This is certainly a kind of love story. It was written for a girl many years ago. How cliché. I think it is safely summarized thusly-
The main character comes to the realization that his elitism has separated him from the beauty of life. He comes to this realization, of course, thanks to the girl.
“I never had you, in front of me. You were inside, you were out of reach.”
Tricks and Highlights
1) The first verse is separated from the second by a short guitar solo, played over the verse riff. The third and fourth verses, however, play out back to back, adding to the sense of urgency.
2) There is a little epiphany at the end of these verse passages in the form of “The Four Pretty Chords”. At the end of the third and fourth verses, this epiphany is extended. This is a classic jazz (or maybe even older!) technique of taking an idea and expanding it later in the song. We called this one “The Expansion Pack: Pretty Chords version 1.1”. Ha-ha! You have to keep it interesting right? Some of the big fusion songs take a lot of memorizing and I always find that little nicknames help.
3) Finally, there are the dynamics of the intro riff, featuring Keith’s jumpy, finger-picked walk down. When played perfectly they should sound “small, medium, and then large”, which adds to the overall crescendo of the song- it adds growth, evolution.
These kinds of dynamics are always a huge part of our band’s approach to the music. I can think of as many pieces where we are stressing “play within the pocket” as I can think of pieces where we are trying to “go faster and harder”. Dynamics separate a lot of classy bands from more simplistic sounds. Without a doubt it is Punk Music’s lack of dynamics that adds to its crass rawness. It makes it real down to Earth.
But Lock and Key is not a Punk band and this is not a Punk song. It’s our hope that The Patient Hand makes you smile fierce and remember the glory of the individual.
