In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
If you walk away I walk away
First tell me which road you will take
I don't want to risk our paths crossing someday
So you walk that way I'll walk this way
And the future hangs over our heads
And it moves with each current event
Until it falls all around like a cold steady rain
Just stay in when it's lookin' this way
And the moon's laying low in the sky
Forcing everything metal to shine
And the sidewalk holds diamonds like a jewelry store case
They argue "Walk this way", "No, walk this way"
And Laura's asleep in my bed
As I'm leaving she wakes up and says
"I dreamed you were carried away on the crest of a wave
Baby, don't go away, come here"
And there's kids playing guns in the street
And one's pointing his tree branch at me
So I put my hands up I say
"Enough is enough, if you walk away I walk away"
(And he shot me dead)
I found a liquid cure
For my landlocked blues
It will pass away like a slow parade
It's leaving but I don't know how soon
And the world's got me dizzy again
You'd think after twenty-two years I'd be used to the spin
And it only feels worse when I stay in one place
So I'm always pacing around or walking away
I keep drinking the ink from my pen
And I'm balancing history books up on my head
But it all boils down to one quotable phrase
If you love something give it away
A good woman will pick you apart
A box full of suggestions for your possible heart
But you may be offended and you may be afraid
But don't walk away, don't walk away
We made love on the living room floor
With the noise in the background from a televised war
And in the deafening pleasure I thought I heard someone say
If we walk away, they'll walk away
But greed is a bottomless pit
And our freedom's a joke we're just taking a piss
And the whole world must watch the sad comic display
If you're still free start runnin' away
'Cause we're comin' for ya
I've grown tired of holding this pose
I feel more like a stranger each time I come home
So I'm making a deal with the devils of fame
Sayin' let me walk away, please
You'll be free child once you have died
From the shackles of language and measurable time
And then we can trade places, play musical graves
Till then walk away, walk away, walk away, walk away
So I'm up at dawn, putting on my shoes
I just want to make a clean escape
I'm leaving but I don't know where to
I know I'm leaving but I don't know where to
First tell me which road you will take
I don't want to risk our paths crossing someday
So you walk that way I'll walk this way
And the future hangs over our heads
And it moves with each current event
Until it falls all around like a cold steady rain
Just stay in when it's lookin' this way
And the moon's laying low in the sky
Forcing everything metal to shine
And the sidewalk holds diamonds like a jewelry store case
They argue "Walk this way", "No, walk this way"
And Laura's asleep in my bed
As I'm leaving she wakes up and says
"I dreamed you were carried away on the crest of a wave
Baby, don't go away, come here"
And there's kids playing guns in the street
And one's pointing his tree branch at me
So I put my hands up I say
"Enough is enough, if you walk away I walk away"
(And he shot me dead)
I found a liquid cure
For my landlocked blues
It will pass away like a slow parade
It's leaving but I don't know how soon
And the world's got me dizzy again
You'd think after twenty-two years I'd be used to the spin
And it only feels worse when I stay in one place
So I'm always pacing around or walking away
I keep drinking the ink from my pen
And I'm balancing history books up on my head
But it all boils down to one quotable phrase
If you love something give it away
A good woman will pick you apart
A box full of suggestions for your possible heart
But you may be offended and you may be afraid
But don't walk away, don't walk away
We made love on the living room floor
With the noise in the background from a televised war
And in the deafening pleasure I thought I heard someone say
If we walk away, they'll walk away
But greed is a bottomless pit
And our freedom's a joke we're just taking a piss
And the whole world must watch the sad comic display
If you're still free start runnin' away
'Cause we're comin' for ya
I've grown tired of holding this pose
I feel more like a stranger each time I come home
So I'm making a deal with the devils of fame
Sayin' let me walk away, please
You'll be free child once you have died
From the shackles of language and measurable time
And then we can trade places, play musical graves
Till then walk away, walk away, walk away, walk away
So I'm up at dawn, putting on my shoes
I just want to make a clean escape
I'm leaving but I don't know where to
I know I'm leaving but I don't know where to
Lyrics submitted by lazydesert
Landlocked Blues Lyrics as written by Conor Oberst
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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This song is about being landlocked, so to speak, in your own personal and necessarily self-serving existence so long as you are alive. To breach your little island would be to be free; free of the need to maintain your ego and physical safety; free of defending yourself, both physically and emotionally, at the expense of others. However, the island is the only thing keeping you alive, and leaving the island can only happen in death. Hence, the desire for true freedom can only be attained in death. It is the desire for more than this cage of human form and mind that we have been given. To reach the water is to attain a kind of spiritual freedom that we are as of now incapable of. Along with the unfulfulling nature of this island, even the things we can enjoy are all only permanent, and it can be no other way. So we long for something permanent, the only thing of which we know is death. All we can do in life when we need to get away from our self-serving yet impermanent existence is just walk away, walk away, walk away...
fuck yeah
I suppose it's about surrender. Like people have mentioned before this song appeals on a personal and political level. Conor's from the midwest and for a californian like me that sucks. No oceans to remind you of different ways to approach conflict. At the end of a relationship you're not quite sure which direction to go. Do you walk together or away from eachother? Do you leave amicably or go to war? The U.S. isn't adored much these days, but we keep making enemies because we're not willing to let go. People younger than us are dying in countries they read about when they were in school playing "guns in the street." And it seems there's alot of conflict with Conor because maybe he grew up just as patriotic as me, but then soon learned that patriotism isn't always a virtue. Maybe he feels it behooves him to sing about these things when all he wants to do is sing about love and happiness. But the devils of fame keep him singing. So he surrenders to that fact and keeps writing these great songs. Like LongforBlueSkies said, there's too much to talk about in the small amount of space that a message board offers. Does anyone know what that liquid cure is? My friend thinks its about drugs. Lame.
Great ideas. I wanted to post a quote for you, though. "Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else." - Theodore Roosevelt. Patriotism is a good thing. When you don't like something that somebody is doing to lead your country you can be patriotic. You can stand by your country and oppose the person. I'm still sad and angry about what has been done(and is still happening in Iraq), though.
@souldier your response was posted ten years ago so I doubt you will ever read this but for the curious folk like me who go searching for lyric meanings I will say I thought about that line "I've got a liquid cure, for my landlocked blues" for a while and if you think about it and read it a lot you'll see that Connor was using a play on words. A 'liquid cure' was used to signify traveling overseas. The only way to cure landlocked blues is to leave that place. My mom had landlocked blues before she left her birthstate of Hawaii and came to the mainland. She felt landlocked and trapped and needed to see the world. I think of her when I hear that line.
i like this version, emmylou harris's vocals are cool, i wish people were better able to appreciate the rough-hewn harmony. both versions are interesting in their own right.
I completely agree. I think Emmylou's voice is so interesting and it adds such cool harmonization.
i agree as well. the people who are complaining about her voice obviously don't appreciate music that isn't commercial just for the sake of it. she sings is with conviction and emotion in her voice. sometimes it's about the message, not the flawless vocals. it's call art people, come on.
i dont care what anyone says this is the best song on the new one and emmylou is just beautiful masterpiece best bright eyes besides perfect sonnet and it's cool we can still be friends
Quote: "The woman doing the backing vocals". haha!
yeah,i love this song, conor and emmylou really complement each other because their range and tone is so different, so few colaberations manage that
I think people missed what the song is really about. I think it's really simple. It sums up how people are constantly just walking away...not from anything specific (or really everything in specific) but just in general throughout life, people are always in motion, ending one thing and beginning another, and its unescapeable, even in death (hence the musical graves paragraph)
I completely agree. It's about life. It's inescapable; you're landlocked. You can never truly walk away from the ultimate pains of life - no matter how much you try to avoid them - until the day you die.<br /> <br /> Throughout life, people walk away. Sometimes they do it to hurt, sometimes they do it because they are hurt, sometimes it's an acknowledgement of weakness, sometimes it's and understanding of one's mistakes, and sometimes it's completely unintentional.<br /> <br /> This song really does reference everything. Love and loss, life and death, war and peace...and there are so many incredible juxtapositions too. Probably the most powerful (to me) is the verse "We made love on the living room floor With the noise in the background of a televised war And in the deafening pleasure I thought I heard someone say If we walk away they'll walk away". That image just gets me every time - an act that represents the greatest culmination of love for a person contrasted with an act that represents the greatest culmination of hatred towards a person. It’s just…profound. The entire song is.<br /> <br /> The whole song is so heart breaking and yet so beautiful at the same time because it's honest - it stares the imperfections and pains of life right in the face and then goes even further to bring them out into the light for all to see. There's just something powerful and empowering about truth.
To me this song is about feeling trapped or 'landlocked' Never being content with where you are, and never really knowing what the future will hold for you
Lyrically, this is my favorite Bright Eyes song.
yes the trumpet solo it is Taps, note by note. but for me there is another association: the sound of hunting horns which fits perfectly to "cause we're coming for you!".
if you want a bit of musical theory (wikipedia):
"The melody of "Taps" is composed entirely from the written notes of the C major triad (i.e. C, E, and G, with the G used in the lower and higher octaves). This is because the bugle, for which it is written, can play only the notes of the harmonic series; "Taps" uses the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th members of this series."
Which is the case with traditional hunting horns, too. Like this: youtu.be/0PZYITcd-ms So maybe it's not about the exact meaning of "Taps" but just the idea of galloping troups or hunters and being chased.