From the recording Billy Jack Purnell Plain & Simple
"Pench" was inspired by a conversation I had with a friend in the day. He was younger than I was & asked me for advice on being a good man. He was under the assumption that I had my life together & could help him. I was so far from having anything together. I was on drugs, for all intents & purposes failing as a parent, & on my way to death or prison. I had lost sight of myself & what I wanted from life. I answered him with the only thing I could say. "How am I supposed to show you how you should be when I don't even know me?" I titled the tune by how I felt at the time, in a Pinch. I spell it with an E just to put my stamp on the title.
Lyrics
"Pench"
I can't pacify me, it's not because of you that I feel this way. I don't know why a handful of life can be so hard to take.
Smoke fills this room from an A.M. cigarette now. And a lifetime of memories can be so hard to forget.
If I would have known, how easy I could crumble. Maybe I could have stepped it up before I stumbled.
(CHORUS)
How was I supposed to show you?
Mr. how you should be?
Where would I begin to translate it?
When I don't even know me. When I don't even know me.
I don't even know me.
I feel like runnin a long way away from here. But I hear my conscience whispering in my ear.
So many things confronted & I couldn't make the stand. Take a long walk down the avenue to remember who I am.
If I would have known how easy I could crumble, maybe I could have stepped it up before I stumbled. Yeah when I stumbled.
(CHORUS)
How was I supposed to show you?
Mr. how you should be?
Where would I begin to translate it?
When I don't even know me. When I don't even know me.