5 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
The Ties That Bind Lyrics
You been hurt and you're all cried out you say
You walk down the street pushin' people outta your way
You packed your bags and all alone you wanna ride,
You don't want nothin', don't need no one by your side
You're walkin' tough baby, but you're walkin' blind
to the ties that bind
CHORUS
The ties that bind
Now you can't break the ties that bind
Cheap romance, it's all just a crutch
You don't want nothin' that anybody can touch
You're so afraid of being somebody's fool
Not walkin' tough baby, not walkin' cool
You walk cool, but darlin', can you walk the line
And face the ties that bind
The ties that bind
Now you can't break the ties that bind
I would rather feel the hurt inside, yes I would darlin',
Than know the emptiness your heart must hide,
Yes I would darlin', yes I would darlin',
Yes I would baby
You sit and wonder just who's gonna stop the rain
Who'll ease the sadness, who's gonna quiet the pain
It's a long dark highway and a thin white line
Connecting baby, your heart to mine
We're runnin' now but darlin' we will stand in time
To face the ties that bind
The ties that bind
Now you can't break the ties that bind
You can't forsake the ties that bind
You walk down the street pushin' people outta your way
You packed your bags and all alone you wanna ride,
You don't want nothin', don't need no one by your side
You're walkin' tough baby, but you're walkin' blind
to the ties that bind
The ties that bind
Now you can't break the ties that bind
You don't want nothin' that anybody can touch
You're so afraid of being somebody's fool
Not walkin' tough baby, not walkin' cool
You walk cool, but darlin', can you walk the line
And face the ties that bind
The ties that bind
Now you can't break the ties that bind
Than know the emptiness your heart must hide,
Yes I would darlin', yes I would darlin',
Yes I would baby
Who'll ease the sadness, who's gonna quiet the pain
It's a long dark highway and a thin white line
Connecting baby, your heart to mine
We're runnin' now but darlin' we will stand in time
To face the ties that bind
The ties that bind
Now you can't break the ties that bind
You can't forsake the ties that bind
Song Info
Submitted by
oofus On Jun 05, 2004
More Bruce Springsteen
I'm on Fire
Thunder Road
Dancing In The Dark
Born in the U.S.A.
Secret Garden
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
According to David Masciotra in Working on a Dream: The Progressive Political Vision of Bruce Springsteen, this is "a song about love, human solidarity and communitarian possibilities that bind us all together if we embrace them, and which we reject at our own peril."
I think there's a bit of a Johnny Cash influence here.
Cash's song 'I Walk the Line' contains lyrics about "the ties that bind" and Bruce includes the line "can you walk the line?" in here.
Maybe just a strange coincidence.
This song is from the River album which has an underlining theme of marriage and becoming an adult with responsibility. ' but you're walkin' blind to the ties that bind' trying to run away from the commitment to each other later on
We're runnin' now but darlin' we will stand in time To face the ties that bind The ties that bind Now you can't break the ties that bind
Also a reference to Creedence with "who's gonna stop the rain"
Springsteen loves to drop little phrases referencing classic songs. His book "Born to Run" is full of them.
This song was the second one played during the 1999 "Tracks" E Street reunion tour. Very appropriate as Bruce had to admit he could not "break the ties that bind" him to the E Streeters.