“Dark Road,” Annie explains on the special edition of Songs of Mass Destruction, “is a particularly significant song because it’s like an introduction to the whole album, to start us off on this kind of rollercoaster ride.” She was inspired to write the song by driving each day to the recording studio in Hollywood, California, where she saw the lost and down-and-out along Sunset Boulevard, a great juxtaposition between the road that’s supposed to lead to so many dreams.

Our #17 track is the first single from ‘Songs of Mass Destruction,’ “Dark Road. A brooding piece that invites us into a world much different than 2003’s ‘Bare.’ Like the cover of the album, “Dark Road” works its way into a fiery kind of hell, where Annie cannot find joy within her soul, the sadness seems rougher, more if a weapon than a vulnerability. The song is so layered, and beautifully sung, as well as being perfectly produced. It is the beginning of an end, and reminds us all of life’s not so pretty sides…and the necessity to train our emotions to be shields and weapons, not just wounds.

As an aside, as I was researching this one for the links below, I sought out cover versions…there are a ton of them on YouTube. Not one that I could find, not one, could any of the performers hit Annie’s notes, making my respect for “Dark Road,” even that much more deep and truly a uniquely Annie Lennox song.

– Dan Mueller

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