TL DR: the song is about we need more political and engaged people trying to change the world and finding a greater good for mankind and less YOLO. And then 'Time flies by, they all sang along', meaning they all (people of the world) only think about thenselves and sing along to those that make the world how it is today. And then he talks about how the sun sets and rises, relating it to how things stay the same because nobody does anything to really change our status quo. How about most of the world is 'standing alone', thinking only about themselves. Oooh, I wanna see if you can change it, change itДЄbout how difficult trying to change the world really is but he hopes to see them 'there' (trying to change the world with him). 'Heartbreaks, the heavy world's upon your shoulders Pretty much self explanatory, but he hopes to make a point about how the other person understands the things he's been seeing and dreaming (dreaming in this case that reality is something it's not). First he had respect for how that someone used to live (father) but then he saw in that someone the possibility for them to acctually become something more.Дo you understand the things you been seein'Дo you understand the things that you've been dreaming He is hoping to make the other person understand how important it is to see the world how it trully is. My InterpretationI think this song is about how people do not want to aknowledge how the world is and are always only trying to find happiness and not wanting to actualy change the world.ДЄt first you were my father, now I love you like a brother Heartbreaks, the heavy world's upon your shoulders The title and lyrics of the song allude to the Biblical passage from 2 Corinthians 5:7 which states, 'We walk by faith, not by sight' and James 4:8, 'Come near to God and he will come near to you.Things aren't always what they seem to beДo you understand the things that you've been seein'?Дo you understand the things that you've been dreamin'? Hurse direct a performance of it inВ Kansas CityВ and then brought it to Morris' attention.В Morris added some new lyrics and a choral arrangement.В In the 1940s, a boom of recordings recorded the number in many genres, ranging fromВ Southern gospelВ toВ jazzВ andВ brass bands. Elijah Cluke (1907-1974), for the current rendition of the song.В 'Just a Closer Walk with Thee' became better known nationally in the 1930s whenВ African-AmericanВ churches held huge musical conventions.В In 1940В Kenneth MorrisВ arranged and published for the first time the well-known version after gospel musiciansВ Robert AndersonВ and R.L. Lankton (a pseudonym forВ Fanny Crosby) and music by William Kirkpatrick, which was published in 1885.В Some references inВ Atchison, Kansas, credit anВ African-AmericanВ foundryВ worker and vocalist, Rev. Songs with similar chorus lyrics were published in the 1800s, including 'Closer Walk with Thee' with lyrics by Martha J.

Within two years the song became a standard in gospel music, eventually becoming a standard in Jazz, and then moving into the realm of American folk music, known and sung by many.вЂќ Morris wrote down the words and music and published the song вЂњJust a Closer Walk with TheeвЂќ that year, 1940, adding a few lyrics of his own to provide more breadth. He paid little attention at first, but after he reboarded the train the song remained with him and became so prominent in his mind that at the next stop, he left the train, took another train back to the earlier station, and asked the porter to sing the song again.

вЂњOn a train trip from Kansas City to Chicago, Morris exited the train on one of its stops to get some fresh air and heard one of the station porters singing a song. Horace Boyer cites a story that repudiates this claim, stating:

Circumstantial evidence strongly suggested it dated back to southernВ African-AmericanВ churches of the nineteenth century, possibly even prior to theВ Civil War, as some personal African American histories recall 'slaves singing as they worked in the fields a song about walking by the Lord's side.'. The precise author of ' A Closer Walk' was unknown until recently. The Story Behind Just a Closer Walk with Thee

Lyrics to come a little closer