LONG WALK HOME^©

Live 11 Nov 2006 version

Last night I stood at your doorstep
Trying to figure out what went wrong
You slipped something into my palm and you were gone

It was the same deep green of summer*
'Bove 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
Hey pretty darling, don't wait up for me
Gonna be a long walk home

I walked past Sal's grocery*
Joe's barber shop on South Street*
I looked into the faces
They were all rank strangers to me
Veteran's Hall up upon the hill
Stood dark and alone*
Frankie's 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

My Pa said "Son, we're lucky,*
This town is a beautiful place to be born.
It just wraps its arms around you,
Nobody crowds you, nobody goes it alone"

"You see that flag down at the courthouse?*
It means certain things are set in stone.
Who we are, what we'll do and what we won't"

Well 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

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

[harmonica bridge]

Now the water's rising 'round the corner**
There's a fire burning out of control
There's a hurricane on Main Street
And I've got murder in my soul

Yeah well when the party's over
And the cheering is all gone
Will you know me, will I know you
Will I know you

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

Hey now darling, it's gonna be a long walk home
Yeah it's gonna be a long walk home

Page last updated: 09 Sep 2007

LONG WALK HOME was played live only once, on 11 Nov 2006 at Wembley Arena, London, UK, during The Seeger Sessions Tour. Bruce Springsteen introduced it as being a "work in progress" -- he might have written it the night before [read spoken intro below].

Lyrics for this early live version are significantly different from and more expanded than the album's version.

• Many lines (*) vary from the album's version.
• The verse "Here everybody has a neighbor..." has been repositioned on the album's version.
• The album's version is shorter, missing the last two verses: "Now the water's rising..." and "Yeah well when the party...".
• "water's rising" (**) is probably a reference to the floods in New Orleans.

Thanks A_to_Z (from Greasy Lake), Bosstown123 (from Greasy Lake), Peter (from Lost In The Flood), Rachel Schoneveld, John Eick, and The Amazing Hondo for the lyrics help.

Spoken intro to LONG WALK HOME [Live 11 Nov 2006 version]:

Alright. Oh, when I went out and saw Lucinda Williams last night, and uh... she was fabulous of course. Beautiful songwriter and uh, she was brave 'cause she played all her new songs. And uh, it's like I wanna, between my whoring and drinking, when I come home after that, I sit up in the hotel on occasion and I, and I try to write. So uh... this is uh... this is uh, something -- it's kind of a work in progress... [cheers] uh... I was saying earlier, you know, it's some return to some semblance of sanity in the States, but there was so much destruction done, uh, just to basic principles of democracy that not only is it broken, it needs to be fixed now [chuckles] you know. So... [cheers] This is a song called uh, "Gonna Be A Long Walk Home".