Apparently, Nick Jaina was deathly sick when he and his band stopped by the Daytrotter studios to record a few songs—including unreleased and absolutely beautiful gem “I Know I’m Your Man”—but it’s hard to tell when listening to the session now. Is it just me, or does his voice always sound good? I could write more, but the story just sounds better in his own words. Put me in the camp of those utterly convinced that this man should compile some sort of anthology of his written work [We're working on it -Ed.]:

I was deathly ill when we went in to record at Daytrotter. It was cold and snowing. We had been on tour for a month, and by that point we had only had two days off. I had a severe cold and my voice was shot, my body was aching. We set up our instruments in the studio and I walked across the street to get a bagel. I shuffled through a slushy, freezing alley and I didn’t have a coat on. My shirt was getting wet and I was shivering. I remember thinking, “How am I ever going to get through this? I feel awful. I could just fall down in the street right now and I’d probably be frozen numb in ten minutes and all the suffering would be over.” I got to the bagel shop and ordered a turkey sandwich. The woman behind the counter was middle-aged with glowing skin and short blond hair. She said, “Okay, Nick, one turkey sandwich.” I said, “How did you know my name?” And she said, “I was talking to my son, the cook, who’s name is Nick,” and she pointed to the kitchen where a young fellow nodded. And I said, “Oh, I thought maybe you were an angel or something.” And she said, “What’s wrong, are you sick?” And I said, “Yes, I’m not feeling well.” And she said, “Do you want some orange juice?” And I said, “Yes, that would be great.” And step by step, I got back to the studio and apparently recorded this song, although I don’t remember all the rest of the details.

Here’s the link to the full session, featuring two unreleased tracks, one song from 7 Stations, and one from new his 2008 release Wool.

Links:
Daytrotter
JainaSpace

Illustration by Johnnie Cluney courtesy of Daytrotter