Lyrics      Listen

Written by Jeff Oxenford and Julie O’Brian (© 2004)

Performed by Jeff Oxenford (Guitar and Vocals) and Julie O’Brian (Violin)

Type – Acoustic, introspective, moderate tempo, folk.

Inspiration

We had just returned from a vacation in the Florida Keys. Our last adventure before leaving Florida was a guided fishing trip on the flats. It was an amazing day, skimming across shallow flats, racing dolphins and catching lots of fish (including a 150 lb. shark, but that is another story). 

During the day, our guide Steve talked about his choice to move to Florida for a slower paced life. If you’ve spent anytime in the Key’s you know the feeling of getting Key-zee (slow, calm, relaxed). When you leave the Keys behind, you immediately notice the different pace of life.

Process

While in Florida, I was concentrating on learning the E minor pentatonic scale. To practice the scale, I made up a melody which eventually gave rise to chords. When we returned home I kept playing this chord pattern, and Julie found a melody on the piano. With memories of Florida fresh in my mind, and the music, the lyrics came easily.

When we started playing this song, the violin became the lead instrument of choice because of how easy it is to do a portamento (bending or sliding into a pitch) on the violin. Then, since we needed a bridge and I couldn’t find any chord changes that I liked, so we added a violin bridge. The structure of the song is:

Intro

V, V, C

V, C

Instrumental bridge (V,C)

V, C