Here’s to the Rocky Road Words & Music by Dennis Dougherty, David Kleiner & Steve Gillette

All songwriters have those occasional little thoughts that drift in and find a place in the margins or back pages where they sit until they either lead to something more or are just a source of humorous recognition when we come across them later. One of those that came to me which doesn’t really work, and doesn’t really lead anywhere was the twisted aphorism “If you’re so smart, how come you’re rich!”

Of course, I’m not rich, and I don’t mean to be critical of those who are, but there did seem to be something in the idea that one might strive to be lean and nimble and willing to face life’s challenges to a greater degree than most of us are; as opposed to being so caught up in the need to amass wealth, or seek security, or otherwise waste valuable energy on what is not really living at all.

Admittedly a flawed argument, there are a lot of reasons to save for a rainy day, and to provide for others, and to insure against the time when health or weather or other vicissitudes may confront us. There may not be a ‘zen’ of wealth building, but when I heard these two guys working on a song that said, “Here’s to the rocky road,” I knew they had me.

And how can you go wrong starting a chorus with ‘here’s to?’ Here’s to all you rounders, here’s to you my ramblin’ boy, here’s to the girls of the countryside. I’ll sing along without any reluctance, and that’s what happens when we sing this song for others.

I came across the song in progress on a memorable weekend at a songwriting and music camp sponsored by the Folk Project in New Jersey where Cindy and I were performing and teaching. It was the weekend of the Senate confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas, and we listened to Anita Hill give testimony as we drove down the New Jersey Turnpike. We believed her.

Then on Sunday we heard rumors that Gamble Rogers had passed away, and when we were able to confirm that it was true, the details started to emerge which became part of the song which is the subject of an earlier article in this series. As is always the case, there were many layers of ritual, spontaneity, shared music and celebration of our culture that we participated in over that weekend, not the least of which was the discovery of this song.

It’s a three-way collaboration which in this case is surprising for the ease with which all the participants worked together and shared the vision, and yet, each has occupied the song in his own way. It’s a good sign that the song has accommodated that diversity. I think there is a spirit to the song that was apparent before I even heard what David and Dennis had come up with. It reminded me of the old saying, “Life is short, but it’s wide.” Another one of those gems for the margins.

There’s also the suggestion that these days we may face some difficulties; so many challenges, the economy, the pandemic, climate change, droughts, storms and fires, but a song can give support and encouragement. Especially if it has a good chorus. This song has an excellent chorus except for one thing that has bothered me, in my own version of the song, and I’m not sure what can be done about it.

It’s that last line, the way it resolves, the count of beats and lyric emphasis that brings the song down to a solid conclusion. I began to be aware of it when we would encourage the audience to sing along and many brave voices would clash with my reading of the last phrase.

I wanted to hear ‘rocky road’ as a triplet with a tied note syncopation to it. In metrical terms it’s Dactylic. It should sound like ‘mackintosh’ or ‘empathy’ or ‘roundabout’ that is with the strong syllable first and the other two with less stress. But at the end of the chorus people were hearing a quarter note on each syllable, rock-e-ROAD, as would be the case at the end of so many sing-along choruses.

And who can blame then for wanting to end on a strong beat like, ‘All the live-long day,’ or ‘She’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain when she comes,’ or ‘plunkin’ on the old banjo.’ Bless their hearts.

I’ve tried to make sure in subsequent songs that I take that into account, but I also have some thoughts as to what I would do to alleviate the problem if I were to record the song again. I think what I would do is to extend the last line by a few syllables so as to set up the expectation of the title falling into a satisfying scheme of beats.

One possibility is to sing something like, ‘you’ll find a sweeter ride, to the rhythm of the rocky road, or down the middle of the rocky road, or when you travel on the rocky road.

Now, of course, none of these quite makes sense, or at least none is very successful in making sense, but I think you can see what I’m getting at. Maybe the solution is as simple as putting a couple of beats before the last line and adding a word, like: ‘gonna find a sweeter ride, _ _ all alon-ong the rocky road.’

It’s so important that the title, (hook) of the song land in a solid and satisfying way, that I’m willing to put in more hours in hopes of coming up with something that is just undeniable. At least I will on the next song, I promise. And maybe the line in that other song should have been, ‘plunkin’ on the fretless banjo.’

This song has a pretty ordinary structure; chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, chorus, tag. But the verse sounds a lot like a bridge, it seems to go in a different direction from the straight-ahead feeling of the chorus, something that is more characteristic of bridges. It also sets up a return to the chorus in a way that seems more like a bridge, but then there really are no rules, and I’m sure there are examples of verses that do that.

But the bridge definitely takes that step into new territory. It leaps into a minor chord right away, and then a contrasting color minor chord, and then at the mid-point commits to a new harmonic center with the C major chord. As we’ve discussed before, this chord is not found in the key of the song which is D.

In the D scale, the C would be a C#, and the chord built on this note would be a minor chord. By borrowing the C major chord from the key of G, which is related to the key of D, a new sense of harmonic center is created if only for a moment before returning to the A, the dominant chord of the key of D and thereafter moving the song back to home base.

The bridge also varies from the phrasing of the previous sections with strong spondaic phrases like, ‘last light is fading,’ and ‘long journey’s over,’ and ‘cold winds of winter.’ Notice how the phrasing contrasts with the other sections.

Here’s David’s note on the creation of the song: “My original ‘seed’ for the song was seeing bright green grass poking through the snow on a walk after an early spring snowstorm. “underneath the snow, you’re gonna see the greener grass.” The chorus came next: “Here’s to the rocky road, the ups and downs” with the idea that we must go through tough times to find true fulfillment and become well-rounded humans.

I was stuck on the verses, so I sat with Dennis Dougherty, and we gave it a story of sorts. The main character was leaving to head out on the rocky road. We were working on refining that while waiting for your songwriting workshop to begin at the Folk Project Festival (now called Getaway).

You overheard us, and contacted me a few days after the festival, to say the melody of the chorus was running through your head, and would I mind if you played around with the song.

In the later history of the song, your recording of the song is such a source of pride to me. I have my first royalty check you sent me framed in my dining room. It was so exciting to hear it on the radio, and hear you and Cindy perform the song in concert. I have run into people over the years who knew the song from your recording. The song’s history itself is an example of the “rocky road” that it talks about. Maybe it has a few more bumps and hills left to travel?”

And Dennis wrote: “I walked into a songwriting workshop and heard my friend Dave Kleiner fooling around with an idea for a song. It was 'Here's To The Rocky Road.' My first reaction was, 'Yes, good title.' If I remember correctly, he was doing a soft easy rhythm and asked what I thought. That's all the invitation I needed. I pulled out my guitar and we immediately started trading ideas. I thought a more driving bluegrass beat would suit the sentiment.

Dave was going for a figurative Rocky Road; a relationship on the rocks or having been on a tough emotional time. I thought why not create a real road that goes off into rugged terrain. The journey might be harder but far more interesting, and then let the listener make up the metaphor in their own mind. That's when Steve came into the room and said something along the lines of, ‘Hey, what's that?’

There are three recordings, one by each of us, and all are different. My recording took a hard left from what the other two did in style and lyric. My recording does nothing to reduce or improve any others, it's just different. I love and still perform the song myself with a rockin' chugga, chugga beat and if the words get mixed around in my brain and come out changed ... well nobody seems to mind.”

Here's my video of the song, with audio from my CD, "Texas & Tennessee":

"Here's to the Rocky Road" - Audio from "Texas & Tennessee."
Video by Steve

Here’s David’s video of his version of the song taking a decidedly gospel turn::

Dave Kleiner & Liz Pagan's recording of "Here’s to the Rocky Road."

And here’s Dennis’ video of the song. He says, “Here is my alter-ego Trip McCool doing a cajun version":

Dennis Dougherty's version of "Here’s to the Rocky Road."

The CD "Texas & Tennessee," is available here.

The songbook with the sheet music for "Here's to the Rocky Road" and 46 other songs is available here.

Here are the lyrics and chords:

© 1998 Compass Rose Music / Kleiner – Dougherty, BMI