Cavalier, I thought I had no more to show. Living on spongecake and the radio. We loved from limb to limb And when all that was done We'd be married by the sun. And I don't know if half of what we said was true, But everything I loved was you. And I wrote you so many poems. I cast them out to sea. Like a song that's not bound by any key It got away from me. People fill their lives with things that won't sustain happiness or love or take away their pain. Of the all the holes that mark the road where we came from, The hole you dug's the deepest one. And I don't know if half of what I sing is true, But every line was sung to you. And I wrote you so many poems I cast on many seas. Like a song that's not bound by any key It got away from me. It got away from me. It got away from me. words and music by Joe Pernice, Bony Gap Music (BMI), admin by BUG/BMG
During a seven-year semi-dormant period of making music, I coached youth baseball…to the exclusion of almost all things. I knew nothing about coaching, and to be honest, while I’ve been a baseball fan/spectator for most of my life, I hated playing it as a kid. Our coaches meant well, but the weren’t very good. And being “bad” at baseball is only slightly more fun than being bad at tennis, golf and violin. (Even as a young kid, I was always more into speed…as in velocity and acceleration, not the drug.) Anyway, when my kid went cuckoo for baseball, I got roped-in to coaching. Long story short, coaching was one of the best things I ever did, and I look back at that seven-year stretch as one of the greatest of my life. (If you have a chance to coach a youth sport, do it. Even if you know nothing about the sport or coaching, do it. You’ll learn. And you’ll love it. Just don’t be an asshole to a kid.)
Last season one of our players dropped a gentle fly ball. When the inning ended I asked him in a easy, teaching-moment way, “Hey, what happened there?” The kid said, “Coach, it got away from me.”
I had the hook and its melody before the start of the next inning. I filed them away until a few months ago. I’d been down a Blaze Foley rabbit hole, and his The Dawg Years recordings certainly informed my take on this song. In truth, his The Dawg Years planted the seed for this whole substack project. If you’ve not heard his stuff, I highly recommend. Be forewarned: It’s dark.
Speaking of dark, I considered not putting out “It Got Away from Me” today because it’s sad, and there’s a lot of sadness and fear in the world today. I asked the advice of someone I love and respect a lot. He said, “Ship it. It’s dark and lovely, and the world needs safer ways to experience sadness.” I hope he’s right. Last week was as heavy as any I’ve had in a while. I don’t want to help make this week heavier than last.
I’m not sure what will become of this song of mine. As a song it feels done to me. But I don’t know if it will land anywhere besides right here. I recorded it on Saturday, live while seated on my living room sofa. I used my LaPatrie nylon string guitar and a Shure MV88 condenser mic that plugs into the lightning connector of my iPhone. I’m no audiophile, but I like the results of recording this way.
I dropped the recording into Logic where I added a tiny bit of compression, and used a parametric EQ to eliminate some 250 Hz aka The Devil’s Frequency.
Anyway, that’s all I got for you. Thanks for listening. And take care of the people you love and who love you.
—JP
"It Got Away from Me"