Jimmy Webb is responsible for writing numerous popular and Top 10 hits sung by a disparate group of artists, including Glen Campbell ("Galveston"); Art Garfunkel ("All I Know"); Donna Summer and many others.
Webb's father was a Baptist minister and a former Marine. His mother died when he was a teenager. His most popular songs were all composed when he was between 19 and 21 years of age.
"By the Time I Get to Phoenix" is one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century.
He is noted for having written songs that were hits in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and is the only person to receive Grammy Awards in all three categories: music, lyrics and orchestration. Webb has also written the music for the animated film The Last Unicorn.
Webb is also a performer of his own music, although his solo output has never matched the commercial success of recordings of his work by other performers.
He was elected to the National Academy of Popular Music Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1986.
The Highwayman
Jimmy Webb Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Along the coach roads I did ride
With the sword and pistol by my side
And many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade
And many a soldier shed his life blood on my blade
They fin'lly hung me in the spring of '25
But I am still alive
And I was borne upon the tide
And with the sea I did abide
I sailed a schooner 'round the horn of Mexico
I went aloft to furl the mainsail in a blow
And when the yards broke off they say 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
Seems like it all goes 'round and 'round
And 'round and 'round
I'll fly a starship
Across the universe divide
Until 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
And I'll be back again
And again, and again, and again.
The Highwayman by Jimmy Webb is a ballad about a man who has lived many lives, and despite facing death every time he reincarnates, he still lives on. The first verse describes him as a highwayman, who rode along coach roads with sword and pistol, robbing young maids and killing soldiers. He was hung in 1825 but his spirit continues to live on. In the second verse, the man describes himself as a sailor who died at sea, but continues to live on. In the third verse, he speaks of his life as a dam builder and how he fell into the wet concrete below. His body was buried in a grave, but his spirit continues to exist. Finally, in the last verse, the man describes his new journey as a starship pilot, promising to find a place to rest his spirit.
The song speaks to the idea of reincarnation and the idea of the soul living on beyond death. The lyrics suggest that death is simply a transition to a new life, and that the soul is eternal. The man in The Highwayman has lived many lives, all of which ended in tragedy, yet his spirit remains unbroken. The chorus "And I'll be back again, and again, and again" seems to suggest that this cycle of life and death will continue indefinitely.
Line by Line Meaning
I was a highwayman
I made my living as a robber
Along the coach roads I did ride
I rode around on horseback looking for people to rob on the roads
With the sword and pistol by my side
I carried weapons to defend myself and to intimidate my victims
And many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade
I stole from innocent young women who were traveling on the road
And many a soldier shed his life blood on my blade
I killed soldiers who tried to stop me from robbing them
They fin'lly hung me in the spring of '25
The authorities finally caught me and executed me by hanging in 1825
But I am still alive
Despite my physical death, my legacy lives on
I was a sailor
I worked as a sailor, traveling the seas
And I was borne upon the tide
I was carried along by the waves of the ocean
And with the sea I did abide
I spent my life on the sea and enjoyed the freedom it provided
I sailed a schooner 'round the horn of Mexico
I navigated a specific route around the southern tip of Mexico on a sailing vessel called a schooner
I went aloft to furl the mainsail in a blow
I climbed up the mast of the ship to secure the largest sail during a strong wind
And when the yards broke off they say that I got killed
According to legend, I died when the ship's yardarm broke off during a storm and hit me
But I am living still
My spirit continues on, even though my body has died
I was a dam builder
I worked as a builder of large dams
Across the river deep and wide
I constructed dams across wide and deep rivers
Where steel and water did collide
My work involved the intersection of steel infrastructure and the powerful forces of water
A place called Boulder on the wild Colorado
One specific location I worked on was in Boulder, Colorado, where the Colorado River flows forcefully
I slipped and fell into the wet concrete below
In a tragic accident, I fell into the freshly poured concrete of the dam and drowned
They buried me in that great tomb that knows no sound
My body was buried in the concrete of the dam itself, as a tribute to my sacrifice and work
But I am still around
Despite my death, my spirit continues on in some form
Seems like it all goes 'round and 'round
Life and death are cyclical, and we often end up where we started
And 'round and 'round
I'll fly a starship
In the future, I may travel through the stars in a spacecraft
Across the universe divide
I will cross vast expanses of space to explore new worlds
Until I reach the other side
I will journey until I find a place of rest or a new frontier
I'll find a place to rest my spirit if I can
I hope to find a place where my spirit finally finds rest after all my many travels
Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
I may return to my former life of thievery and adventure as a highwayman
Or I may simply be a single drop of rain
Alternatively, I may return to the simple existence of a single raindrop, blending into the larger pattern of existence
But I will remain
In some form, I will continue to exist and make an impact on the world
And I'll be back again
I will return in some form, either as a highwayman, a sailor, a dam builder, or something else entirely
And again, and again, and again.
I will continue to return and impact the world in new ways, time after time.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: Jimmy Webb
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@womanwiththeredrose7363
I was a highwayman
Along the coach roads I did ride
With sword and pistol by my side
And many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade
And many a soldier shed his lifeblood on my blade
They finally hung me in the spring of twenty-five
But I am still alive
I was a sailor
I was born 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
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 still remain
And I'll be back again, and again and again and again and again
@PsychicIsaacs
@Robert Woodrow My husband and I absolutely recalled our past lives together, years before I began to research them historically. I only began to research them historically three months after he died. My husband loved this song, he was the highwayman and I was his partner in crime (or more accurately, he was MY partner in crime!). I was Katherine Ferrers and he was Ralph Chaplin. I had dreams of making my way through tunnels for years and couldn't understand what I was seeing. We saw that we used to rob people passing through "Our Land" (my former estate), that I was from the nobility, and that we got progressively more violent as the years went on, including, eventually, killing whole coachloads of people without robbing them (this kind of freaked me out at the time, BTW...). All of this matches up with what I learned about Ferrers and Chaplin.
In this life, he was a gang leader who became a Christian and began preaching to his fellow gangsters, even holding church services for them, so reminiscent of Roberts holding church services on his ship every Sunday to try and get his men to Come to Jesus. And you know the amazing thing? Some of Robert's men actually did beg God for forgiveness when it became clear they were to be hung, including some of the most hardened pirates in his crew. Some of the men my Archie preached to also eventually gave their lives to Jesus Christ, including some well known gangsters and especially Hells Angels.
You can believe this or not' I really don't care. But for years, my Archie would tell anyone who would listen about how he was the Tee-Total Pirate King! (his words (quote), "You've gotta understand...I Am the Tee Total Pirate King!). He requested to be buried at sea and I arranged this for him. I was George Wilson, Pirate Surgeon and "Intimayte Friend" of Bartho. Roberts, and I was a woman in that life, man-dragging it around the Carribean.
You say it's not possible, because of Article Six of the the Pirate's Code?
Nobody knew that "Mark" (Mary) Read was female either, until Calico Jack Rackham confronted "him" and (s)he was forced at gunpoint to confess her femininty. She had lived as a man since adolescence and so had I. The only difference was, I was never caught. In 1723, I drowned myself because of grief and to this day, I cannot stand the feeling of cold water on my skin. I hated being forced to swim in cold water as a child and because of this, could not swim until the age of 13, when some kind people thought to give me swimming lessons in a heated pool. I love the sea, but usually don't swim in it. I love sailing, but I like it best of all when someone else is doing the work. I love anatomy and, despite having no surgical training, can do simple surgeries such as stitching, lancing boils and setting and splinting bones and dislocations. And although I'm not a gangster, I'm perfectly at home socializing with my husband's underworld buddies and confronting cops who overstep the mark, even standing inches from their faces and shouting at them to get off my land when they trespass, trying to make trouble for me.
So, indeed, "I was a Highwayman, along the Coach Roads I did ride!" Hell for Leather, Baby!
@WendyWatersctmm
One of the greatest songwriters of all time.
@Jss316
Hello Wendy, how are things going with you?
@WendyWatersctmm
@James busy thank you for asking: three musicals in process plus the sequel to my books #catchthemoonmary and #fieldsofgrace combined. You?
@Jss316
@Wendy Waters That is nice, my name is James Smith I live in massachusetts usa, where are you from
@Colleen7500
Agreed
@Jss316
@Colleen D Hello Colleen, how are things going with you?
@agamemnonahb
I think the reason The Highwaymen version is so much more popular is the magnitude of talent in the band, but also that in a song about reincarnation you have four voices telling that single story. It comes across as four men but one soul.
@3PiecesOfBread
agamemnonahb and it sounds way better
@davidtillmann4637
agamemnonahb I totally agree, fits the story well. The horn section I also don’t know about
@60BloodyChamp60
agamemnonahb you have a point, but there’s 1 more thing that outlaw country fans hate to admit. They absolutely NAILED the melody in that remake. It was the equivalent of Metallica covering Diamond Head.