The use of roads as metaphors for human memory is effective because the two have a number of things in common, despite the reality that memory exists only metaphysically. Three features shared by memories and roads are the inevitability of change, perspective, and a linkage which allows the physical road to lead to an emotive response in the memory. Some of the songs which illustrate this are John Denver's country hit, Take Me Home, Country Road; the country-style rock classic Take it Easy by The Eagles; Memory, the theme from the musical Cats, by Barbara Streisand; Streets of London by The Beatles, a pop ballad; Where do you go to, my lovely? a rock ballad by Peter Sarstedt; and the rock hit, Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty.
Take Me Home, Country Road by John Denver portrays the inevitability of change. The speaker/writer clearly wants to remember his home the way it was when he left it in his youth. But inevitable changes have occurred because of the time spent away in a new location. It seems that Denver's perception is that the longer he spends away from home, the more risk there is of changes occurring to his birthplace, which he finds disorienting. The personification of the road, and the way the speaker addresses it as if it is an old friend, is the key to the emotive effect of this country classic. The perspective of the road in this song shows that the writer knows where he is going and is familiar with the destination. The road symbolizes the route needed to take to arrive at a specific destination.
In Take it Easy, the classic song implies that occurrences on a journey, a metaphor for life, create memories. In this piece, a new love opportunity is spotted by a driver (the speaker), which creates uncertainty, but also excitement. The speaker expresses mild confusion about the likely destination of the journey of this relationship, but is willing to "go with the flow," epitomizing the spirit of the seventie...