Courage Up

Some make it. Some never make up their minds.
I saw you. I thought I'd make your life all right.
Never gonna be the one you want.
Never gonna be the one you sing to sometimes
when you get the courage up.

Finally, somebody you can piss on.
Strung along. String on your finger
tied so tight.
Never gonna be the one you want.
Never gonna be the one you sing to sometimes
when you get the courage up.

And could you once see your way clear
to gather up your shit and fake like
you were really here.

Never gonna be the one you want.
Never gonna be the one you sing to sometimes
when you get the courage up.
When You get the courage up.
When you get the courage up.

 

Joe Pernice Bony Gap Music Music (BMI), admin by BUG/BMG

I included the original 1997 demo of Courage Up and a recent recording of the song. The form and lyrics of the newer version here is more like those of the Chappaquiddick album version. You’ll notice in the ‘97 demo that the lyrics were a good bit different than the final. The song was mostly written in the first person, while the final version moved to second person.

I also had not written the middle eight chord changes when I made the ‘97 demo. That said, I’m pretty sure I had written those chord changes by the time we went in to record Overcome.

Here’s what I wrote about Courage Up for the Overcome By Happiness Deluxe LP issue liner notes:

Courage Up obviously did not make the final cut of songs for Overcome. It was pretty newly written when we went into the studio to make the record. I had yet to have a sense of what “kind” of song it was. That, and because we were on a pretty tight schedule and budget, I crossed it off the list. We just didn’t have the time to muck with it in the studio. Had I panicked and nixed it too soon? Probably. I panicked about everything back then. Did the record need this tune? Damned if I know. Anyway, we fleshed it out later, and it shows up on the Chappaquiddick Skyline album.

I probably started writing Courage Up in late August or early September of 1997. Had it been any earlier I would have finished it, and we would have tried recording it in the Overcome By Happiness sessions. The songs were flowing fast and furious back then. Thom Monahan and I spent a few days driving around the hill country of Western, Massachusetts in my 1979 Pontiac Bonneville given to me by my late uncle Ducky Vitale. We’d talk about the upcoming sessions and how we figured they should go. Was a really exciting time. Anyway, Courage Up didn’t make the cut. But we got to it for the Chappaquiddick LP.

I’ll do a video in a couple days showing how I play the song.

The second version of the song I included here was tracked in Logic a little ways back. The reverbs on the voice and guitar sound a bit different to me, so my guess is I recorded the vox and guitar separately. I can’t recall which guitar I played, but it sounds like one of my smaller bodied acoustics.

I hope you enjoy comparing the versions. Sometimes the songs fall on me almost fully formed. And other times there’s a decent amount of tweaking, editing & refining. This song was somewhere in the middle.

And if you’d care to here the studio version, it's up on all the streaming services. And if you’d care to own your own copy there are still some left here:

Chappaquiddick Skyline Vinyl

As always, thanks for listening and reading. Take care of yourselves and those around you. I’m not a religious person in the traditional sense, but I’m thinking of my friends, family and everyone else in Los Angeles.