The Garden

Best Of This article features content which is widely regarded to be the Best Of Kanye West's discography. Though chosen to be highlighted as one of his best, this is always subject to change.

"The Garden"Unreleased song by Kanye West
General information
Featured artist(s)	Slim Sunday Service Choir
Status	Leaked (V1, V2, V3, V5, V6, V8, V9, V10, V12, V13, V15, V16, V17, V18, V19, V20, V21, V22, V23) Partially leaked (V7) Lost (V4, V11, V14)
Recorded	September 7, 2017-July 18, 2019
Length	1:08
Intended albums	Good Ass Job Yandhi JESUS IS KING Donda 2
Writer(s)	Ant Clemons, The-Dream, Kanye West, Teyana Taylor, Ty Dolla $ign, Carole Bayer Sager, MIKE DEAN, johan lenox & The Wrldfms Tony Williams
Producer(s)	Kanye West, johan lenox & MIKE DEAN

"The Garden" is an unreleased song by Kanye West. The latest known version of the song features vocals from Slim and the Sunday Service Choir.

Background

The song originates from an unreleased song by Chance the Rapper and Daniel Caesar, titled "Pets". On September 7, 2017, Chance and Daniel recorded a 25-minute long jam session for the song, which was later cut down to just 7 minutes that same day. In 2018, Chance repurposed the song for his and Ye's collaborative album, Good Ass Job. Chance, Ye, and Ant Clemons recorded another 17-minute long jam session for the song before Ye later took the song for his own then-upcoming album, Yandhi.

On September 22, 2018, Carole Bayer Sager recorded reference vocals for the song, and some of them would be used for a planned feature alongside Ty Dolla $ign, Ant Clemons, The-Dream, and Teyana Taylor, with additional MIKE DEAN production. At this point, the song had been renamed to "The Garden". The song was seen on several tracklists, including the famous SNL tracklist, and Tony Williams recorded a reference track on October 8. R&B singer Slim recorded vocals for the song sometime in late 2018, replacing Clemons' verse. In February 2019, the Sunday Service Choir recorded new vocals for the song and most of Ty's vocals were cut. The instrumental was also more minimalistic.

The latest known version of "The Garden" was made on July 18, 2019 and only features Slim and the SSC's vocals. On August 29, 2019, Kim Kardashian tweeted an early tracklist for JESUS IS KING, which listed "Garden" as the second track. By this point, though, the song hadn't been updated in over a month and it was presumably scrapped thereafter.

The song was shortly brought back for Donda 2 and had been intended for release on the stem player, though this never happened.

Lyrics

[Intro: Carole Bayer Sager]
Hi Kanye, it's Carol
And I'm gonna read you this lyric that I've got going
If you like it, where it's going, I'll finish it
I like it
It's called "The Garden"

[Verse 1: Ty Dolla $ign]
There's been a lot of change in our lives
Some would've guessed and some undefined
Must keep the faith in, faith in each other
You are my brother, family

[Chorus: Ty Dolla $ign]
Writin's on the wall around us (yeah-yeah)
Watchin' people all around us (yeah)
Gotta wake up to the call above us (Ooh-ooh-oh)
Then I know it's gon' be alright (Yeah-yeah)
It's comin' around, we're enlightened
Prayin' that we all stay guided
Some way, somehow (Ooh-ohh)
We'll find our way

[Verse 2: Ant Clemons]
We will weld this world, world back together
Let's make a way, we'll lead the way (Must)
Must keep the faith, faith in each other
You are my brother, family

[Chorus: Ty Dolla $ign & Ant Clemons]
Writin's on the wall around us
Watchin' people all around us
Gotta wake up to the call above us
Then I know it's gonna be alright
It's comin' back around, we're enlightened
Prayin' that we all stay guided
Some way, somehow (Ooh-ohh)
We'll find a way
Hey (Ooh-ooh-ooh)
We'll find a way
Some way, somehow (Ooh-ohh)
We'll find a way, we'll find a way

[Verse 3: Teyana Taylor and The-Dream]
We'll find our way like summer flows its way through fall
Allow love to wrap its wings around us all
Daylight
In the nighttime, don't cry yourself to sleep
I will be your everything
Stay patiently waiting for me (for me)
Let the harmony between you and I
Completely make us whole (make us whole)
Let me know (me know)
That you and I see the same picture (picture)
In that frame, with ya (with ya)

Trivia

• On the SNL tracklist, "City In The Sky" and "The Garden" were listed next to each other unlike every other song, which led fans to believe that the two songs were supposed to be combined into one. However, several other Yandhi tracklists indicate that the two songs are separate.