We’re officially a week away from the release of the film adaptation of Stephen King’s The Long Walk, starring David Jonsson. Excitement for the film is already high thanks to some creative marketing, but it can never be too high, so the studio has released the film’s ending theme song, “Took A Walk” by Shaboozey and Stephen Wilson Jr.
A moody country ballad, “Took A Walk” aims to hammer home some of the movie’s themes, while also working in some imagery to the effect of that old adage about walking a mile in your neighbor’s shoes to see what their life is like. “‘Cause my old man, well, he told me to stop / And count ’em all while I can / The key to life is enjoying the journey / When you don’t know the end,” Shaboozey sings. The spirit of the song is one of brotherhood and acknowledging that life is tough for all of us, but it’s a little more uplifting than the plot of the film itself — which will probably help at the end of what’s probably going to be a downer of a tale.
The Long Walk imagines a dystopian United States (what a reach, right?), in which an annual contest pits 100 young men against each other for an exorbitant prize. Naturally, this involves a more or less endless walk at a specific pace; anyone who stops or falls behind is executed. Listen, man, that’s gruesome stuff, and we’re like… five years off this timeline at the current pace we’re headed, so let’s all hope this doesn’t turn into a Torment Nexus situation and its legacy can be this absolute banger of a track.
Listen to Shaboozey and Stephen Wilson Jr.’s “Took A Walk” above.
The Long Walk is scheduled to be released on 9/12 via Lionsgate.