James Taylor - Walking Man Lyrics

I think this song reflects the change in his song writing.The next album Gorilla has these sort of compositions

This was written about his father who was aloof

As a black man in America I get the strangest stares when I come driving down the street blasting James Taylor 🤷🏾‍♂️

You sir, are a treasure. Dont change.

Excuse me here....just hanging 'round the quality songs again. Move along there.....nothin' t' see 'ere! : o)

Was reminded of this great tune when I stopped to see if this guy wanted a ride, it was a long country road and he said no sir, I’d rather just walk and thank you. We exchanged smiles and a nod. 😎

They should've played this on forest gump when he was running around the country with long hair and beard.

GOOD STUFF TO LAYING here is the town's and BK N ENJOY THE REAL SOUNDS LIKE A AMERICAN ANTHEM

"Quite Desperation"- such a beautiful archetype, how one should conduct themselves. Don't be loud about your problems, don't be a proud victim, be strong and take responsibility!

Amazing song right here.

I often think how blessed we are that his life didn't end early...like Karen Carpenter or Jim Croce or Sam Cook or ...fill in the blank. In fact, those nearly life-ending experiences and difficult struggles produced a beautiful patina on his gift. Another African American woman totally in love with James Taylor.

Mamma Cass,jimmi hendrix and the ones in the plane accidents.

One of the greatest storytelling songwriters. An AM radio legend.

Moving in silent desperation. Wonderful poetry in motion.

awesome lyrics !!! "Any other man stops and talks !! ........ but the walking man walks !!!!!" ....

James has had his share of success and trials, yet still was able to compose some of the most thought provoking and insightful music of the 20th Century. This stuff is timeless.

Who got this confused with the running man

And to think it's now 2019 and 45 years have passed and this is still good.

Yes....how amazing X

This song is timeless...

This song is me- I walked between 100 to 150 miles per week for at least 30 years- up and down the sierras, victory bog in vt, franconia notch in nh, brook farm and blue hills around boston- smoked enough weed to sink a freighter, i could teach a sherlyn priest the ways of the world. Type 1 diabetic

Please stand walking , Mr Taylor .......don't stop ........

RIP Don Grolnick. You shined here as the sun on a spring day.

tell the Walking man I'm comin out to join him it's such a lovely fall day and the country side is calling me to walk out where the pavement meets the dirt and sand and leave the gritty city behind

Normally it is YouTube reminds me of songs I not heard in ages and I heard James Taylor greatest hits from 1976 and this was the cd and it was nice to be the other way around for a change.

Love This Album Forever. Always Feel Like The Young At Heart.Thanks James!

One of JT's beautiful tunes that have blessed us for a many years. Still soooo pretty. Thanks.

Esta buena canción la compuso JAMES TAYLOR y la canto y la publico en el año 1974

I love this song!

Pure poetry and enchantment ; this song is beautiful !

Moving in silent desperation, keeping an eye on the Holy Land.
A hypothetical destination, say, who is this walking man?

Well, the leaves have come to turning and the goose has gone to fly,
And bridges are for burning, so don't you let that yearning pass you by.
Walking man, walking man walks.
Any other man stops and talks but the walking man walks.

Well the frost is on the pumpkin and the hay is in the barn.
Pappy's come to rambling on, stumbling around drunk down on the farm.

And the walking man walks. Doesn't know nothing at all.
Any other man stops and talks but the walking man walks on by, walk on by.

Most everybody's got seed to sow. It ain't always easy for a weed to grow, oh no.
So he don't hoe the row for no one, for sure he's always missing,
and something ain't never quite right.
Ah, but who would want to listen to you kissing his existence good night?

Walking man walk. Walk on by my door. Well, any other man stops and talks
but not the walking man. He's the walking man, born to walk, walk on walking man.
Well now, would he have wings to fly? Would he be free?
Golden wings against the sky, walking man, walk on by.
So long, walking man.

James Taylor is one of my favorite’s singers.

In fact, in this kind of music, I think he doesn’t have competitors at his level.

Long live James!

Your music is awesome!

Moving in silent desperation, keeping an eye on the Holy Land.
A hypothetical destination, say, who is this walking man?

Well, the leaves have come to turning and the goose has gone to fly,
And bridges are for burning, so don't you let that yearning pass you by.
Walking man, walking man walks.
Any other man stops and talks but the walking man walks.

Well the frost is on the pumpkin and the hay is in the barn.
Pappy's come to rambling on, stumbling around drunk down on the farm.

And the walking man walks. Doesn't know nothing at all.
Any other man stops and talks but the walking man walks on by, walk on by.

Most everybody's got seed to sow. It ain't always easy for a weed to grow, oh no.
So he don't hoe the row for no one, for sure he's always missing,
and something ain't never quite right.
Ah, but who would want to listen to you kissing his existence good night?

Walking man walk. Walk on by my door. Well, any other man stops and talks
but not the walking man. He's the walking man, born to walk, walk on walking man.
Well now, would he have wings to fly? Would he be free?
Golden wings against the sky, walking man, walk on by.
So long, walking man.

This reminds me of my best friend

I was in love with James Taylor in high school (1971)...this African American woman still is!!!

There is a live recording when a woman in the audience cries out clearly above the din "I love you, James". He replied simply "Good".

simply....... just a very good song!

Such a good song - something you can sing too and so melodic.  Nothing vulgar or silly in the lyrics.  Ah, 1974 another good year for baby boomer music.

And bridges are for burning, so don't you let that yearning pass you by...

One of the most evocative songs I know. Love J.T. !

Keeps me walking on my prosthetics

Right on!

maybe the song of my life

To Mr. Taylor: I'm so sorry to hear that your concert here in my country the Philippines next year won't go on. Lots of killings have happened here particularly in my city Manila. Maybe some other time, okay?

I am the walking man.

I said the same to my daugther .

I love you Janelle

As James said "This song is about the fall of the year and the coming of Winter." It's also about his father.

EmergencyIan51 James Taylors' father was a very accomplished man. He was a Naval flight surgeon and dean of medicene at Duke University(Please correct me if I'm wrong). James Taylor said on a live recording Walking Man was about the seasons. To me, the song was about growing up and saying good bye to his boyhood. This album was released when I was 14 and the entire album resonated with me. Walking Man will always remind me of my father, beautiful crisp autumn days in the mountains of Western Maryland, rocking chairs and a border collie, leaving home and returning to visit my family. Journeys' end!

Liberty Tree to me this song talks about how people should just live life to the fullest and go with the flow. Don't overthink or live too passive missing great moments that pass by you.

James Taylor also felt a huge debt of gratitude toward his father because when JT was strung out on drugs, including heroin, and sinking even lower, his father stopped what he was doing at the drop of a hat and came to get him in New York and take him home to a safer environment. It was after that rescue that he went to London and was discovered by The Beatles. James had bounces in and out of drugs for a couple of decades during which time he got commercial success, but I don't think he ever forgot that his father had proved to be a safe place during the storm. I saw him in concert in Houston in the early 90's with my son, and James spoke of his father in warm terms even then.

bsstyle123 Yep!☺

This song is a soulful reflection of the autumn of ones life. I live in North Carolina and seem to always listen to it when I'm walking in the Blue Ridge Mountains but can't explain why either.

Yes it's hard for me to grow but I'm growing good real good

That's beautiful, Deb. I live in the Northeast...but often listen to this same song as I walk through the Blue Hills Reservation here in Southeastern Massachusetts. Magic!

Lifelong Tarheel....... born raised and still here........ this song does remind me of the beautiful fall days here.

I think the song is actually about his father.

The song is a about the fall of the year.

can't listen to this too often

great song

If we could let go of all of our differences and live like this song...

I wished the world was a better world we would be better off

That's the way I really supposed to be

Golden wings against the sky.....

Saw him in concert tonight, really liked this song. He introduced it as a song he's come to reinterpret. And also having to do with his father which "creeps into his songs sometimes"

wish this one would stop and talk...

quietly and arguably the best song he ever wrote... and I cannot really explain why...

Hard to say when you have songs like “Letter in the Mail”, “Copperline”, and “My Travelig Star.” All are brilliant and beautiful in their own way! James is a genius!

Yes....weird isn't it? I find myself thinking through the song in my mind.....if you know what I mean!

I think that he always sets a scene and an atmosphere. It draws you in. Look at 'Copperline it's like you're there.' ALL of his songs seem to do that. Totally brilliant!

My favorite James Taylor song

@John Watkins Same.

Hubby had a heart attach last November so bad he still cannot sit up on his now. BUT today he walked. And this is the first song I thought. Walking man walks! Most people have seeds to sow, but the walking man walks.

May your man continue to walk - stronger!

I hope he is walking now ! my best wishes !

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The frost is on the pumpkin, the hay is in the barn, and this is probably my favorite James Taylor song. Somehow its folksiness and jazziness blend perfectly well, and the string overlay imbues the arrangement with an autumnal hue, so to speak, to complement the autumnal lyric. I used to fancy myself something of a walking man.

+Jeffry Phillips Burns This song is so damned smooth and relaxing, but your analysis is far more eloquent than mine. This song and and Country Road are my two favorite JT songs.

+crispmom Thanks. I've always particularly loved "Country Road" too.

Jeffry Phillips Burns no music writer could have put that any better. Thank you :)

BIN LOOKIN' FOH YAH LONGTIME BABY

Golden wings against the sky....

love this. its actually music.

any other man stops and talks... but the walking man walks on by... walk on by... <3

i hope no-one will make fun of me that i am 17 and love this song.....>.>

It's a great song. There is some optimism here and a lot of love.

I'm 66 and I love it too!

it means you got taste kiddo... keep it up, music today is losing its way...

No one with good taste in music would make fun of you. James Taylor is amazing!! I know this is 4yrs old but I hope you're still listening to him!

U r the best kid in the United States if u like this proud to know u!!

This is my favorite James Taylor song. I love this song. The walking man walks on by. walk by my door... not the walking man born to walk. whould he bee free with golden wings?

not the walking man.. he was born to walk.

Man this is what music is all about! This cat is deeper than the ocean!

@Clint C Brantley he sure does brotha Brantley!

I love this song @blake kersey... I'm a huge James Taylor fan... Love his Carolina on my mind...

@Clint C Brantley yeah many of his songs are great

@Clint C Brantley You sure hit the nail on the head.   He's the best.   You can really apply his songs to life.

This man is the most soulful, insightful singer ever. 

Indeed he is.

Pisces- old soul

Classic James!

That's my life now, me and my Golden Retriever Butter, just "Shadow Boxing the Apocalypse..!" So to speak...

I love this song !!

Hey, been a fan of JT since 71 right along with my big bro. At some point this song was him to me only because he was tall and always walking! As of todays date? James wrote this song for him. Bridges are for burning Walking Man...Walking Man...goodbye. Prophetic for me. My beloved brother has walked out of so many lives not just mine.

holy shit. get a load of this nutter -- am i right?

I see myself Die in a dream taking down a great and powerful beast. who had captured the very soul of some men I no longer tried to escape from a reoccurring nightmare he often expelled me into. the beast a plethoric version of control assuming domination over man. precluded the reckoning of the termination of his being thus I sought out the beast and for all necessary purposes with my death as a result of our encounter I am a dead man walking with one beast left to be extinguished. I am at WAR

transformed nonconforming symbols defying over exaggerated expressions of humans instructed to divulge a misinterpretation of the truth hastily done in their preparation to feed. My Path predefined by the presence of a mere thought that slowly fuses with my existence revealing the essential parts of a whole. With Truth Unaccepted I Fade from understanding clearing all my memories of the prime directive truth is reconditioned and calibrated to conform to each and every man, woman, and child.