This is such a beautiful and, unfortunately, a relatively unknown song. When I first purchased Arlo Guthrie's "Greatest Hits" album, way back when I was 15 or 16 years old, I did so mainly for "City of New Orleans" and "Alice's Restaurant". Barely a song or two in, I discovered "Darkest Hour", and I fell in love.
It is a song of opposites, and of dichotomies. "Her hands are holding up the skies," Guthrie sings, "As I hid my opened eyes". And it is a song about the night, and the stark beauty that comes with it. The singer's lover wears perfume that "fills up the night", and we are told that "the sounds of the night" are the only things that can be heard. These two motifs are brought together in one of the song's most beautiful stanzas:
"Her father's in his chamber with his friends all gathered 'round
They are plotting their enemies' demise
With their last detail done, they await the coming sun
While I am staring in my lover's eyes"
There is also a sexuality in this song that is neither lewd nor impure. It is characterized rather by beauty and fragility, and it is in the delicate imperfection of the human countenance that the epiphany of this song is realized:
"The moonlight held her breast
As she easily undressed
In my darkest hour"
This is such a beautiful and, unfortunately, a relatively unknown song. When I first purchased Arlo Guthrie's "Greatest Hits" album, way back when I was 15 or 16 years old, I did so mainly for "City of New Orleans" and "Alice's Restaurant". Barely a song or two in, I discovered "Darkest Hour", and I fell in love.
It is a song of opposites, and of dichotomies. "Her hands are holding up the skies," Guthrie sings, "As I hid my opened eyes". And it is a song about the night, and the stark beauty that comes with it. The singer's lover wears perfume that "fills up the night", and we are told that "the sounds of the night" are the only things that can be heard. These two motifs are brought together in one of the song's most beautiful stanzas:
"Her father's in his chamber with his friends all gathered 'round They are plotting their enemies' demise With their last detail done, they await the coming sun While I am staring in my lover's eyes"
There is also a sexuality in this song that is neither lewd nor impure. It is characterized rather by beauty and fragility, and it is in the delicate imperfection of the human countenance that the epiphany of this song is realized:
"The moonlight held her breast As she easily undressed In my darkest hour"
Just a stunning song. One of my favorites.