UP: WALK UNAFRAID

  Again, diving deep into these songs is giving me a new respect for old tracks I might have written off in the past. When the album came out, I remember feeling the track was too straightforward in its lyric. For a band that lives in obscurity--even in their 'heyday'--when Michael gains narrative clarity and personalizes the journey of his characters he sacrifices mystique. Up until this song, the tracks on this album even follow the familiar skewing of lyrical cliche. I also looked up the track listing and it pointed out that this is the first R.E.M. album I don't think of as having two sides. Walk Unafraid marks the beginning of the 'Down' side and thinking of 'You're In The Air' as the 'Up' side finale makes a lot of sense, sort of an 'Old Man Kensey' vibe. Apparently this lyric was inspired by something Patti Smith said to Michael Stipe when he was seeking lyrical advice. He doesn't really get into which piece the advice was, it could have been to 'Walk Unafraid' or maybe one day she said, 'you know, if I had to carry a bag of rocks ... ' which is incidentally the metaphor where I check out on this song. If this is a tune about his journey as a lyricist and perhaps his coming to terms with sharing his 'real' voice--think of the interview where he claimed the 'world's not ready for me yet'--then this 'clumsy' song is a brilliant gateway to the new Michael. But let's not put his lyrics in a box. The song is a lot of fun live and First Aid Kit does an amazing cover for the movie 'Wild' and I've included a clip of them singing the tune with Peter. What I love most about the cover is the official video which SKIPS THE BAG OF ROCKS line and makes it a 100% better song. But they also adjust the chorus to 'Hold me, love me, or leave me high.' Kind of a nice touch.



First Aid Kit w/ Peter Buck:



WALK UNAFRAID
As the sun comes up, as the moon goes down

These heavy notions creep around
It makes me think, long ago

I was brought into this life a little lamb
A little lamb
Courageous, stumbling
Fearless was my middle name, but somewhere there I
Lost my way
Everyone walks the same
Expecting me to step the narrow path they've laid
They claim to 

Walk unafraid
I'll be clumsy instead
Hold my love me or leave me high

Say: keep within the boundaries if you want to play
Say: contradiction only makes it harder
How can I be what I want to be?
When all I want to do is strip away these stilled constraints and

Crush this charade
Shred this sad masquerade
I don't need no persuading
I'll trip, fall, pick myself up and

Walk unafraid
I'll be clumsy instead
Hold my love me or leave me high

If I have a bag of rocks to carry as I go
I just want to hold my head up high
I don't care what I have to step over
I'm prepared to look you in the eye
Look me in the eye and

If you see

Familiarity
Then celebrate the contradiction
Help me when I fall to

Walk unafraid
I'll be clumsy instead
Hold my love me or leave me high

Walk unafraid
I'll be clumsy instead
Hold my love me or leave me high

   According to the First Aid Kit banter above, Peter says he recorded this on his own and they tinkered with the track so much he doesn't remember how the ending specifically goes. Which is understandable as he's trying e-bow and feedback and what sound like some weird pedal options. I don't tackle much of that below, but a lot of it is easy to find as he's mostly hitting single notes and sliding or bending.  Peter doesn't follow any set verse pattern throughout the song apart from the e-bow and that's what he mostly played live. I've put variations on the e-bow if you don't have one--it's just formations that mimic the harmonics of the feedback the e-bow produces. The chords to the song are in the First Aid Kit video above, but it's transposed to having a Capo 2. Love the opening chord forms, gently inspired by Radiohead's 'Airbag.'  

WALK UNAFRAID

Intro

G|-----8-7-----8-7>12----|

D|-7-8-x-x-7-8-x-x>-x----|

A|-x-x-6-5-x-x-6-5>10----|

E|-5-6-----5-6-----------|

Verse (E-Bow) Am-F

A|-----------|

E|-5---1-----|

Verse (1^st and ‘Bag of Rocks’ Bridge only)

A|--7-7---3-3-----|

E|-5-5-5-1-1-1----|

Verse (High Pick, 2^nd Verse)

e|--9-9---8-8--|

B|-8-8-8-6-6-6-|

Verse (Option w/o E-Bow, I like to pick this form)

e|-0---0-|

B|-5---1-|

G|-0---0-|

D|-0---0-|

A|-x---x-|

E|-5---1-|

Bridge to Chorus (E-Bow) D-C

A|-----------|

E|-10---8----|

Bridge to Chorus (Option w/o E-Bow)

e|-0---0--|

B|-0---0--|

G|-9---9--|

D|-0---10-|

A|-x---x--|

E|-10---8-|

Chorus

e|-0---3--------0-|

B|-0---3--------3-|

G|-0---0--------2-|

D|-2---0--------0-|

A|-2---2---x3-----|

E|-0---3----------|