A Cautionary Tale?

Cautionary tales are often cemented into the catalog of stories for children for a reason. Their simple moral framing allows them to serve as anecdotes of utility, passing along moral knowledge from one generation to the next. The content of these stories is such that the emotional impact is up front, the lessons clear, and the call to action is cemented in the developing brain.

However, at a certain point a cautionary tale loses its luster- it's black and white ethics don't hold a candle to the world lit with grey in front of us. Instead, we search for nuance, meaning, and dignity. When cautionary tales won't do, we are brought to a place of enrichment and meaning through songs like the Drive By Truckers emotional rocker entitled "The Fourth Night of my Drinking" off of their 2010 album The Big To-Do. 

"The Fourth Night of My Drinking" may appear to, on the surface level, provide listeners with a cautionary tale on the perils of drinking. Certainly, it doesn't glamorize it, much like Kendrick Lamar's "Swimming Pools", but Hood's emphatic character sketches never stray far from a certain heart that honors individuals and their struggles. In his stories, there is never any judgement whatsoever, and if anything, we often feel the emotional tug of the characters life as he places us squarely in it. Here, we track the protagonist and serve as witnesses to the damage done, as he drunkenly staggers to the front door of  his former lovers apartment, as he gets kicked out of his "favorite" bar, as the police talk to him about shooting off guns into the sky in his backyard. These scenes play through his mind like short, hazy sketches of a movie about a life disintegrated. 

Towards the conclusion of the song, Hood's character gets closer to the self-realization he's long been scratching at. "On the fourth night of my drinking/ I had to go it all alone", Hood sings, as this isolation precipitates the realization that he as lost control: "guess it will be through with me/ before I'm through with it". The whole enterprise, here, is propelled along to dramatic effect by the engaging melody the band kicks into after a short, organ and guitar led attack that greets us for the first 15 seconds of the song. From there, the band rides the melody, as Mike Cooley's lead guitar frames the emotions of the song perfectly as the tale continues. It ain't a cautionary one. It's just life, no judgement, all feelings, full acknowledgement- a light on the path forward in the darkest of nights.