Songfacts®:

• Vocalist Ronnie Winter said that the song's lyrics, which concern a grandfather's hard-earned advice to his grandson, is autobiographical. He explained: "My grandfather raised us. He taught us to be strong and stand our ground even in the toughest times, he even bought me my first guitar."
  
  By "us," Winter means him and his older brother Randy, who did a lot of behind-the-scenes work for The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus before joining full-time as a guitarist in 2011.
• "Lonely Road" is the softer side of The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus; it's an acoustic folk-rock ballad with a gospel choir. The song was the title track to their second album, which ended up being their last on a major-label. Subsequent albums, which often leaned into Christian themes, were released either on indie labels or by the band.