In the Key of K

The new album, Out of Time Out of Tune, is streaming everywhere! However, you can buy physical copies here.

This piece is from my second album, “Out of Time, Out of Tune” from 1998 (re-released in 2026). This was the first song I started working on when re-visiting my early work and it was the last one to finish. A ton of extra work went into this one but I like the end result.

A lot of things were in flux for me at this time. I was really dissatisfied and restless. So all the stuff about change in the lyrics is not surprising. It’s also about expanding your mind and way of thinking. I won’t always discuss lyrics in detail but this one has some fun things going on (more below). For me, the song is mostly about having an open mind and being independent.

Lyrics:
//
Verse one
I get lost
Can I still see
Break for me
You know that it’s for you

Chorus
So we change and drain.
So we claim and change.
So we change our brains.
So they claim to think that they change.
Do they understand what change is?
I’m a different person everyday. 

Verse two
I’m your
Deep mind
Inside again

Chorus
//

The verse lyrics were originally written as a silly subliminal message:

Verse one:
I get lost
Can I still see
Break for me
You know that it’s for you

As originally written, it looked more like this (evenly spaced–it may look wonky on some devices):

I             get lost

Can       I still see

Break    for me,

You        know that it’s for you.

It’s meant to be read top to bottom in this form so it reads: “I can break you. Get lost. I still see for me, know that it’s for you.” When read both ways it is a conversation to the self.

Similarly with the second verse…

Verse two:
I’m your
Deep mind
Inside again

Top to bottom it reads: “I’m deep inside your mind again.”

Musically, it begins with a two count of F power chord (F5) followed by a practice exercise I used to do in 4/4. Imagine a giant X on the fret board. First finger, first fret, sixth string; second finger, second fret, fifth string; third finger third fret, fourth string, etc. and then played back to make the X pattern on the fretboard (tabbed out below). I then added some bits and bobs to make it more musical, to sound less like a practice exercise. I’m a huge advocate for left hand pinky use and if you’re not this piece will be difficult to play. To play it like me, always keep a four fret stretch!

——————-
——————-
——–4-1——–
——3—–2——
—2———-3—-
-1————–4–

Then this:
——————–
——————–
——————–
—–2—–1——–
—3—–2—–1—
-4—–3—–2—–

Lastly, this (keep a four fret stretch, change positions I, II, and III):
——————————-
————————–6—-
————–5——5———
—–4—–4—–3————
—3—-2———————
-1—————————-
The chorus is in some flavor of G–all power chords–It’s hard to hear but this is close.

/G5***/G5***/D5***/D5***/E5***/E5***/A5***/B5*A5*/ this gets repeated then
/G5***/G5***/D5***/D5***/E5***/E5***/B5***/A5*D5*/

The form is really straight forward: verse, chorus, verse, chorus, coda. This is mostly right, I think–it’s easy to forget when you don’t play it tens of years or more. I’ve regularly played the verse material over the years (still a great exercise!) but the chorus hadn’t been played in decades.

I still really like this one. If I went back in time I would spend a lot more time on the lyrics for the first verse to make something really fun and mimic the simplicity of the second verse. I wrote the second verse first and spent a lot of time struggling on the first one. Se la vie.