Like other songs posted on this web site, the lyrics to "Walk Tall" by John Mellencamp contain some critical perspectives that are rarely expressed elsewhere in U.S. mainstream media.  --  The theme of this song is encouragement and advice to those trying to maintain a moral compass and clear-sightedness in a time of deliberately sown confusion by which "the simple-minded and the uninformed" are "easily led astray."  --  The lyrics as presented below combine single and album versions of the song, and punctuation and spelling have been slightly amended from other versions; some repeated lines are eliminated....

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WALK TALL
By John Mellencamp

From the album "Walk Tall"
2004

http://www.mellencamp.com/albums/words_and_music/lyrics.html

The simple-minded and the uninformed
Can be easily led astray
And those that cannot connect the dots
Look the other way
People believe what they want to believe
When it makes no sense at all
So be careful of those killing in Jesus’s name
He don’t believe in killing at all
And I wish you a long sight line
And the strength to walk tall

Walk tall
Yeah, walk on
Through this world
Walk tall

Somewhere out in the distance
Is the death of you and me
Even though we don’t think of it much
It’s still out there for us to see
If you treat life like a ballroom fight
You’ll die stinking of gin
No drunkards are allowed in heaven
No sinners will get in

Walk tall
Yeah, walk on
Walk tall
Through this world
Walk tall

So be careful in what you believe in
There’s plenty to get you confused
And in this land called paradise
You must walk in many men’s shoes
Bigotry and hatred are enemies to us all
Grace, mercy, and forgiveness
Will help a man walk tall

So walk tall
Yeah, walk on

Walk tall

Through this world
Through this world
Yeah, walk tall
Then walk on

Walk tall

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