"Long Walk Home" is a song written and performed by

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

. It first appeared on his Sessions Band Tour of that year, in folk guise in the European leg of the tour in London for one performance only. Reworked with different and shorter lyrics, it was recorded by Springsteen and the

E Street Band The E Street Band is an American rock band that has been the primary backing band for rock musician Bruce Springsteen since 1972. In 2014, the E Street Band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For the bulk of Springsteen's recordin ...

as a mid-tempo rocker and released on the 2007 Springsteen album '' Magic''. This song was #8 on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''s list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007. The song was released as a promo single. Springsteen had said that it was a song about how he felt in the times of

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

. "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." Although only released as a promotional single, the song was highlighted when a

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was made and released on 25 September 2007, the same day as the video for ''Magic'' first single " Radio Nowhere". The video featured real-life scenes from Springsteen's

Jersey Shore The Jersey Shore, commonly called the Shore by locals, is the coast, coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The term encompasses about of shore, oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, Perth Amboy in the n ...

interspersed with shots of Springsteen at Asbury Park Convention Hall and at Tony's diner on Main Street in Freehold.

References

{{authority control 2006 songs Bruce Springsteen songs Songs written by Bruce Springsteen Song recordings produced by Brendan O'Brien (record producer)