I Do

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I Do

"Conversable, intellectable, hot kisses so delectable"

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Love Survives

I wish I didn’t love the sound of your voice
I wish it made my soul feel frozen
And I wish I felt my heart was giving me another choice
And I wish I wasn’t happy for what it’s chosen

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I wish it was a soft attraction
Not this endless chain reaction
I wish I didn’t feel it through and through

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But I do
I do – wish I didn’t think about you, but I do
I do – wish I wasn’t off the brink about you

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I wish I didn’t love shape of your sweet face
I wish I found your dreams mundane
I wish your thoughts didn’t launch my mind into outer space
I wish your shining eyes didn’t drive my heart insane

Wish I could say "I love you" sadly
Wish I didn’t love you madly
I wish I didn’t wish dreams would come true

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But I do
I do – wish I didn’t love you crazy, but I do
I do – wish I didn’t like my life so hazy

I wish we didn’t melt together
Every time I kiss you
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I wish a hundred times a day
I didn’t feel I miss you

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Conversable, intellect-able
Hot kisses, so delectable
But it seems the only sinning
Is how much I love my whole life spinning

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I wish my heart could be less lenient
I wish I cared it’s so inconvenient
But most of all I wish I didn’t love every part of you

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But I do
I do – wish I didn’t dream about you, but I do
I do – wish I didn’t wanna scream about you, but I do

But I do
I do – wish I didn’t think about you, but I do
I do – wish I wasn’t off the brink about you

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I Do

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Songwriter’s Notes

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I’ve attended and participated in several weddings. As a minister I’ve officiated at a few. As a performer, I’ve sung at several. And of course, between family and friends there have been too many simple wedding attendances to count. As a veteran of these events, I think weddings are a fascinating arena of human emotional dynamics. If you study the people who attend and officiate and participate in weddings, you discover there’s a huge array of emotions in play. And that’s especially true of the two people for whom the wedding is given. I’ve loved getting to know those folks and having them bare their thoughts; their feelings are complex and consuming, even conflicting. And as a veteran of weddings in that capacity as well, I know that array of feelings personally.

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But all that complex, consuming conflict is overwhelmed (at least we hope) by the reason they’re there: the love that brought them together, and they believe will hold them together. Either or both members of that imminent marriage are likely to be experiencing those “what am I about to do?” jitters. And who can blame them? Marriage is risky business; people change, grow apart, evolve different expectations, etc. It’s something everyone struggles with when they’re a few moments from vow exchanges, and if they don’t, they should.

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Sometimes those concerns are more about the loss of freedom and space. In those cases, it’s not unusual to hear someone lamenting the intensity and strength of his love for his or her imminent partner rather than fear of commitment. After all - if he or she wasn’t crazy for that special person, he or she could live free forever, right? It’s in those special “too good to be true” relationships - and complexity and conflict of those feelings and the array of interactions they present - that “I Do” finds a home. In the feelings of doubt, the song is dark, muted, and introspective. The voice looks inside and laments his compelling feelings, growling over a driving and relentless VI-II minor chord cadence. But it brightens in the moment of commitment; that moment of expulsion of that “I Do” commitment gushes with a complete change of tone, brightness, and harmonic structure. The classic I-VI-IV-V progression powers the “I Do” home with certainty. There’s still some doubt, but there’s no question this is the place to be.

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Between the verse’s early darkness and the chorus, there’s a key change expressed in an 8 measure transition, and a change in timbre from B minor to C major. That’s a deliberate device, of course, as key changes in well written songs with key changes typically are. That changes the swing of the pendulum and brings the theme around from darkness to light. I love this kind of expression; it’s something Western music does so very well, and of course it’s mine to exploit. But the chorus comes right back to the key of D major - B minor’s parent key - reminding you a person might change his mind or feelings, but he or she can’t change what or who they are. Those key and timbre changes are deliberate too, but by now you know that already.

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Production and Musician’s Notes

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For its many changes in timbre and key, “I Do” never changes its tempo or drive. It’s a 160 beat per minute muscle car fueled by relentless drums and rhythm guitars and oiled with a florid melody that covers almost two full octaves. The vocals follow the road’s turns and hills. On the flat valleys, the vocal is dark and introspective like the lamenting lyrics. In the key change transitions, as it starts climbing the hills, the voice brightens as the subject ceases lamenting his choice. By the time that choice manifests in full vocal joy in the chorus, I’m almost screaming with joy - figuratively (hitting the highest notes in the song, at the top of my natural vocal range) and literally (I’m standing two feet back from my microphone and it’s still borderline clipping).

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The production ride rolls on a twisting road to be sure, but it finds its comfort in a bass line that weaves effortlessly between a pounding 1-5 rock pattern to a walking swing. In addition to keeping the rhythm section always on its toes, it reminds the listener of that uncertain emotional footing that is always the driving theme of the song’s lyrics. As is often true of my songs, the bass provides an sentient foundation that forces the production to adapt to the human content of the song. I’ve hypothesized before that the bass is the humanity of a band, and that hypothesis is no more evident in any song in my inventory than “I Do”.

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I found in trying to record and produce “I Do” over time that it’s a guitar song - period. My attempts at adding some rock organ or my beloved clavinet to the song have proven to be noble but fruitless gestures. The lead guitar duet that starts between bridges and runs through the rest of the song give the song the bite I hoped for with an organ lead. No regrets. Something learned, especially for someone who prides himself with an open mind and heart like me, easily mitigates lost time.

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The influences here are many, and they’re almost entirely rock. The basic drive is pure heart pounding rock and roll. The main rhythm guitar is very punk oriented, from its rusty, jagged sound to its deliberately gritty transitions between chords in the darker parts of the verses. The bass line borrows from both rock and jazz, giving the song a unique blend of styles that carries its grove and power with a special elegance, like a bourbon glaze and avocados and applewood smoked bacon give to an otherwise ordinary hamburger. The acoustic guitar is just me pounding full 6-string chords, hoping the song finished before the guitar is converted to shrapnel.

All creative content created, developed, produced,

and futzed with obsessively by Rick Thorne

"I Do" was performed by Rick Thorne and Relatively Few Friends

Personnel:

Rick Thorne: guitars, bass, drums, and continuing vocal abuse

No friends were annoyed in the production of this song