Music Review // Cuff The Duke "Ballad of the Breaking Dawn"

 

Cuff The Duke has managed to embrace this style of music which is not heard often enough to create a song which feels like a fight anthem.   As the acoustic guitar strums you can hear horns come in for the chorus and this just feels like a big war cry that's going to take us into battle.  I think of events in movies such as "Lord of the Rings" and "Braveheart".   It just has that big fight scene feel to it, while also feeling a little bit like the Old West.

What I can get from the lyrics is that this is about a fight but a different sort of fight.  Lines like "Dank were your words that night / Forever haunts me like a ghost / It's true I owe so much to you / And I know I won't be here for you when you need me most".   This feels like a definite parting of ways but it feels less like a break up and more like the end of life for someone, perhaps for our main character.  Lines before this say "I know it won't be long until the day becomes the night" and that verse makes me think this person knows death is coming.

Still, if you're not terminal you can still think of this song in terms of a break up or even just from the stand point of someone you know who has died of natural causes and was perhaps a family member.   You can even think of this song as being from the point of view of that family member, a parent perhaps, who knows they are getting older and won't be around much longer to help their children and other family members.  

This music video features the band walking towards the camera- not in view clearly until they almost reach the camera- and then walking away afterwards.   The song itself is about six and a half minutes in length but the second half of that is all music.   There is a triumph to this sound, so for whatever you need to think about these lyrics meaning, whatever it is which you need to overcome, you can just think about it and feel a sense of accomplishment as the final bits of music play.