[Production notes — 66 BPM; sparse Rhodes pad, warm ambient keys, soft brushed snare, gentle sub bass. Leave open pocket at ends of phrases for breathy male runs and falsetto ad‑libs. Harmony directions included inline: Pre‑Chorus = stacked background harmonies in 3rds; Chorus = parallel fourths under lead; Bridge → Final Chorus = 3‑part gospel swell. Performance: lead male tone — breathy, intimate; spot harmonized falsetto ad‑libs after lines marked *]
[Verse 1]
You left your sweater folded on the hall bench,
The smell of rain in the collar, coffee cooling on the bench,
Moonlight slices through the blinds, paints your face in silver lines,
Your laugh — a lighthouse for ships that lost their time.
[Pre‑Chorus]
(Background harmonies enter, stacked 3rds under the lift)
When you breathe close, the room learns all my secrets,
I hold the simple proof — the sweater, the small regrets,
Lean in slow, it’s where I finally rest —
A quiet map of how you fix the compass in my chest.
[Chorus]
You’re the echo in my chest, you keep me breathing slow,
You’re the echo in my chest, the steady that I know.
(Parallel fourths under the lead — let the hook ring twice, singable, repeatable)
You’re the echo in my chest, you keep me breathing slow,
You’re the echo in my chest, don’t ever let me go.
[Verse 2]
Taste of coffee on your lips when morning finds us late,
Fridge light humming like a hymn for the simple, small estates,
Your sneaker by the door, a crooked book, a postcard from June,
You trace constellations on my skin with the tips of your fingers like a tune.
[Pre‑Chorus]
(Keep stacked 3rds; slightly higher voicing on the last line)
Your cologne still in the collar, the space between the sheets,
I memorize the silence where your heartbeat meets my sleep,
Hold the line, feel the lift before the fall —
This is the only truth I know: you answer every call.
[Chorus]
You’re the echo in my chest, you keep me breathing slow,
You’re the echo in my chest, the steady that I know.
(Parallel fourths layer thicker on second pass; allow a breathy run into the next line)
You’re the echo in my chest, you keep me breathing slow,
You’re the echo in my chest, don’t ever let me go.
[Bridge]
(Harmony thickens here — introduce low harmony under the lead, then build into a 3‑part gospel swell)
When the city’s lights go out and the noise forgets our names,
You’re the warmth that writes my prayers on the windowpane,
Like a record spun on a cracked, familiar groove,
You turn my small, cracked mornings into something to move.
(Lead: brief falsetto ad‑lib * — Background call & response on the last phrase)
[Final Chorus]
(3‑part gospel style swell — full background harmony, held vowels, ad‑libs in call-and-response)
You’re the echo in my chest — you keep me breathing slow,
You’re the echo in my chest — the steady that I know.
You’re the echo in my chest — a lighthouse in the low,
You’re the echo in my chest — now and when the seasons go.
(Lead lifts into harmonized false
