Everything about this song and video is basic, but that’s apparently the point:
This is the chorus / verse, the one band member is worried about (see interview below), because he thinks there’s a possibility it will be used at an NRA convention.
Well your left hand’s free / And your right’s in a grip / With another left hand / Watch his right hand slip / Towards his gun / Oh no / I tackle, we tussle / And oh my days we’re rolling / My right hand’s gripped on his / Colt single-action army.
Alt-J resolved to write “the least Alt-J song ever”, taking a “joke riff” Joe had been playing in rehearsals and fleshing it out with the most perfunctory chords and rhythm imaginable. Whereas the band typically spend weeks agonising over every note, Left Hand Free was written “in about 20 minutes”. Needless to say, the US label loved it.
Thom: “I tried to make the drums as cliched as possible, there’s none of my personality in it.”
Gus: “I’m doing some kind of organ solo. I don’t know where ‘baby’ came from.”
Joe: “And I say, ‘Gee whizz,’ which I’m not sure is a phrase I’ve ever uttered before. I can imagine it appealing to American truckers with Good Riddance To Bin Laden stickers!”
“Oh God…” says Gus, a worrying realisation dawning. “Someone’s going to walk onstage to it at an NRA convention.”
Full Interview – The Guardian
If it was my song and Sarah Palin wanted to say some stupid shit at an NRA convention and walk on stage to it playing, I’d be kind of irritated. Not “I’m going to say they can’t use the song.” or “I’m not going to cash the check.” irritated… but irritated none the less haha. I can’t tell if the comment Gus was made in jest, or it’s actually out of gun / NRA fear. My guess he was probably just cracking a joke to liven up the interview, and couldn’t care less who wanted to use the song where.
Hat tip: Taylor the girlfriend
