Musical Structure
"Show Your Hand" is 2 minutes 51 seconds long and is in the key of E minor. The song begins with a "Kevin Ayers-style psych-pop intro"; "a Beatlesque harpsichord line" accompanied by intermittent bass and occasional strummed guitar chords with Rhys singing the lines "You're perched so neatly on the fence, you're keeping your cards all to yourself..." as the songs builds to its first chorus on 30 seconds.
"Emphatic power chords" takes the song into the "rarefied soft-rock territory" of the chorus with Rhys singing the title phrase four times before being joined by "sugar-sweet harmonies from the Brian Wilson School of Spine-Tingling Pop" on the last lines: "I'm jumping off the fence, into your corner". Another verse and chorus follow before the song's middle 8 at 1 minute 31 seconds, a multi-layered vocal take on a regular verse featuring just 'bah, bah, bahs' in place of lyrics.
The song ends with a triple chorus (the third of which features a key change to A major) as "French horn counterpoints usher the song towards its climax", the line "jumping off the fence" repeating three times before a staccato finish with Rhys singing "into your corner", drawing out the last word.
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