Singer-songwriter S.G. Goodman is back with her new singles “Take It Away”. The two-part song was originally recorded for her critically acclaimed 2022 album Teeth Marks. The song can be ingested as Part A, Part B, or the whole track in one, which is this writer’s preferred method of consumption.
Goodman says “This was a track from the Teeth Marks sessions that didn’t make the album. I still love all my misfits, and especially the waltz/sprint dichotomy of this one. Take it for what it’s worth, but keep in mind that one of life’s harshest ironies is the fact that you might not truly feel something until it’s gone.”
The beginning of “Take It Away” pairs her crackling Kentucky twang contrasted against the gentle strum of her 1965 Gibson. In classic Goodman style, the arrangement is bare-boned, and the aura is from a different time. Goodman spends the Part A part of this track bellowing a lost dream with lines like “For then the birds won't fly or sweet talk the morning. For then the Earth would cry and long for the dew”. The subject is indistinct, but the emotion is felt throughout.
The tempo picks up considerably as Part B begins. My head bobs along as the driving backbeat accompanies Goodman’s sentimental lyrics intertwined with musical imagery. Goodman sings: “Like a fetter I will bind. The harmony entwined. Oh, we can make it. Two hearts will keep the time. The tuning and the rhyme. Go on and take it.” Part B really puts on a bow on this single, and what can I say, I’m a sucker for a happy ending.