Heart Food, Judee Sill

(LP, Asylum, 1973)

Heart Food is the second album released on David Geffen's Asylum label in March 1973. The album is dedicated with love to David Omer Bearden, who performed on and wrote the lyrics to the solo piano song “When the Bridegroom Comes.” By 2005 Rhino Handmade reissued the album onto CD, along with its predecessor, Judee Sill Heart Food (Expanded). The album includes nine extra tracks of live and demo material.

"Judee Sill - 'Heart Food, Kiss' One of the crimes of the century if you can't get this record on CD. Judee Sill was by all accounts a reformed prostitute, but she found God in the twelve-string guitar. This song scares the shit out of most people."

— Andy Partridge, Rolling Stone Magazine, May 1999

"The goal of Sill's spiritual quest is absolute oneness with God, a fusion that is conceived both as psychedelic pantheism and in primitive, Judeo-Christian terms. The language with which Sill has chosen to express her vision is quite unusual and powerful. Her diction is elevated, at times almost Biblical, at others idiomatic… Judee Sill is a most gifted artist, one who continues to promise almost more than I dare hope for."

— Stephen Holden, Rolling Stone Magazine, May 1973

Music & Lyrics:

When the Bridegroom Comes

See the bride and the spirit are one,
Then won't you who are thirsty invite Him to come?
With your door opened wide,
Won't you listen in the dark for the midnight cry?
And see when your light is on that the bridegroom comes

Into cold outer darkness are gone
Guests who would not their own wedding garment put on
Tho' the chosen are few, won't you tarry by your lamp till He calls for you?
And pray that your love endure till the bridegroom comes

When the halt and the lame meet the son,
And He sees for the blind, and He speaks for the dumb
Let their poor heart's complaint
Like the leper turned around who has kissed the saint,
Lift like a trumpet shout, and the bridegroom come.

See the builders despising the stone,
See the pearl of great price and the dry desert bones
By the Pharisees cursed,
Be exultant with the rose when the last are first,
And see how his mercy shines, as the bridegroom comes

Hear the bride and the spirit say come,
Then won't you who are weary invite in the Son?
When your heart's love is high,
Won't you hasten to the place where the hour is nigh?
And see that your light is on, for the bridegroom comes

* * *

Track Listings:

Heart Food (LP, Asylum, 1973)

01. There's a Rugged Road
02. The Kiss
03. The Pearl
04. Down Where the Valleys Are Low
05. The Vigilante
06. Soldier of the Heart
07. The Phoenix
08. When the Bridegroom Comes
09. The Donor

Heart Food Expanded (CD, Rhino Handmade, 2005)

01. There's a Rugged Road
02. The Kiss
03. The Pearl
04. Down Where the Valleys Are Low
05. The Vigilante
06. Soldier of the Heart
07. The Phoenix
08. When the Bridegroom Comes
09. The Donor
10. (Untitled/Hidden)
11. The Desperado (Outtake)
12. The Kiss (Demo Version)
13. Down Where the Valleys Are Low (Demo Version)
14. The Donor (Demo Version)
15. Soldier of the Heart (Demo Version)
16. The Phoenix (Demo Version)
17. The Vigilante (Demo Version)
18. The Pearl (Demo Version)
19. There's a Rugged Road (Demo Version)