“Walk Along”
by Sky Sunlight Saxon
2005 song
Sky Saxon’s lyrics are unusual on the song "Walk Along", the penultimate song on the 2005 CD Transparency. While he (very) occasionally indulged in some kind of social commentary it was rare, and usually subtle to the point of inconsequentialness.
But "Walk Along" is unique. Over an emotional part-garage, part-pop musical track Sky offers character sketches of people who have been wronged or who’ve suffered some trauma. Each is left to deal the best they can with their lot in life – they “just walk along, walk along”. Perhaps these lost souls will meet one another, muses a kindly Sky. Or maybe their salvation will come in the more traditional and expected form:
Soon you’ll meet a dog
Soon you’ll greet a dog
Same as you do in Heaven
Despite its amazingly accurate Seeds keyboards, "Walk Along" does not feel as if it sprang from any garage rock posture. It’s more of a kind of pop-folk with minor psychedelic flourishes (a wayward guitar bend here, some baked keyboard notes there). Elegiac and wistful, with a sing-along section toward the end that fades out (!), "Walk Along" is unlike anything else on Transparency. It remains a welcome look at yet another side of Sky Saxon and his band Lighter.
