I was a highwayman
Along the coach roads, I did ride
With sword and pistol by my side
Many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade
Many a soldier shed his lifeblood on my blade
The bastards hung me in the spring of twenty-five
But I am still alive

I was a sailor
I was borne upon the tide
And with the sea, I did abide
I sailed a schooner round the Horn to Mexico
I went aloft and furled the mainsail in a blow
And when the yards broke off they said that I got killed
But I am living still

I was a dam builder
Across the river deep and wide
Where steel and water did collide
A place called Boulder on the wild Colorado
I slipped and fell into the wet concrete below
They buried me in that great tomb that knows no sound
But I am still around
I'll always be around and around and around and around and around and around

I fly a starship
Across the Universe divide
And when I reach the other side
I'll find a place to rest my spirit if I can
Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
Or I may simply be a single drop of rain
But I will remain
I'll be back again and again and again and again and again and again


Lyrics submitted by Ocean Soul

Highwayman Lyrics as written by Jimmy Webb

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Highwayman (Johnny Cash cover) song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

7 Comments

sort form View by:
  • 0
    General Comment

    Oh, come on! No one's commented on this yet? This is one of the best songs done by Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson (The Highwaymen. Rest in peace, Johnny and Waylon)! It's about dying, rebirth, and reincarnation!

    TaylorMorrisonon January 18, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I agree with TaylorMorrison.

    Highwayman is one of THE best songs of all time. The Highwaymen did a create job of it. I think this is one of Jimmy Webb's best songs. I also beleive that he does of a good job of singing it, just him and a piano. Check it out if you can.

    But you are right, its all about dying, birth and reincarnation. The last part of the song always confuses me though...

    dbirchumon January 20, 2009   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning

    This song is about a single person dying and coming back as another entity. For me, the last part sung by Cash is the most profound. We are familiar with highway robbers, sailors, and dam builders, but the point of Cash's verse is that the rebirth goes on forever when humans might be capable of traveling the universe, or if that's not his destiny then "a single drop of rain."

    Great song!

    tstegal1on February 20, 2010   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning

    m We are all Highway men. Spiritual beings on a timeless journey, experiencing endless experiences on multiple dimensions. Including the earth plane, with all its ebbs and flows, trials and tribulations.

    He was a Highway man. Then a sailor, reincarnated once again into a dam builder, then a star ship driver, presumably possessing, superior abilities or technology compared to his earlier incarnations, which may afford him greater levels of understanding and evolvement…

    However, once graduating or evolving to this ascended being he is not fazed, if he is so pleased to once again be a highway man, or a drop of rain for that matter, merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, for life is just a dream. As he now understands that time as we understand it on earth is but as illusion, necessary only for earth existence.

    The true man, or spirit man, is an eternal, cyclical, being. Once again, being born, dying and remerging, evolving on different dimensions as a true spiritual being. Where the physical body is only a vehicle which temporarily houses for a period of time the eternal spirit or soul, where there is truly no begging and no end, just and endless possibilities, cycling, again, again and again. What a truly great and wonderful song, magically performed by four splendid legends in there own right. Putting all that together. It will remain one of the all time classics songs

    bennett26on December 05, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    listen the first people to sing are willie and kris, they finish their versus' stating that they are still alive, which they are to this day, where as waylon and johnnys lines finish stating they are ghosts that will always be here, both waylon and johnny are dead. strange? i think so, it definitely wasnt planned to be like that, but it turned out that way.. has anyone else never thought of this???

    cody1018on January 04, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Bennet26, you nailed it! A side note: Glen Campbell recorded 'The Highwayman' in the late 70's. I saw him in concert in 1985 in Atlantic City and he said it was a song about America. That's okay with me. I don't get it that way. But, I guess that's why music & poetry is art and can say different things to other folks.

    neosgonzoon January 08, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    In regards to neosgonzo's comment:

    In addition to the reincarnation/rebirth message, I've always interpreted this song as a sort of allegory of America. To hear that Glen Campbell at least intended it to be that way makes me feel a lot better. I see the characters in the song each as archetypes of their respective eras, each embodying the spirit of their age as well as the more enduring spirit of the nation as a whole.

    boscaresqueon June 20, 2011   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Album art
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988. "'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it." "There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Album art
When We Were Young
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Album art
No Surprises
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Album art
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it. “I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.