“Thinking About Leaving” is a song by Dwight Yoakam (born October 23, 1956), co-written with Rodney Crowell. It was released in 1999 as one of three new recordings on Yoakam’s compilation album Last Chance for a Thousand Years: Dwight Yoakam’s Greatest Hits from the 90’s, officially released on May 18, 1999. The song premiered as a single that year, reaching #54 on the U.S. Country charts and #59 in Canada. The official music video was directed by Dwight Yoakam himself and premiered on November 30, 1999.
Content of the Song
The song opens with a striking reflection: “I used to think love was the soft rope meant to tie me down…” Worried, the narrator sees love as both entangling and grounding, alongside the notion that freedom was found in a guitar and endless highways. Throughout roughly ten years, he has chased a nomadic, performance-driven lifestyle—lights, applause, cheering crowds—only to find his mornings are defined by departure and isolation. Yet, lying beside his beloved, he feels the magnetic pull of comfort and home erasing that wanderlust.
Chorus-like lines repeat the internal tug-of-war—wanting the bright lights, the noise, and the applause, but also yearning for the solace of love’s embrace. Memories of the harshness and emptiness of the road surface but are softened by the moment he shares with his partner. The emotional tension is palpable: his heart is torn between the familiar rush of performing and the quiet depth of intimacy, showing that sometimes love can both confine and free. The repeated line—“I’ve been thinking about leaving long enough to change my mind”—reveals a man entangled in indecision, whose yearning for one life clashes with the anchors of another.
Explanation of the Intriguing Tension
The central tension—thinking about leaving “long enough to change my mind”—captures a poignant conflict between two powerful desires: the thrill of wandering and the safety of love. On one hand, the narrator revels in the nomadic life of a performer: bright lights, lonely roads, applause, and adulation. These experiences breed freedom but also harden the soul—depicted as “empty, hard, and unkind.”
On the other hand, love offers emotional sanctuary. The simplicity and warmth of physical closeness contrast sharply with the weariness of solitude. This push-pull is emotionally relatable; many dream of escape while simultaneously fearing what it costs in human connection. The lyric reveals the narrator’s vulnerability—though the allure of the stage remains, it is the gentle weight of love that ultimately softens his resolve to run.
What makes the song intriguing is its honest portrayal of doubt: he isn’t settled, nor is he replicating grand heroism. Instead, he’s stranded between two worlds, uncertain which best serves his soul. Through repetitive lines and evocative imagery, Yoakam and Crowell explore the gravity of attachment versus the promise of independence. Ultimately, the song doesn’t resolve the tension—it lets that lingering space of uncertainty sit in the listener’s heart, which only deepens its emotional resonance.