Twice a week when we're on zoom

We're on week three
Or maybe week four

This quarantine
Is draining me

Why am I playing 
Maplestory?
But at least you know how much you mean to me

To me
To me
To me

I wish we were older with our own place to live
At least I'd be closer to someone I miss
You can teach me to cook or teach me to knit
It's times like these distance is hard
Our anniversary's tomorrow

And I miss you
I do
This quarantine song
Is for you

Wake up my dear
It starts today
Our anniversary
From miles away

I know it sucks
But we'll make do
You look real nice
I miss you too

Happy one year
Give or take four months

You know that I'm blessed
I have you
No one smiles
Like you do

I don't know when I'll see you
I'm sorry my dear
But I'll keep making plans 
until you're finally here

It might be a month
or even a year

But I will wait 
that long
You and me
we're super strong
And if you miss me
Here's a song

A Summer in Quarantine

The Quarantine Song

Written, performed, and produced by: Sebastian Son
IG: @singsebastianson
YT: singsebastian
Album: A Summer in Quarantine
Album Art by: Chuan Nitta
IG: @jooo_ahn

I always thought of Is Anybody Listening as the weird song on the album. When I wrote it in 2020, it didn't make much sense - it doesn't really sound like a pop song, the lyrics are strange, and there's that random key change at the end. 

It's grown on me though, and whenever I'm in a weird mood this is the song I turn to. It's kind of like the soundtrack to all my late nights, and maybe it'll mean something to you too. 

Lyrics:

If I was a boat I'd need a sailor 
If I was a ship I'd need an anchor
But all the ancient mariners 
Rime alone

If I was a plane I'd need a pilot
If I was a pen I'd need a highlight
But I'm always left to
Write and fly alone

But all of these words just hide what I'd like to hear
Metaphor can't change the things I fear

Is anybody listening?
Is anybody missing me? 
Can anybody hear the words I sing?

I wish I was an engineer
I'd build a machine to be seen from here
A great big spotlight
Bright against the clouds

It's nights like these when I'm left alone
I wonder who's really in control
Me, the thought of me
Or the thought of you

Is anybody listening?
Is anybody missing me? 
Can anybody hear the words I sing?

Can you see me?
Can you feel me?
Bring that mirror forward

Is it you or 
Is it me or
Is it me times two?

I don't know 
I don't know
I don't know
I don't know

Is anybody listening?
Is anybody missing me? 
Can anybody hear the words I sing?

Is Anybody Listening

Written, performed, and produced by: Sebastian Son
IG: @singsebastianson
YT: singsebastian
Album: A Summer in Quarantine
Album Art by: Chuan Nitta
IG: @jooo_ahn

I made this song using (mostly) sounds from the basement. Whenever someone runs the kitchen sink I can hear the water rushing through the pipes. I sampled that, and that became the risers into the pre-chorus. Other sounds you can hear are falling mancala beads, crinkling paper, wine glasses, and me rubbing a brush over my Crocs (took that one from Jacob Collier). 

Lyrics:

If there's one woman that I adore
It's the girl that I met on the second floor
Of a school in a town
On the eastern shore

I joined her club and then I walked her home
And I asked her one night if we could go out alone
She met my eyes 
And time began to slow

I thought, yeah, this is good
This feels like, the way it should

This, this is love
I never thought I'd find the feeling
I'm dreaming of

She makes me laugh and then she makes me swoon
When she wears my leather boots with a dress of blue 
And poses for a picture that
Memory will keep true

She'll take me upstairs to her room
Where we'll eat our French fries from the drive through
I'll stroke her hair and whisper 
I was made for you

And think yeah, this is good
This feels like, the way it should

This, this is love
I never thought I'd find the feeling
I'm dreaming of

And I'm so scared to say 
The words I want to
Cause you weren't there when I last said,
'I love you'

But then you found me and said it's nice to meet you
Now we mingle over dinner with some wine and a pizza
Sneak onto the roof and watch the stars at play 
Or hold me tight under the covers until night turns to day

Girl, you make me feel like brand new
Girl, I'm never getting over you, no

Cause this is love
I never thought I'd find the feeling
I'm dreaming of

Hmmm
Oh
Oh oh oh

This Is Love

Written, performed, and produced by: Sebastian Son
IG: @singsebastianson
YT: singsebastian
Album: A Summer in Quarantine
Album Art by: Chuan Nitta
IG: @jooo_ahn

In 2020, I took a gap year off from school and went to work what I would consider a real job. I wore button-down shirts every day, shared a cubicle with my boss, and worked on a computer. There were nice things, like fancy company lunches. Everyone was very kind to me. 

Then one day my father was driving me to work, and I was sitting next to him in the passenger seat and I just started crying. I turned my face away and pretended to stare out the window, but I was hiding because I didn't want him to ask what the matter was. I don't know that I could have answered that - I wasn't sure why I was unhappy, but I felt like there was some part of my life, in that moment, that was very wrong. 

I went home that night and wrote this chorus, and the song just kind of came out in a rush. 

Lyrics:

Sometimes I cry
I don't know why 
Sometimes there's no time 
To do anything but cry 

I cried today 
The tears fell on my crisped white shirt 
I blotted them out before I went to back to work
And I walked alone in the rain

My friends, let's go out they say
We'll hit up a party or throw rocks in the bay
But I think I'll stay home today

Sometimes I cry
I don't know why 
Sometimes there's no time 
To do anything but cry 

I think I'm in a perfect world 
I met a girl who I love I'm sure 
She takes my temperature and whether I am hot or it's cold
She sews all the holes in my clothes 

I saw her stoop to pick up my shirt 
Saw the lines in her face as she looked 
Heard the plate shatter on the wood 
I'd trade what was for what could be 

Sometimes I cry
I don't know why 
Sometimes there's no time 
To do anything but cry 

Are you here
If I disappear

I need a little help right now
I need someone to show me how
Cause every night I'm crying on the pillow that I'm lying on
And feeling like these tears aren't mine

I don't know why
I don't know why
Sometimes I feel fine
And sometimes I cry

Sometimes I Cry

"The Girl Underneath the Moon" is a song I wrote in 2020. This song, as well as the entire album ("A Summer in Quarantine"), was written after I decided to take a gap year from school. I spent the year working various odd jobs and thinking about the future - my future, but also the future in general; what it would hold and how things might have ended up differently for me. What I came up with was this song, about someone not quite happy where they are, but also not quite sure if the grass is greener on the other side.

Lyrics

What if we chased that Western sky?
I'll call tomorrow, book a first class flight
We'll leave professors and exams behind
We'll be our own home

I'm in the market for a different life
Cause the one I was told to buy
With the paycheck and the subway ride
Doesn't feel quite right

But you know what I'd like to see
A place made for you and me
Some home on a distant shore
Where the grass looks green

If I could ask you just one thing
I'd ask, will you take this wedding ring
Start this life I'm better-ing
If you'll take a chance on me

And the question for a girl your age
Is how to judge the plans you made
Things will change in a year and a day
But let's hear an answer now

[instrumental]

Can't remember since I last saw you
It's been a couple years since high school
Don't even know what I'd say to you
We could turn off the lights and dance

And I'm nothing but a guy you knew
Writing songs from his bed room
About places he's never seen
And things he'll never feel

But you know what I'd like to see
A place made for you and me
Some home on a distant shore
Where the grass looks green

Just a minor flaw
I never knew
How to get the girl beneath the moon
To share
A life
With me

The Girl Underneath the Moon

Call Home, original song submission Musicians Institute

CALL HOME.2 Midterm Submission

midterm submission IAP Musicians Institute

There's Something Different About John Midterm Submission

Boy on the edge of the world.

IG: @singsebastianson

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