The Weary Kind

I don't think the song's that much about redemption as it is the portrait of a man who'd lost it all. The singer urges the man to change his ways and give life one more chance (thus "Pick up your crazy heart and give it one more try").

This song really sings to me back when I was depressed myself, feeling really down like the man in the song. The singer talks about the man's loss of hope, living life the same way one after the other after losing and ruining life and love with a woman. He spends his days as if he has nothing to lose, hanging out at the truck stop or bar, lamenting by singing songs and remembering his loss. Alcohol doesn't help him as much in forgetting than in reminding him about having to move on.

The singer encourages him to move on, saying that the world isn't a place for weak-hearted people, and the place he's in (maybe a bar or truck stop) isn't the place to die or be depressed. In some ways, this song reminds me of the Eagles' Desperado song, also about the singer asking a wanderer to come home.

A depressing song, but beautifully written and sung, and it gives some kind of hope to the listener. It did to me too; I relate a lot to the man in the song, and I'm glad to have this song to accompany me in late night drinking sessions.

This song won the oscar a few weeks ago and it's got no comments?!

I can't really relate to the lyrics, which are probably about redemption after living selfishly and foolishly.

The "rolling thunderstorm" that is the drums gives me the shivers a little bit.

Yeah this song is very good and won too. The guitar in this song is beautiful.

It fits the movie perfectly if you've seen Crazy Heart.

If you watch the movie, the character is writing the song while he is lying in the bed of his lovers family home. I think the song is written from that perspective. It's about how he doesn't belong in a stable and safe family lifestyle because he is not that kind of guy.

"Playing your guitar and sweating out the hate" - It's a great line and perfect for the movie!

I agree with FullDevil-- I think this song is about a guy who has done some pretty bad things in their life (be it booze, womanizing etc.) and has finally found a place where he could be absolved of some of those sins (I like to think its a woman). Yet, he can't forgive himself for his past and instead needs to leave this place (or woman) because he doesn't quite think he deserves it. Instead, he searches for the "the highway that calls for your heart inside"

The world even with all it's beauty is a harsh and unforgiving place, it's full of loss, suffering and anguish however it's our responsibility to insert the things that make us happy to make sure there's more happiness than pain, thus this ain't no place for the weary kind. Others have their own struggles and their own pain they have to overcome and in that regard we're all competing to achieve happiness thus making the world a place in which we cannot afford to fall behind nor lose our mind. This song points out the reality that no matter how bad we perceive a situation to be, it is our reaction to that turmoil that dictates the severity or the triviality of it. Happiness is a light switch can turn on or off whenever we want. In this example Bad Blake's light switch turns on when he picks up his crazy heart and gives it one more chance. I can't help but to notice a bit of well justified cynicism in this song, the truth is the strong survive and the weary need to get it together.

It’s really a song of the road. Not everyone is built for family life, a life of security, or a life of domestic love, so to speak.

Blake takes a certain pride in the fact that the road didn’t kill him, or make him go completely crazy (it has) - even at the detriment of his born son, or his sons mother, now deceased. His road vices cause turmoil, and the eventual destruction of his current domestic situation.

As much as the road is killing Blake, it’s also the thing that motivates him - the one thing he’s good at. He’s not a good husband, and not a good father, as he’s too self-centered, and too warped by the road, and a lifetime of the entertainment industry. The song is basically the conscience of the movie, telling him that stability, and monotony is not his fate. Some people just can’t handle normality. He’s one of them.