Stay Until the Morning (The Love Song of Shu-Sin)

[INTRO — VERY SLOW 6/8 — AFTER-HOURS BLUES] [PEDAL STEEL — LONG LOW BEND] [TENOR SAX ANSWERS] [BRUSHED SNARE — BARELY AUDIBLE] [SPOKEN — LOW FEMALE VOICE — CLOSE MIC — UNHURRIED] My love... you are beautiful to me. Sweet as honey on the tongue. My lion... you are beautiful to me. [PAUSE] You have taken hold of my heart. So come closer. Don't leave me standing here shaking before you. Take me where lovers go when words have done all they can do. [PEDAL STEEL — SLOW ANSWER] Come here, my love. Let me touch you. There is honey in this room tonight, but nothing here is sweeter than what passes between your hand and mine. [TENOR SAX — LOW, BREATHY PHRASE] You have known my pleasure. And I have known yours. My mother will welcome you. My father will place gifts before you. But don't think about them now. [PAUSE] I know what eases your spirit. I know what brings gladness back into your heart. So stay. [STEEL SWELL] Stay here in this house until the morning. [SAX ANSWERS] My lion... stay with me until the morning. [LONG INSTRUMENTAL — STEEL + SAX] [NO BUILD — LEAVE SPACE] [STEEL SPEAKS FIRST — SAX ANSWERS] [BRUSHED SNARE FAR BEHIND THE PULSE] [SPOKEN — EVEN CLOSER] You love me. I know you do. Then give me your tenderness. Not tomorrow. Not when the lamps are burning again. Now. [PAUSE] Shu-Sin... my lord, my shelter, the man who brings joy wherever his heart rests... come closer. [PEDAL STEEL — SINGLE ACHING BEND] Put your hand where love asks it to be. Hold me as though your hand were cloth around me. Cover me. Keep me. [LONG PAUSE] And stay... until the morning. [SAX — LOW PHRASE] Stay... [STEEL ANSWERS] until the morning. [BRUSHED CYMBAL] My love... [PAUSE] my lion... [STEEL + SAX TOGETHER — VERY SOFT] stay. [LONG FADE — NO VOCAL]