Walk The Walk

Album: World's Strongest Man (2018)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Here, Gaz Coombes sings about a trigger-happy political leader. Speaking to BBC's Music News LIVE, Coombes explained the song was inspired by "the idea of a kind of a dictator in his compound getting ready to push the big red button."

    He added: "It's based on anyone from Escobar to Peaky Blinders to Trump, that kind of male thing but in a fun caricatured way."
  • The basis of the track came from a loop. Coombes explained: "I mess around with a lot of beats and stuff and I like the hip hop approach to sections and sometimes I write in a different way and write some beats and start playing along on a glockenspiel or violin or something and the bass line started from that point."
  • When Gaz Coombes was on holiday in early 2017 he read Grayson Perry's autobiography The Descent of Man. The English contemporary artist's book is an exploration of masculinity in the 21st Century and it struck a chord with Coombes and inspired this song. The singer told Q Magazine:

    "(The book) touches on how the male identity is in trouble - how young men have this image of how they should be growing up, how success means having your own personal Trump Tower. He questions the people he speaks to, but he never judges them – they're just brought up to be tough guys."
  • "Walk the Walk" conjures up images of a Donald Trump-like character holed up in a compound, finger hovering over a big red button. "I didn't want it to be purely about him, cos there are enough other alpha male characters trampling over everything in front of them to get to the top," Coombes said. "It's a delusional existence, and at the same time it's a damaging one."
  • The song's imagery may have been influenced by Donald Trump's tweet about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his "bigger" nuclear button.

    Baby you're the one who can walk the walk
    She's got a finger on the button ready to delete


    Coombes told the BBC: "I think the lyric might have come after I read that, it's an example of how things pop in to my head, that's one line in a song as opposed to a whole song but that's how I like to use news stories, don't overkill, just use single lines."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

James Bond Theme Songs

James Bond Theme SongsMusic Quiz

How well do you know the 007 theme songs?

Carol Kaye

Carol KayeSongwriter Interviews

A top session musician, Carol played on hundreds of hits by The Beach Boys, The Monkees, Frank Sinatra and many others.

Daryl Hall

Daryl HallSongwriter Interviews

Daryl Hall's TV show is a hit, and he's been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - only one of these developments excites him.

Scott Stapp

Scott StappSongwriter Interviews

The Creed lead singer reveals the "ego and self-fulfillment" he now sees in one of the band's biggest hits.

Hawksley Workman

Hawksley WorkmanSongwriter Interviews

One of Canada's most popular and eclectic performers, Hawksley tells stories about his oldest songs, his plentiful side projects, and the ways that he keeps his songwriting fresh.

AC/DC

AC/DCFact or Fiction

Does Angus really drink himself silly? Did their name come from a sewing machine? See if you can spot the real stories about AC/DC.