Land Locked Blues

Album: I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (2005)
Play Video
  • 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 Writer/s: CONOR OBERST
    Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 11

  • Michael from Galway, IrelandThis song is a work of genius . Music and lyrics interweave to create a hugely authentic and original recreation of what it is like to be helplessly alive and angry . Helpless maybe in the languid tenor of its account, but powerful too in its observant eye which takes in everything that moves. If Conor Oberst never wrote another song, this would be enough.
  • Cassie from Overland Park, KsConor Oberst is a genious.
  • Jenna from A Town, NyConor Oberst, in an interview, said it was about September 11th.
  • Alessandra from St.louis, MoGREAT song! um, sad, but i think it has to do alot with war, but with some, small, other references in there too.
  • Evrick from Milwaukee, WiM, this some does deal with drinking so wat r u talking about. neither the less this is a great song
  • Leah from Humboldt, Iaawww...this is a sad-ish song. but conor is the best.
  • Emma from Hickville, PaI think it's sort of about war in general.
  • Sarah from Missoula, MtThis song is incredibly sad
  • Helene from Horseheads, NyI agree. I think it's about many different things, not only the Irag War. It says a lot about running away from different situations, I think.

    One of my favorite verses in this is,

    "We made love on the living room floor
    With the noise in background of a televised war
    And in the deafening pleasure I thought I heard someone say
    'If we walk away, they'll walk away'"

    I think that verse just speaks so much about how you can never be free of war and pain and hurt, no matter where you are or what you're doing.
  • Ginette from Richmond Hill, CanadaThere are many things going on in this song. It's got some of my favourite lyrics and It's amazing.
  • M from Sd, CaI dont think you can say this song is only about the Iraq war. It speaks and touches on many other things like fame and drinking
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Danny Kortchmar

Danny KortchmarSongwriter Interviews

Danny played guitar on Sweet Baby James, Tapestry, and Running On Empty. He also co-wrote many hit songs, including "Dirty Laundry," "Sunset Grill" and "Tender Is The Night."

Randy Newman

Randy NewmanSongwriting Legends

Newman makes it look easy these days, but in this 1974 interview, he reveals the paranoia and pressures that made him yearn for his old 9-5 job.

Loreena McKennitt

Loreena McKennittSongwriter Interviews

The Celtic music maker Loreena McKennitt on finding musical inspiration, the "New Age" label, and working on the movie Tinker Bell.

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular Music

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular MusicSong Writing

Starting in Virginia City, Nevada and rippling out to the Haight-Ashbury, LSD reshaped popular music.

Jackie DeShannon - "Put a Little Love in Your Heart"

Jackie DeShannon - "Put a Little Love in Your Heart"They're Playing My Song

It wasn't her biggest hit as a songwriter (that would be "Bette Davis Eyes"), but "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" had a family connection for Jackie.

What Musicians Are Related to Other Musicians?

What Musicians Are Related to Other Musicians?Song Writing

A big list of musical marriages and family relations ranging from the simple to the truly dysfunctional.