REAPER MANAll lyrics
Walk it Off cover art by Reaper Man

Walk it Off

Single, 2021

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Verse 1

I don't know what's harder

Watching you take your last breath

Or having to put you in the ground

But now I had to do both

I'm deep in this sadness

I can't help but to feel like I'm about to drown

I can still hear your voice telling me things

Shit has me looking around

You're not there but I see the ghost of you

You always had the answers telling me what to do

She said pick up the phone

Last chance to talk to her kiddo

Now she's light years away and forever gone

I missed that phone call

Which just adds to the list

Of all of the motherfucking things I've ever done wrong

Six feet really isn't that deep

I realized that now that you forever sleep

And I scream up to the sky

And ask God why

But is he ever there

And if he is does he even care

I never really asked for anything

This one time I needed you to bring her home

Her family was her everything

She fought so hard

Now this home feels so incomplete

So empty

Sweeps me off my feet

Brings me down to my knees

Praying and begging God please

In 2021 was the year I lost my mother to Covid nineteen

Chorus

Oh mom I love you all the way to the moon and back

If I could rewind relive promise I would go back

I still hear your voice telling me to walk it off

But damn mom losing you it hurts so fucking bad

There are so many things I wish I would have done

The world feels so much colder now that you are gone

I still hear your voice telling me to walk it off

But damn mom losing you it hurts so fucking bad

Verse 2

When I seen where you tried calling

I tried calling back but I got no answer

I called the hospital and the doctor said it was too late

That they already put you on the ventilator

I know you were so tired

I know you kept fighting

The reason I knew is because the night you died

Every time you heard our voices your heart rate kept climbing

But then it dropped

All the way until your heart stopped

Damn I wish I would've answered that call

Millions of words to say but I love you would've said it all

Now let's rewind and say I did answer the phone

Even for a thirty second talk

Just tell me again

Like when I was a little and fell down and got hurt

You would always say get up son

Now walk it off

And I would

But damn mom losing you hurts so fucking bad

Chorus

Oh mom I love you all the way to the moon and back

If I could rewind relive promise I would go back

I still hear your voice telling me to walk it off

But damn mom losing you it hurts so fucking bad

There are so many things I wish I would have done

The world feels so much colder now that you are gone

I still hear your voice telling me to walk it off

But damn mom losing you it hurts so fucking bad

Meaning & Analysis

Walk It Off is a grief song about losing his mother to COVID-19 in 2021, and one of the most personal tracks in the catalog. The verses walk through the worst of it: a missed phone call that was his last chance to talk to her, the hospital saying it was too late, the ventilator, and her heart rate climbing every time she heard her family's voices before it stopped. The guilt over that missed call runs through the whole song. The title comes from what she told him as a kid whenever he fell and got hurt: get up and walk it off. The chorus holds on to her voice saying it, while admitting this is one pain he can't walk off.

Lyric Annotations

Six feet really isn't that deep / I realized that now that you forever sleep

Six feet is the traditional depth of a grave. It sounds like nothing, yet it's a distance no one can cross back over.

I missed that phone call / Which just adds to the list / Of all of the motherfucking things I've ever done wrong

The missed call is the guilt at the center of the song. It comes back in the second verse, where he imagines answering it.

In 2021 was the year I lost my mother to Covid nineteen

The plainest line in the song. After all the imagery, he states exactly what happened and when.

Every time you heard our voices your heart rate kept climbing

Even on the ventilator, she reacted to her family's voices. It's how he knew she was still fighting.

You would always say get up son / Now walk it off

Where the title comes from: what his mom told him whenever he fell as a kid. The chorus admits this is the one hurt he can't walk off.

Video

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