The song “Live Oak” by Jason Isbell has many different symbols and puns littered all around the lyrics. One of the symbols in the song is when Isbell sings the line, “There’s a man who walks beside me he is who I used to be”. This symbolizes that the narrator’s past is still haunting him, as if it is a man that walks beside him. In the song, Isbell sings, “Could it be the man who did the things I’m living down”. This is talking about how the narrator’s lover doesn’t see who he is now, but his past self. That is why he asks himself if she sees the man he is living down, almost as if his past haunts him. The next time Isbell hints at this is when he sings, “Rumors of my wickedness had reached our little town”. This is talking about how his past