Kid Gloves

Background and Commentary

“With its circular riff and 5/4 beat, ‘Kid Gloves’ would be the warmest jaunt on Grace Under Pressure.”—Martin Popoff, Contents Under Pressure

Written to describe the band’s response to pressures of the period. “1983 was a tough year for us. The last tiour was a grind, and everybody had been going through some changes. Before Peter [Henderson, the producer of Grace Under Pressure] we had a couple of other people in mind we wanted to work with [namely, Steve Lillywhite, producer of U2], but things got screwed up along the way and there was a bit of a panic. ‘Kid Gloves’ is our response to rolling with the punches during pressure.” (Circus)—Alex in Merely Players

‘Oh, God, Rush hate me.’ Steve Lillywhite talks about his row with Rush because of Grace Under Pressure.

The pieces “contains what is perhaps Alex’s best recorded guitar solo, a welcomed change of pace on an otherwise dark album.”—Bill Banasiewicz, Rush Visions

Lyrics

A world of difference
A world so out of touch
Overwhelmed by everything
But wanting more so much

Call it blind frustration
Call it blind man’s bluff
Call each other names
Your voices rude
Your voices rough
Then you learn the lesson
That it’s cool to be so tough

Handle with kid gloves
Handle with kid gloves
Then you learn the lessons
Taught in school won’t be enough
Put on your kid gloves
Put on your kid gloves
Then you learn the lesson
That it’s cool to be so tough

A world of indifference
Heads and hearts too full
Careless of the consequence
Of constant push and pull

Anger got bare knuckles
Anger play the fool
Anger wear a crown of thorns
Reverse the golden rule
Then you learn the lesson
That it’s tough to be so cool

Handle with kid gloves
Handle with kid gloves
Then you learn the weapons
And the ways of hard knock school
Put on your kid gloves
Put on your kid gloves
Then you learn the lesson
That it’s tough to be so cool

Tablature

By Patrick M. Ryan (pat@jaameri.gsfc.nasa.gov)

Excerpted from Fretplay.

This is a fun tune. Play it loud. In the first measure of the intro, there are some extra muffled notes between the notes I have tabbed below. First prize to whoever figures them all out and tells me (’cause I don’t know what they are!). Extra credit for the rest of the solo.

intro/melody (i believe this is in 5/4)

riff [A]
———————————————-
———————————————-
—————————————-2—– ( repeat 4 times )
—-0-4-0-2—0-2-0—–0-4-0-2—0-2-0——-
————0——-2———–0————-
–3——————-3———————–

riff [B]
Asus A
–10-10–9–9-
–10-10-10-10-
—9–9–9–9-
————–
————–
————–

verses
(chords without tabs are in their usual spellings)

riff [A]
A world of difference
A world so out of touch
riff [A]
Overwhelmed by everything
But wanting more so much —

G B
Call it blind …
A riff [B]
Call it blind m….
G B
Call each …
A A A A A A A
our voices rude — …
G B
Then you learn …
B D A A A
That it’s cool …

bridge to the chorus:

——————————————
——————————————
————————–2—————
—-0-4-2—0-2-4—0-2-0—————–
———-2——-0———————–
–3—————————————

chorus 1

E F# A D F# E F# A F# D

—0—–0—–0———–0—–0—–0—————
—0—–0—–0———–0—–0—–0—————
-1—–3—–6—–7=11–1—–3—–6—–11=7——– o
-2—–4—–7—–7=11–2—–4—–7—–11=7——– o ( repeat 2 times)
-2—–4—–7—–5==9–2—–4—–7——9=5——–
-0—–0—–0———–0—–0—–0—————–

Handle with kid …

For complete tab, go to Fretplay.