Today’s song of the day is a James Taylor classic, 1974’s “Walking Man.” This was the lead track (side one, track one) of the same-named album. While “Walking Man” was released as a single, it didn’t break into the Billboard Hot 100—although it did reach #26 on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart. It’s become one of Mr. Taylor’s best-known and best-loved songs, a staple of adult contemporary radio and of James’ live act.
Many different people think “Walking Man” is about many different things. Some people say it’s about the journey of life, walking down the road of life and looking for direction. Others say it’s about a lonely man, making his way through life with minimal contact with other people. Others say it’s about a restless individual, just wandering through life restlessly. Others say it’s about the passing of time. Others say it’s specifically about the turn of seasons, specifically the autumn.
Even James Taylor, on different occasions, has said the song has different meanings. At one time, he said it was about the winter (not autumn) approaching:
“It was about the coming of winter and the way I feel about it. I panic a little bit when I feel it coming on. It’s always reminded me of having to go back to school, and maybe it’s a primal thing of realizing that winter means you’re going to have to put up with a tough time–the dark, difficult, cold times you have to be prepared for.”
At another time, he said it was a song about his father:
“I wrote a lot of songs about my dad. It’s probably typical, but I have a sense that he was emotionally sort of frozen. ‘Walking Man’ is informed by my longing for him. He disappeared for a few years when I was seven, eight and nine. He was drafted into the Navy, and then he volunteered to go to the South Pole. We missed him a lot. My mother was a daughter of a Yankee fisherman. She had five kids born within six years in the countryside of North Carolina, and here she was waiting for her husband to come home. That always stayed with me, somehow.”
So what is “Walking Man” really about? Well, maybe it’s about all those things. A single song can have multiple meanings, after all.
Which leads us to today’s daily bonus video of the day, James Taylor performing “Walking Man” at the Cambridge Folk Festival on August 1, 1999. I can listen to James sing this one all day long.
