Can I be of any help to you, baby?
She says, "Help me, help her, help him, too"
Well, I made up my mind...I won't be calling
I think about you and
I think about all the heartbroken ones

Well, it's a real long way to go to say goodbye
I thought we already did that
Have fun...tell the world
Well, it's a real long way to go to say goodbye
I thought we already did that
Have fun...tell the world

High in my life...obsessive was my love
Worth it was my time...Oh, no, you are fading out
Well, I can do it...
Well, I can make it one more time

It's a real long way to go to say goodbye
I thought we already did that
Have fun...tell the world
Well, it's a real long way to go to say goodbye
I thought we already did that
Have fun...tell the world

Can I be of any help to you?
She says, "Help him, help her, help him, too, baby"
Well, I can do it...
Well, I can make it one more time

It's a real long way to go to say goodbye
I thought we already did that
Have fun...tell the world
Well, it's a real long way to go to say goodbye
I thought we already said that
So have fun...tell the world

You were high in my life...obsessive was my love
So have fun...tell the world
Oh, no, you are fading out

Well, can you be of any help to me?
I don't think so
Well, I can do it...
Well, I can make it...
Well, can you be of any help to me?
Ooooohhh...You were high in my life
I thought we already did that...

---

WEBMISTRESS speculates:

I think this song, like No Questions Asked, is about Lindsey leaving FM. She feels like he's left them all heartbroken... and he's out of her life, she "won't be calling" anymore. After all this time, they are finally breaking that chain and saying goodbye - and though she thought they "already did that" when they broke up, she admitted later that it didn't really feel over until he left FM. Well, she caustically tells him to "have fun" when he "tell[s] the world" about how happy he is to be outta there - and he does just that in almost every song on Out of the Cradle. "Obsessive was [her] love" Stevie admits (in Yoda-like diction), but she always felt it was worth it...and now he's leaving forever. He's gone from being "high" in her life to being totally out of it. She's got to keep on, though, and "make it" without him...he can't, or won't, help her now.

 

RENEE speculates:

These thoughts come from the song Long Way to Go on OSOTM - which is my favorite lp of Stevie's. She said on an interview that this song was about how she was with this guy and after she did RAL he called her up and asked her to come over. Even though her friends told her not to go (just like [....] with Imperial) she goes anyway. She gets there plays RAL for him and he just breaks her heart again. I believe the guy was Joe and that this was how the relationship generally went and why her friends were so adament about her not going because they knew the ultimate outcome.

 

JOE speculates:

My 2 cents on Long Way to Go: I always thought this song was about Mick Fleetwood telling all in his book ("have fun, tell the world") about their affair ("you were high in my life. Obsessive was my love. By that time the affair was already over ("it's a real long way to go to say goodbye. I thought we already did that.") Finally, I interpreted the "Help him, help her, help him too" as Mick worrying about her solo career, and asking her to help Lindsey, Christine and John.

 

MIKE speculates:

As Stevie says in REFLECTIONS FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR, this song was written in October 1985, after her ex-boyfriend called her up, had her driven to his place, and then broke up with her all over. "I thought we ALREADY did that!" Stevie exclaims. In REFLECTIONS, she adds, that they had broken up a year before. Who was Stevie dating in 1984? JOE WALSH.

Pretty open-and-shut case about who it's written about.