Lyrics Page
Thrown Away
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Sep 22, 2026 updated
Allegiance album
Verified editorial review
Song Meaning
Ray Boltz builds a parable out of an ordinary childhood errand in "Thrown Away" — "grandpa and me, every week or so, we'd go walking down a country road... looking for something others drove right past." The bottles by the roadside are treated as genuinely valuable, not as trash simply reframed for effect.
"Thrown away, can you believe the things they toss aside and leave 'em where they lay? Oh, but they can be saved if you will take the time and try to find the good along the way" states the song's real subject plainly — the bottles stand in for anything, or anyone, written off as worthless by people who never stopped to look closely.
The second verse's lonely stranger, "a man and his name was Trouble," advises walking away from family when it gets difficult — advice the song never endorses, closing instead on the singer imagining his own grandchild and another walk down the same country road, choosing continuity over the stranger's isolation.
Lyrics Verified by Editorial Team
Grandpa and me, every week or so
We'd go walking down a country road
Looking for something
Others drove right past
Maybe they were late
And they were dogging the throttle
Maybe they just
Didn't notice the bottles
Shining like diamonds in the grass
We would pick them up
And we'd cash 'em in
He'd look at me and I'd look at him
And he'd say
Thrown away
Can you believe the things
They toss aside
And leave 'em where they lay?
Oh, but they can be saved
If you will take the time
And try to find the good
Along the way
Oh, what this world throws away
Many years later
When my age had doubled
I met a man and his name was Trouble
He said, Son, I'll give you some advice
A family is fine
And there's a time you need them
But sure enough there will come
A time to leave 'em
You know you only get one life
He was a lonely man
Without a single friend
He looked at me and I looked at him
And I said
And maybe someday
When the little ones have grown
I may have a grandchild of my own
And if I do, I can promise you
One day we'll walk down a country road