#The road not taken short story series#
Bruce eventually comes back down from the solo – a series of straight chords realines and refocuses the work, back into the major key, and the third verse:
Meantime, Bruce is embarking on one of his most remarkable recorded piano solos, involving a series of minor and diminished chords which seems to emphasise the gravity of the situation facing the poor bloke in the song. It’s obviously going to be difficult for the pursuant, or indeed any other boy, to pin her down. The reference to the girl running back to hide in the “rocks and trees” suggests a certain mysterious beauty about her. So, the pursuant has not been categorically turned down by the girl, it’s just that a combination of factors – circumstances – has prevented the potential for love from actually materialising. More mysterious is the assertion that “She walked along on the jagged ridge She told me she was thinking of me But every time I tried to take her away She always ran back to the rocks and the trees”. “Some things never change the way out here, an outsider could always remain that way”, suggesting that there was a possible cultural or social barrier, that the pursuant was not regarded as “one of us” in terms of the local community. We hear of the closed nature of the community.
“Another time, and another place, feel her in my heart, and still” reveals that there is sincere longing for a girl, regardless of the fact that both the passage of time, as well as the physical distance in mileage, has put an end to the realistic possibility of relationship. Here, the theme is unrequited love, and longing. As I mentioned before, Bruce’s style is similar to a classic short-story writer, in that he takes a situation from one part of the world that is readily exportable, and equally applicable, to human nature across the globe. However, the main theme of the song is not restricted to one particular area. Believe me, listening to this song while travelling in former mining areas such as Islwyn, Ebbw Vale, or Rhondda Valley is like watching a video of the song in digital. Bruce’s European fans could get some idea of this terrain if they visited South Wales. “The long line of little row houses” and “… the hills out there so up and down, only see as far as the next big ridge” leaves us in no doubt about the location here. Here, however, we are drawn immediately to the location, a small, close community in the Appalachian mountains, of course a strong mining region. As I have suggested earlier, it’s not often that Bruce pins down history to a particular geographical location. “In the South-West Virginian town of Richlands” is the first assertion. I apologise here and now to Bruce, Simon & Bruce’s fans for my harsh remarks, and hope that this review of Scenes from the Southside, in particular The Road Not Taken, will help make it up to you all. It’s just that there’s no The Road Not Taken on it! My frustrated initial reaction to Spirit Trail, which I threw up on Simon’s guestbook in January 1999, is not really a criticism on “ Spirit Trail” in itself, which I have since discovered to be a strong, and wonderfully diverse album, with many powerful messages. In some ways, this presents a little difficulty for me, because every piece of music Bruce has released since this song can never, ever compare with The Road Not Taken. This song ranks among the greats, and deserves to be regarded in the same historical vein as the ballads of John Lennon, or Simon & Garfunkel. Judging by its high position (4th on the all-time “Top 83” on Simon Twining’s poll of the songs Bruce Hornsby has performed), it seems that I’m not alone in holding such an opinion. The Road Not Taken is so powerful in its imagery, emotion and beauty, that no amount of words on any review will ever do it justice.
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