LONG WALK HOME

Album's version

Last night I stood at your doorstep
Trying to figure out what went wrong
You just slipped somethin' into my palm, then you were gone
I could smell the same deep green of summer
Above me the same night sky was glowin'
In the distance I could see the town where I was born

It's gonna be a long walk home
Hey pretty darling, don't wait up for me
Gonna be a long walk home
A long walk home

In town I passed Sal's grocery
The barbershop on South Street
I looked in their faces*
They were all rank strangers to me*
The veteran's hall high upon the hill
Stood silent and alone
The diner was shuttered and boarded
With a sign that just said "gone"

It's gonna be a long walk home
Hey pretty darling, don't wait up for me
Gonna be a long walk home
Hey pretty darling, don't wait up for me
Gonna be a long walk home
It's gonna be a long walk home

[Guitar break]
[Sax break]

Here everybody has a neighbor
Everybody has a friend
Everybody has a reason to begin again

My father said "Son, we're lucky in this town,
It's a beautiful place to be born.
It just wraps its arms around you,
Nobody crowds you and nobody goes it alone
You know that flag flying over the courthouse
Means certain things are set in stone
Who we are, what we'll do and what we won't"

It's gonna be a long walk home
Hey pretty darling, don't wait up for me
Gonna be a long walk home
Hey pretty darling, don't wait up for me
Gonna be a long walk home
It's gonna be a long walk home
It's gonna be a long walk home
Hey pretty darling, don't wait up for me
Gonna be a long walk home
Hey pretty darling, don't wait up for me
Gonna be a long walk home
It's gonna be a long walk home
It's gonna be a long walk home

[guitar break]
[sax break]

Page last updated: 06 Oct 2007

Music and lyrics by Bruce Springsteen, this song was released on Bruce Springsteen's 2007 album, Magic. The above lyrics are for the album's version.

The song was recorded during the Magic recording sessions which took place between March and May 2007 at Southern Tracks Studios, Atlanta, GA.

"In that particular song a guy comes back to his town and recognizes nothing and is recognized by nothing," Springsteen told The New York Times' A. O. Scott. "The singer in 'Long Walk Home,' that's his experience. His world has changed. The things that he thought he knew, the people who he thought he knew, whose ideals he had something in common with, are like strangers. The world that he knew feels totally alien. I think that's what's happened in this country in the past six years."

"It's sort of the summational song of the album," manager Jon Landau told Rolling Stone. "I think it's one of Bruce's great masterpieces."

"That's one of my favorite songs that he's done in a long time," producer Brendan O'Brien told Rolling Stone. "It's mournful, but also hopeful. It has very introspective verses and then he opens up lyrically as the song progresses. It hits me in a real great spot."

* These lines, and much of this song's theme, are borrowed from the old country/gospel song RANK STRANGERS (TO ME):

They knew not my name and I knew not their faces
I found they were all rank strangers to me

LONG WALK HOME has been played live once, on 11 Nov 2006 at Wembley Arena, London, England, during The Seeger Sessions Tour. Springsteen introduced it as being a "work in progress" -- he might have written it the night before. For more details, check out the live 11 Nov 2006 version whose lyrics are significantly different from and more expanded than this album's version.

The LONG WALK HOME video premiered on 24 Sep 2007 at Amazon.com.