Songfacts®:

• Jimmy Webb titled this reflection on the life of a songwriter after his fellow Los Angeles songsmith P.F. Sloan, author of "Eve Of Destruction." Webb explained to Uncut how the song came about:
  
  "One night, he and I went to see Randy Newman at the Troubadour. We all agreed to come back to my house and play some pool. We were in separate cars, and about halfway there, I realized that P.F.'s car had gone. He'd missed the turn I guess. We went to my house and everybody said, 'What happened to P.F.?' So I started thinking. The song seemed like a funny idea at first, then it became a serious piece about a line of communication between writers and the public."
• The song is a track from Words and Music, Jimmy Webb's first solo album that consists of all new material. (A previous record, Jim Webb Sings Jim Webb, consisted of demos that were overdubbed and released by Epic Records). Webb later re-recorded the song for El Mirage in 1977, and again for Just Across the River in 2010, this time with Jackson Browne.
• Artists that have covered the song include The Association, Jennifer Warnes and Rumer. The latter version was released as the lead single from Rumer's second studio album Boys Don't Cry on May 4, 2012.