Lyrics for Walking By as interpreted by LittleNemo

Walking By Lyrics
Your grand dad left home for the circus
He was young just like me,
with hope to explore
He married a girl in Virginia
She could swing the trapeze,
they could sleep on the floor

Your mother was born in December,
on the one sunny day that winter gave up
With warm summer eyes that flickered like fireflies,
and she stared at the world

So why do you leave these stories unfinished,
my Cheshire cat doorstop with tears in your eyes?
And why do you look when you've already found it?
And what did you find that would leave you walking by?

She was raised in a New England village
Then she moved to LA with her firefly stare,
and you loved sunset strip when it sparkled
You grew up and you sparkled, but why don't you care?

And why do you leave these stories unfinished,
my Cheshire cat doorstop with tears in your eyes?
And why do you look when you've already found me?
And what did you find that would leave you walking by?

And these nights I get high just from breathing
When I lie here with you I'm sure that I'm real
like that firework over the freeway
I could stay here all day but that's not how you feel

So why do you leave these questions unanswered?
The circus awaits and you're already gone
My Cheshire cat doorstop with fear in your smile,
what makes it so easy for you to be walking by?
And what did I do that you can't seem to want me?
And why do we lie here and whisper goodbyes?
Where can I go that your pictures won't haunt me?
What makes it so easy for you to be walking by?
Walking by

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  • 210 Comments
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jamnj9
11-16-2009

Rated 0 
I think in this song, he loves he greatly and she loves him but she just hasn't realized it yet. He knows she loves him but he can't get her to see it.

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Chadillac22s05
07-27-2009

Rated 0 
This song is just incredible. Everythin Andrew McMahon does is amazing. The live version of Walking By from their DVD is pretty spectacular. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjoPAqTz2Uc I actually prefer this to the original recording.

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cooldas
03-21-2009

Rated +1 
This is beautiful, sad song about longing...the girl he loves used to tell him stories, but left them unfinished when she leaves him...

"Chesire cat doorstop"-the chesire cat from "Alice in Wonderland" disappears and reappears, with a big grin on its face...doorstops keep doors open. The girl must have left him without explaining, looking for somebody else. The singer can't let go of the past because she is the "doorstop" keeping the door of the past opened...

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trsjmsoco
01-03-2009

Rated 0 
my favorite lines are the "you loved sunset strip when it sparkled
you grew up and you sparkled, but why dont you care"

make me want to cry but so amazing and emotional
i absolutely LOVE andrew

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Keightastrophe
05-22-2008

Rated 0 
i love this song more than life. To me it is about when you really love someone, but they are blind to that fact. Like when you're with a friend, and they keep talking about someone they like, and they don't realize that you like them.

The line "i could lay here all day, but that's not how you feel"
makes me think it's about a friend that likes to spend time with him, but doesn't want to be with him forever like he does

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tinasoldout
04-23-2008

Rated 0 
i love the way everyone cries when they hear this song.
but i don't blame youuuuuuuuuuuuuuz

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tinasoldout
04-23-2008

Rated 0 
this song makes me cry EVERY time i hear it..
i love it with all my heart :)

"so where can i go that your pictures won't haunt me?"

i miss something corporate.

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PrettyPretty_
03-31-2008

Rated 0 
this song makes me cry every time i hear it. even just now, i was in a wonderful mood, and i still am in a good mood. but i just cried when this came on aha.

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chelseaa101
03-26-2008

Rated 0 
this is such a beautiful song.. it makes me cry or want to cry whenever i hear this. SC makes it so depressing and desperate i love it .. its so sad :[

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jitteryjelly
02-05-2008

Rated 0 
this song actually made me cry happy tears. how sad is that??

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Skippy/Atreyu/SoCo
01-31-2008

Rated 0 
YAY
--0--
200!

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Skippy/Atreyu/SoCo
01-31-2008

Rated 0 
SOCO =]
--0--

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Skippy/Atreyu/SoCo
01-31-2008

Rated 0 
rawr
--2--

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Skippy/Atreyu/SoCo
01-31-2008

Rated -1 
go go go go go 200 =]

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Skippy/Atreyu/SoCo
01-31-2008

Rated 0 
i love this song

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jellogoodbye
01-01-2008

Rated 0 
its obviously not about a relationship.
i dont understand why everyone thinks that.
here's my viewpoint:

its about an adopted kid.
who leaves to search for his/her real parents who never even cared for her.
"why do you look when you've already found it"--> his/her parents.
and thats why it goes through the family histories in the verses.

anyone with me?

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stillcountsdistance
12-27-2007

Rated 0 
"with warm summer eyes that flickered like fireflies"
what i wouldn't give to write like this

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MattElla
12-05-2007

Rated 0 
so...i can't shuffle past this song on my ipod. i have to listen to it. i don't usually have the attention span to break down songs line by line. so here are my usual random generalities:

"...warm summer eyes that flickered like fireflies" and "...her firefly stare" = she had her mother's eyes. her mom died in the winter, daughter moved on, had her mom's eyes...nutshell.

"and these nights i get high just from breathing"...i'm not sure what it means but i want to experience it.

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manderwaal
11-29-2007

Rated 0 
i love this song. i really like the whole premise... and the whole "why do you look when youve already found me" like when you are dating someone and they break up to look... when you wonder why they dont have the same mutual feelings and all you can think is... well i found you im not going to look anymore so why do you need to keep looking you already found me. "and what did i do that you cant seem to want me" makes me think of their relationship at the point where they are very good friends but... he doesnt have any clue what he might have done to make her not want him.. when obviously she doesnt really know what she wants in the first place. im sure its like a song of frustration to where he just cant figure out this girl who treats him like she lvoes him so much but cant seem to want him.
SUCKS....

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EJ_Atreyu_SoCo_Man
11-07-2007

Rated 0 
it's a very good song, like alot of there others, my x got me into them, and i guess they are pretty legendary, but idk atreyu is still my fav, but anyway this is a great song, and it really seems like either a song i used to hear alot on the radio or something or like a cover or remake, but idk

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mmmduckckooked
08-24-2007

Rated 0 
“One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree.
“Which road do I take?” she asked.
His response was a question: “Where do you want to go?”
“I don’t know,” Alice answered.
“Then,” said the cat, “it doesn’t matter.”
–Alice in Wonderland

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alexwood
07-26-2007

Rated 0 
andrews voice is amazing

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groundflower
02-23-2007

Rated 0 
this song makes me cry, it's just so good

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chasing_dreams
02-21-2007

Rated 0 
I know this has all been said many times before, but I'll say it again that this is an absolutely beautifully written and performed song. There is so much emotion in his voice when he sings it you completely feel for him and the situation as I think we have all been through this at one point in our lives where the person you want the most just doesn't care for you anymore. That is the point I am at right now and it breaks my heart listening to this song because of how true the words are. Something Corporate is amazing...

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chris-jericho
01-17-2007

Rated 0 
the song is about a guy who fell in love with a girl. a girl who shared everything with him, stories about her family which he recounts. saying he listened to every word she said and was facinated and wanted to know more ("why do you leave these stories unfinished"). She leaves for something else but he doesn't know what (he calls it "the circus" because of her grandfather) and why ("and what did you find that would leave you walking by"). And obviously he feels like he'll never get over this ("where can i go that your pictues won't haunt me").

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