Song Review: Drive By Truckers - "The Righteous Path"

By Old Man

I don’t know exactly when I first heard about the Drive By Truckers, they are one of those bands that were in my “not-quite-curious-enough-to-buy-but-maybe-someday” list, and finally I got a chance to listen to some of their stuff online, and purchased their new album, Brighter than Creation’s Dark . I know DBT have a pretty fanatical following and have been around for years, so I while I don’t bring a knowledge of their history, I also don’t bring any accessive nostaligia that often accompanies love affairs with bands, so hopefully my perspective will offer something worth thinking about.

I’ve zeroed in on one song, a tune by one of their songwriters, Patterson Hood, “The Righteous Path.” I was first attracted to this song from the trashy, rowdy lead guitar part, thundering rhythm section, and slide guitar part over the top. It is a classic folk-rock chord change: [minor VI – Major I – Major IV – Major I (repeat)], and reminded me of a back room barfight version of Bruce Springsteen’s take on “Atlantic City.” Then the lyrics started…
…and two verses in, I was disappointed. Ready to change the song. I thought “Oh great, another song ripping on the Christians.” Not to say Christians don’t need ripping on, its just a tired genre. When is someone going to write a song ripping on Humanists? Freudians? Post-Structuralists? Socialists? There’s nothing new to say to the poor battered followers of Christ. C’mon. Spelling out stereotypes:

I got a brand new car that drinks a bunch of gas
I got a house in a neighborhood that’s fading fast
I got a dog and a cat that don’t fight too much
I got a few hundred channels to keep me in touch
I got a beautiful wife and three tow-headed kids
I got a couple of big secrets I’d kill to keep hid
I don’t know God but I fear his wrath
I’m trying to keep focused on the righteous path

I got a couple of opinions that I hold dear
A whole lot of debt and a whole lot of fear
I got an itch that needs scratching but it feels alright
I got the need to blow it out on Saturday night
I got a grill in the backyard and a case of beers
I got a boat that ain’t seen the water in years
More bills than money, I can do the math
I’m trying to keep focused on the righteous path

Never seen that before. Pure stereotypes. Isn’t human imperfection one of the integral parts of the Judeo-Christian Theology? Where’s the nuance? Singer-songwriter who has a beef with the hypocrisy – that’s a stereotype in and of itself. Rich, southern, WASPS – let’s not talk about them unless it’s precise. Poor white superstitious white trash – let’s give them back their humanity. As David Bazan said so well “The same old easy targets, man we’ve all been there before.” If you want to take a pound of flesh of someone else, be careful you don’t take not a drop more or less, or a pound will be required of you as well. But then the third verse:

There’s this friend of mine I’ve known all my life
Who can’t get it right no matter how hard he tries
He’s got kids he don’t see and several ex-wives
And a list of bad decisions bout eight miles wide
Trouble with the law and the IRS
And where he’ll get the money’s anybody’s guess
He’s a long way off but if you was to ask
He’d say he’s trying to stay focused on the righteous path

We’re hanging out and we’re hanging on
We’re trying the best we can to keep keeping on
We got messed up minds for these messed up times
And it’s a thin thin line separating his from mine

Finally, some humanity! I can breath! Someone who is trying but doesn’t get it right – wow, a real human being. Not a caricature but someone I can identify with. Not a straw man to take target practice on but a real human being. Because folks, the reality, is that we are all human beings, trying to figure out the meaning of life, and we all hurt and are hurting people, and none of us are perfect. A beautiful picture of a human tension – the drive towards righteousness but falling short. St. Paul would be proud. So would Sisyphus.

So, in the end, Patterson Hood drew me back in – because he was willing to take his own pound of flesh along with the WASP’s. He was willing to be counted among the weak. He showed compassion, and walked down off of the mountain to mingle with the complexity of human beings. The last verse redeemed the first two. What I thought was propoganda was now acceptable. What started as a hate song became a love song. When I was younger, I used to love hate songs. They were empowering, and gave me purpose. Now, it’s songs like “The Righteous Path,” that write with a sense of humility and a grasp on the human condition, that encourage me along my own attempts at the righteous path.