Is Walking 500 Miles (And Then 500 Miles More) Really Romantic?

I love The Proclaimers. Really, I do. Craig and Charlie Reid. They are Scottish. They are twins. They are fantastic singers, write beautiful pop songs, often with very pointed socio-political lyrics and have at least one bonafide end-of-party singalong anthem in "I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)".

Whether The Proclaimers are good or not is not up for debate.

However, I was thinking about the song recently and I’ve always been under the impression that it sounds quite romantic. And for the most part, that’s true.

It’s the chorus I feel is not quite as romantic as we are led to believe.

The Problem with "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)"

The suggestion is that walking 500 miles and then another 500 miles more is an amazing display of love for that special person in your life.

1000 miles is a good solid number and it would take a fair amount of effort, time, motivation, and of course, love to want to walk that distance.

My main problem with it is that it is finite. The Proclaimers are only really interested in stomping (in time, obviously) for 500 miles and potentially 500 miles more. That’s it. What if their true love was not there 1000 miles away from where they started? Reading between the lines, The Proclaimers have more or less said that the only possibility is 500 miles + 500 miles more. There is no contingency plan in place.

Sounds less romantic now, doesn’t it?

So really, instead of being oh-so romantic, it’s kind of practically romantic. Feasible romance to the proper degree that they could be arsed with.

If you really love someone, enough to write a song…

Shouldn’t you be willing to do much more than just cover 1000 miles for them? I am not trying to be naïve or unrealistic here. Most people who are fully committed to their partner would like to do more than just walk 1000 miles. Many would fly from one end of the world to the other, donate organs, and go to a film they weren’t particularly interested in or bothered about. They would give up their job, if necessary, move location, and do any number of amazing things that I’ve not even mentioned.

But…The Proclaimers will just walk 500 miles and then 500 miles more.

Why Set Restrictions On Your Love?

Even…and I can’t believe I am saying this, Christina Perri has a better view of what she might be willing to do for true love – wait 1000 years. Not only that though, but she is willing to also wait 1000 years more.

As romantic as it may sound, the moment you start working with finite numbers, you are already putting a limit on your love. That’s just not romantic.

What if, you followed the advice of The Proclaimers, hypothetically following it to the letter, and walked 500 miles? You couldn’t find your love anywhere. So, you do whatever good, drunk, hard-working, havering Scotsman would do and you walk another 500 miles.

What if, though, you still don’t find your love? The Proclaimers are only working within 1000 miles. So would you simply give up, go to the pub and forget about your love? What if your love happened to be just a few miles further than the 1000 miles? Would you consider that worth it?

Always Walk More Than 500 or 1000 Miles For Your Love

The reality is, of course, that I am being incredibly facetious and taking the Brothers Reid far too literally. I have every faith that they would not limit themselves to only walking 1000 miles if they had to. I get that feeling about those gents. I absolutely love the song and it always brings a smile to my face, and a tap to my feet and I can't help but sing along.

All joking aside, it does make me think though of the kind of people, that will do the bare minimum for their partners in the name of love. Obviously, the thought behind anything you do for your partner is the main thing, but doing more should always be a goal.

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Here is the song for all to enjoy.

Here is a different version.

Thank you for reading this piece. I absolutely love The Proclaimers and was merely having a little bit of fun. I hope you enjoyed the read. If you did, please click the heart, drop a comment or both. I'd love to hear your take on the song and its seeming restrictiveness.

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