Singled Out: The Dead Leaves' If The Shoe Fits

The theme of the song is an idea that's prevalent across the entire record - the contrast between simple everyday life and the intense introspective questions that arise for all of us in what might seem an otherwise domestic sanctuary. I find myself drawn to the idea of romanticizing the everyday man. There is just so much content to work with that people can really connect with and understand. I'm not Bon Jovi after all, I was never shot down in a 'blaze of glory', in fact come to think of it I don't think I have ever even been close to a blaze of glory... But I have suffered from the same insecurities as countless others in regards to the state of my relationship, no matter how smoothly it may have been going or how long it had lasted.

So the verse lays out the setting "we had a home, with a spare room... we had a cat, shared the one car" whilst the chorus is driving home these ruminative questions and doubts - "does this shoe fit the foot that will stand next to my foot in line? Does this glove fit the hand that will hold my hand will it in time? Do you mean what you say when you say that you mean what you say to me?"

The main structure was written surprisingly quickly. I wrote it on the piano and then switched it over to the guitar which sometimes makes for interesting voicings as it did in the verse sections. I brought it to the band with the structure fully formed and everyone jumped on board pretty quickly with their own ideas. Cam came up with a bass line which is in part an homage to "Love Will Tear Us Apart". It's subtle but I think really in keeping with the vibe of the song. Andy created the main floating guitar riff which for me absolutely makes the song. It swirls in the most delicious way that never fails to place me in a dream like state whilst delivering the pre chorus on stage.

The beat we kept pretty simple and poppy, it's not a driving rock song after all, the song is meant to envelope you. We did have a heated debate over the use of the somewhat 'twee' drum fill that kicks the song off though. The fill itself was initially conceived as a bit of a joke. The engineer had placed the snare samples at the top of the song, and I think he was having a bit of a laugh by arranging them in a fashion that made for a very random sounding snare fill. The thing is over time half of the band grew to love its quirky nature. We did however have a tough time getting our drummer Joel to recreate the fill live! Let's just say he wasn't overly keen at first and on occasion has been known to 'accidentally' leave it out.. Still, I love the quirk factor it provides, nothing wrong with a bit of quirk I say.