Time for another song from Pink Moon again. Have I mentioned that it’s one of my favourite albums of all-time? Would be a major misstep if I haven’t done so in any of the posts from the six songs I’ve already written about from there. Nick Drake felt let down by the music business, withdrew within himself and became heavily depressed, recorded the album in two days with just his acoustic guitar with a tiny piano overdub and left his studio output at that as sadly passed away a couple years after its release from an accidental-ish overdose of antidepressants. Despite the dark context, the album’s intentional ‘less is more’ production works wonders for the eleven tracks it holds. It also puts a strong emphasis on the impeccable guitar work by Drake, whose finger-picking style on the album is properly introduced on its third track, ‘Road’.

On the songs that precede ‘Road’, those being the title track and ‘Place to Be’, Drake plays his guitar with a lively strum. There’s an energy behind the chord changes that occur under the words he sings in both. But just as the last chord of ‘Place to Be’ fades to silence, ‘Road’ comes in with a finger-picked pattern that contrasts the low strings with the higher ones which ring out and shine like the sun on a clear winter morning. That’s right. Metaphors for you. That pattern then segues into another which focuses on a melody on the lower strings, utilising triplet timing for a brief second, before going back to the initial pattern the track began with and eventually getting to Drake’s vocal. I could actually go through a line-by-line analysis of this song. There are only four of them in there. I’d like to think Drake thought the guitar figures were too good that he didn’t have to fill the song up too much lyrically. Most likely he thought he said all that needed to be said in those few words.

The guitar work may give an idea of hope and optimism. To some anyway, most might not see that at all. But if you do get that idea, it’s to deceive you away from the actual resentment and bitterness Drake expresses in the lyric. “You can say the sun is shining if you really want to” – You can say everything fine and dandy. “I can see the moon, and it seems so clear” – I can see things for the way the way they really are. It’s not all that good. “You can take a road that takes you to the stars” – You can take a path in life that’ll bring you fame and fortune. “I can take a road that’ll see me through.” – I’m just looking to make it to the end of the day. Or something along those lines. That’s how I see it. So there’s a fine example of juxtaposition going on here between music and lyric. But it’s that juxtaposition, present here and very much throughout the album, that gives the track that edge. Plus, the melodies are great and it’s very easy to sing along to. And the sound of those guitar strings are wonderful.