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  1. The Key

From the recording The Key

There is a local songwriting group that meets monthly. One of the members teaches a music course and gave his students a writing assignment, for that particular month. The songwriting group members were invited to use the assignment as a guideline for our song idea, if we wished. The topic was simply the word, Key, and I had some fun working with the idea. Some decent lyrics were started with the idea, and with a little input from fellow songwriters I had some good thoughts to help me rewrite the lyrics into their present form.
The remarkable thing is somehow I stumbled upon a universal theme; so much so that women came up to me and said they felt I'd revealed their own story in the lyrics. The melody was inspired by the style of Mary Chapin Carpenter's haunting melodies and seemed to fit the mood created by the lyrics. It has been a rewarding experience to share this song!

Lyrics

The Key
All of my dreams
Are out to sea
With you, it seems,
Drifting from me.
I'm at land's end
Waiting to be
With you again.
You hold the key.
 
This emptiness
Has filled me, before;
Wanting you less,
Needing you more.
Is it my fate,
Or destiny
That I must wait?
You hold the key.
 
You made each word into a song
I'd never heard, till you came along.
Now I'll face my fears, do what it takes;
Live with my tears and my mistakes.
 
If you are sure
You won't return
I will endure
These feelings that burn.
There's only one way
I'll ever be free.
After today
I'll hold the key.