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Long Walks

by Painter Fingers

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For the last couple of months, I’ve taken nightly strolls with my family around the neighborhood at sunset, Phoebe pushing our one-year-old daughter Lucy in the stroller behind me (usually with one foot dangling casually to one side), our two dogs proudly leading the pack up front, and me in the middle holding their leashes (constantly detangling and repositioning them—they get so excited...) It is on many of these walks that songs become arranged in my brain.

At face value, “Long Walks” is an expression of simple desires, well-wishes and the like, namely for those in need of healing (“a bandage for whatever bleeds / may every man get what he needs”) but it also reflects a deeper sadness I feel when I think that something as simple as walking down the street without being harassed or feeling threatened doesn’t come as easily to other families, children, or even dogs. I cherish what I have in life and what has led me to my own little version of happiness, but that this precious life could be so violently stripped from another human being in a moment of primal fury or unfounded panic or ill-advised judgement or miscalculation... whatever it is, it can send your mind into cognitive disarray in a heartbeat.

Then, a dog’s foot becomes tangled or the baby needs me to make a goofy face to get her laughing again, and I’m back to my own world and both its problems and delights, simple as they may be.

I have to pass by at least two houses with Trump banners on my street (that is if I want to make a loop without doubling back, and why would I allow them to affect me so much as to alter my course anyway?) and this always makes me a little upset and a little heartbroken and honestly pissed off for a few hot seconds, but what can I do, other than exist as their antithesis and keep walking.

I’m not out to pick fights; I’m out here to enjoy some fresh air. Most of the people we pass just smile and wave, or they walk by in their own worlds, possibly dwelling on something similar; I just don’t understand how you could live an average life, go through your days at work or taking care of your kids and think, “You know who I want as a role model for my children? Donald F—ing Trump.”

I lean down to scratch my dog’s ear, I look back and smile at Lucy who responds with a giggle, and I ask if anything worth a damn came in the mail.

lyrics

Long walks through the neighborhood
Calling friends, saying it’s all good
That’s what I want

Nothing real has to stay hid
Kids are nice to other kids
That's what I want
What do you want?

Where it’s safe to go on any street
And lives of many cultures meet
That’s all I want
What do you want?

A bandage for whatever bleeds
May every man get what he needs
That’s all I want

A song to soothe the souls in pain
You’re free to join in our refrain
What do you want?

How do we get there?

Where it’s safe to go out on the street
And people of all colors meet
That’s all I want
What do you want?

(Careful now, there are some
With a past too hard to leave behind
Some of those bugs they are the stinging kind
But understand, it's not everyone
Out to get you)

Long walks through the neighborhood
Calling friends, saying it’s all good
That's all I want
A song to soothe the souls in pain
You’re free to join in our refrain
What do you want?

Long walks through the neighborhood...

credits

released July 3, 2020

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Painter Fingers Leander, Texas

Dream folk, indie pop, soft rock

The Truth Is a Hurricane arrives August 25th

Painter Fingers is the recording project of Travis Charles Hagan, a songwriter and middle school teacher from Texas. ... more

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