Wagon Wheel lyrics by Old Crow Medicine Show, 16 meanings. Wagon Wheel explained, official 2024 song lyrics | LyricsMode.com
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Old Crow Medicine Show – Wagon Wheel lyrics

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Old Crow Medicine Show – Wagon Wheel lyrics
Headed down south to the land of the pines
And I'm thumbin' my way into North Caroline
Starin' up the road
Pray to God I see headlights

I made it down the coast in seventeen hours
Pickin' me a bouquet of dogwood flowers
And I'm a hopin' for Raleigh
I can see my baby tonight

So rock me mama like a wagon wheel
Rock me mama any way you feel
Hey mama rock me
Rock me mama like the wind and the rain
Rock me mama like a south-bound train
Hey mama rock me

Runnin' from the cold up in New England
I was born to be a fiddler in an old-time stringband
My baby plays the guitar
I pick a banjo now

Oh, the North country winters keep a gettin' me now
Lost my money playin' poker so I had to up and leave
But I ain't a turnin' back
To livin' that old life no more

So rock me mama like a wagon wheel
Rock me mama any way you feel
Hey mama rock me
Rock me mama like the wind and the rain
Rock me mama like a south-bound train
Hey mama rock me

Walkin' to the south out of Roanoke
I caught a trucker out of Philly
Had a nice long toke
But he's a headed west from the Cumberland Gap
To Johnson City, Tennessee

And I gotta get a move on before for the sun
I hear my baby callin' my name
And I know that she's the only one
And if I die in Raleigh
At least I will die free

So rock me mama like a wagon wheel
Rock me mama any way you feel
Hey mama rock me
Rock me mama like the wind and the rain
Rock me mama like a south-bound train
Hey mama rock me
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Songwriters: Bob Dylan, Ketch Secor
Wagon Wheel lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
Corrected by keith_olson_96

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Wagon Wheel meanings Post my meaning

  • U
    + 10
    Unregistered 2012-07-31 04:59:52
    This song was my soldier son's favorite song. It was the last song he sang before he was killed on a motorcycle. Every where he went he sang this song. It was the last song sang at his funeral. Went to see the band this summer in st. Louis. They were awesome. They dedicated a song to my son. Hope to some day have them come to our home town for a concert on his behalf.
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 6
    Unregistered 2014-12-30 19:27:02
    I love this song but when I heard (and subsequently read) the lyrics of the third verse I thought it sounded backwards in terms of the direction of travel, which I then verified on a map. If you look at a map, if the protagonist is "walkin' to the south out of Roanoke" and is headed to Raleigh, he would need a route that eventually took him to the east. That part is fine. But then all the versions of lyrics and song I could find on the internet state.
    3 replies
  • o
    + 4
    Oldness 2014-12-09 03:59:52
    My cousin Joey was loved by so many people he was crippled but he rolled like a champ, making almost everyone happy. He was the life of the party. Wagon wheel was his song thank you Old Crow Medicine Show. Your song lifts up so many people, and is played in and around Farmington P. A. In memory of Joey Rodeheaver. We love and thank you for a timeless memory. I think the song is about being free to roll from one life to another. And we see Joey in thoes headlites everytime it plays. Thank you!
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 4
    Unregistered 2011-12-02 06:18:04
    Mama is his woman. And I feel he is from one band and she is from another. They pass and occasionaly sing together. He feels her power when he hears her music, but is too shy to tell her how he feels, so he puts it in a song, but kinda coded so only she will know what he means. So now, when he sings this song, he is telling her to make sweet music for him, and that anything she plays, he will love it. Home he makes it to see her tonight. A shy love song is what it seems to me.
    Add your reply
  • h
    + 3
    Hazel May Lebrun 2013-01-24 18:46:22
    I'm a songwriter and I have co-written songs. I always make sure I credit whomever was writing with me or had a hand in it. I've seen so many take other people's songs (I know I 'm old school and this is the era of song sampling everywhere). It's just a credit and Dylan has enough songs out there to not need it, but. I've seen some heartbroken writers out there who had their work taken and not an acknowledgement to be found. It's hurtful for a writer. And shameful for the thief.
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  • U
    + 3
    Unregistered 2012-05-10 20:44:57
    The guy left his wife in the south, decided he was wrong, wants god to get him a ride home cause his wife if going to take him back. If he gets back to her before he dies he'll be forgiven and free from the guilt he carried for leaving in the first place. He lost all his money so he picks her wildflowers. If she changes her mind, she may throw rocks at him. Lol!
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 3
    Unregistered 2012-01-18 00:47:57
    Born and raised in north carolina, this song means a lot to me. Last year I got into a good school in new york, and nc state in raleigh. I chose usma in ny instead, thinking I'd have more opportunity here. Since I've been up here, I know there ain't no place like home; there ain't no place like north carolina. I'm makin it back to her soon enough to live a simpler life where I can be satisfied. Wagon wheel pretty well sums up where I'm at in life right now.
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 3
    Unregistered 2011-12-09 09:49:19
    This song is about a traveling singer's love, lust, and respect for his lady in north carolina.
    He wants to see her as soon as he can, as quickly as he can travel. He compares his love for her to freedom.
    He wants her to rock his bed as she pleased. This is not a song you sing to your mother on mother's day.
    He admires her as seen in the line "my baby plays the guitar, i pick a banjo now. "
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 2
    Unregistered 2012-08-12 16:41:43
    I love ocms and I suppose this is their anthem. Just a lot of poetic allusions, dogwood flowers, carolina pine trees, and a little dig at the north where it's cold and you get fleeced in poker games (although perhaps where the jobs are) but that's what the choice is. This does for roanoke what jackson brown did for winslow, az make it a place, even for those that pass by.
    1 reply
  • U
    + 2
    Unregistered 2012-07-24 03:58:35
    This is our first dance at our wedding. This song means more to us than anyone could know. We danced to this song on an old country bridge the night he told me he loved me and wanted me to be his wife. This song is so meaningful to our life together and I don't know where I would be without the love of my life, and this amazing song.
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 2
    Unregistered 2012-05-02 07:56:21
    This guy is desparately in love with this girl and is lost without her! He feels warm hearthearted and free with her. Hopelessly, he is in dire need of her love, even tho he realizes that the road is narrow and rough; he remains willing to put his heart out on the line for her. Even though she is very far away and seems he will die chasing her, because even in death he feels carefree. And its kool to have nice long tokes. Ps love.
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  • U
    + 2
    Unregistered 2011-10-06 03:33:04
    It is a great upbeat song---especially after the two previous songs on the album---both of which are great songs too--but very much slow and serious. Lots of other bands and individual musicians are doing cover versions of this song and it always fires up the crowd. It is a good road song--especially since I tend to get down in those areas pretty regularly--in fact in just a few days I will be in that area yet again--I will be sure to be playing "Wagon Wheel" at least once or twice while heading on down south.
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 1
    Unregistered 2012-05-29 23:27:24
    He has a love in north carolina lives up north and is gona get there any way possible and since he lost all his money and can't go back all he can strive for is going to see and be with the only thing he has left and since he got there he can die free cause he has everything he could as for. And I always think of rock me mama like a wagon wheel being like rocking a wagon wheel sewing machine/wool spinning thing and its always gave me a more mellow vibe to the song. One of my top favorites tho for sure!
    Add your reply
  • U
    + 1
    Unregistered 2012-04-30 00:34:36
    It reminds me of the summer I was dating this guy, he and his best friend played this on the guitar and he sang it to me on canada day as we all sat around the fire to end an amazing day on the lake, it was then that I realized how much I truly liked him, every time I hear this song it reminds me of that summer. I saw him at the bar a couple months ago and this song was playing, we looked at each other like we both knew the meaning and ended up dancing together to it. The spark was still there :)
    Add your reply
  • U
    0
    Unregistered 2012-07-12 17:25:34
    I like this song because it reminds me o the time my duck went missing and it was traumatizing I just couldn't fint it anywhere and I called the cops and stuff and they came with guns to eat some pie my mother had made before she died and then my uncle ned came in to find that I was sitting on my dog oops I mean duck. I think it is clear why this song reminds me of this experience.
    Add your reply
  • U
    - 1
    Unregistered 2012-03-15 05:23:34
    The internal bleeding of being a "road warrior". The song describes the many times the road is great with the many girls and distractions of being "rocked like a wagon wheel" (sex). But it also describes the desire to be with his girl/girlfriend. He wants to go back and be with his girl where he feels loved. But he also wants the exhilaration of being on the road and free. I like this song because it helps coping and understand the internal conflicts with breakups. In the end he says he would rather die free, which is every mans dream. Don't chain your man down women! They don't like it.
    Add your reply
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    • U
      + 10
      Unregistered
      This song was my soldier son's favorite song. It was the last song he sang before he was killed on... Read more →
    • U
      + 6
      Unregistered
      I love this song but when I heard (and subsequently read) the lyrics of the third verse I thought... Read more →
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    [Intro][Verse][Pre-Chorus][Chorus][Hook][Bridge][Outro]