Song Study Bless the Broken Road

Home , Bless the Broken Road, Marcus Hummon

Listen to this song twice. First, just listen. Then a second time as you read the lyrics. Circle what stands out to you. Notate why. How it fits or helps the song. Listen on YouTube, Spotify, etc. or buy from iTunes or your favorite music source. Support your fellow songwriters.

Bless the Broken Road

I set out on a narrow way many years ago Hoping I would find true love along the broken road But I got lost a time or two Wiped my brow and kept pushing through I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you

That every long-lost dream led me to where you are Others who broke my heart, they were like Northern stars Pointing me on my way into your loving arms This much I know is true That God blessed the broken road That led me straight to you

I think about the years I spent just passin' through I'd like to have the time I lost and give it back to you But you just smile and take my hand You've been there, you understand It's all part of a grander plan that is coming true

CHORUS

And now I'm just a-rollin' home into my lover's arms This much I know is true That God blessed the broken road That led me straight to you

What a powerful love song, right? Only the hardest heart or the heartless are not moved by this love story. The boys in Rascal Flatts knocked it out of the park and the song even inspired a movie. So, as a song, it works. No question. Let’s look at why it works so well. First, a killer concept and story line. Hard to find a more core longing in our species than true love and the search for it. That quest is the driving force in a lot of songs, movies, novels and musicals. The best Country music songwriters know how to compact even a panoramic story into three and a half minutes. That’s the art of it. That’s what these great songwriters did…

Starting with the title or hook. It speaks volumes. Bless the Broken Road. The alliteration alone is musical. It sounds like a prayer full of gratitude even for hard things and has the humility of acceptance without bitterness. Gratitude and humility are the heartbeat and POV (Point of View) or lens of the singer. All that inspiration in the hook just needed the perspiration of writing well.

Some nuts and bolts: Tight rhyming is one source of this songs power and beauty. Verse 1 – aabbb ago / road / two / through / you Chorus – aaaabcb are / heart / stars / arms / true / road / you Verse 2 – aabba through / you / hand / understand / (grander plan) / true Pretty standard, simple, nearly all single syllable rhyme words. A line in the chorus includes an internal rhyme “heart.” A line in verse 2 does as well, “grander plan.”

Notice, the rhyme pattern of Verse 2 does not match the pattern in Verse 1. A Flaw? Hardly. It works. Why? The internal rhyme creates a quadruple sonic rhyme “hand/understand/grander plan” (“greater” plan would not have been as strong). This sling shots the momentum to rhyme with the first couplet of the verse “through/you/true.” It sounds completed. If the writers argued a bit if Verse 2 should rhyme exactly like Verse 1, somebody lost that debate and the song won.

Look at the pace. This is a retrospect by the singer of his entire relational broken road, captured in only five lines. Just 29 seconds after Verse 1 begins – the Chorus launches. If there is a tip here for writing hit songs, maybe it’s: get on to the chorus. Tip not a rule because there are many hits that take longer getting to the Chorus. But it certainly works here and in many hit songs.

You have to credit the crowning metaphor comparing all those who broke his heart to “Northern stars” pointing to true love. A masterful poetic touch and powerful emotional element.

Look at the choices in structure: Piano intro; Verse 1; Chorus; Turnaround; Verse 2; Chorus; Big guitar solo over the chords of the first half of the Chorus; Then, instead of repeating a full Chorus, a lyric line changes to, “Now I’m just rolling home into my lover’s arms.” Gary LeVox finishes the remaining two lines of the Chorus; Tag repeats the hook; So the structure is basically: Vs Ch Vs Ch Solo Half Chorus, Tag Bam. Done. Hit song. Notice: there is NO bridge. What else is there to say?

Except thank you, Bobby Boyd, Jeff Hanna and Marcus Hummon. Thank you for coming to work the day you wrote this spectacular song.