This is no ordinary goldmine. I could never raise my voice or hand to Last call for alcohol two Vodka and lime. Tell me where. I swear I'd be on time. You can't be sure how deep this cut goes. But I believe you slashed right through me. It's been so long I can't remember How to read the cues or signs. Tell me where. I swear I'd be on time. You in my coat Makes the night feel warmer. You in my coat Makes your black sun shine. I'll keep it there with mine. It's been so long my hands are shaking Like a thief before the crime. Tell me where. I swear I'd be on time. Words and music by Joe Pernice, Bony Gap Music(BMI), admin by BUG/BMG.
I wrote this song a couple years ago, and shortly after, a studio recording was made outside of Seattle with my often collaborators Joshua Karp and Liam Jaeger. It’s a very good recording, but in the end I balked at releasing it because there were fatal flaws in the songwriting. There was a major chord somewhere in there that was just too cheerful. On top of that, the key was wrong, as were a line or two of lyrics. I guess what I’m saying is I was probably premature in bringing the song to the table then. I tried to sell the wine before its time. (Sorry, fellas)
A few months back I was going through some music files on my computer, and this song was there. I messed around with the chord changes and got the tune to where I liked it. For me the song now has the right vibe, and when we finally do recut it, I hopefully won’t want to bury it a second time.
As for the recording you just heard or are about to hear, I sat at my kitchen table and tracked it live to my iPhone 8 (?) using a no-name plug-in mic my sister gave my kid a couple Christmases ago. I used my mahogany Martin acoustic. The strings on the Martin are old and dead, and I love the sound. (I’m not a big fan of the bright, new-string sound. To my ears this particular Martin sounds especially good when its dead strings are detuned a half or even whole step.) The kitchen table you hear me tapping my foot against was salvaged from a damaged rectangular table a contractor buddy of mine pulled from a home he was renovating. I cut it square, sanded it down, took a router to the edges and stained it orange. Then I mounted it to a pedestal. It’s a good table. Have written a bunch of songs at it. It’s also a good size for making pasta. (All are pictured above.)
I dumped the phone recording into Logic on my computer. I slightly tamed the sibilance with a de-esser, added some EQ, compression and a hair of tape delay. As I said in my last post and will say many more times I’m sure, I have very little idea of what I’m doing when it comes to audio engineering. It’s kind of shocking for someone who has made close to 20 albums to know so little about engineering sound. I’m not being cute or self deprecating. I have more than once texted photos of common audio cable jacks to real engineers asking, “Is this an RCA jack?” I’m more of a bicycle nerd anyway. I find electricity very confusing and ultimately sleep-inducing. Whatever. Here’s a song. —JP
(note: Slight change of plans. My next substack post will also be free to all subscribers. But starting with the post that follows that, all future posts will be available only to paid subscribers. The cost is a flat $5 a month. Thanks for listening.)
"Ordinary Goldmine"