"Homeward Bound" is an American folk song written by Paul Simon, performed by Simon and Garfunkel, produced by Bob Johnston and recorded on December 14, 1965. The song describes his longing to return home, both to his then girlfriend, Kathy Chitty in Brentwood, Essex, England, and to return to the United States.[citation needed] The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart on February 12, 1966, peaking at #5. It remained on the charts for 12 weeks. Simon was living in Brentwood, and was said to have written the song at Ditton railway station (12 miles from Liverpool) during a long wait for the next train, when he was traveling back from Widnes, where he had been playing.[citation needed] The song has a double meaning: literally, wanting for a ticket home to Brentwood, but on the other hand, yearning to go to his home in the US
However, Simon talked about this song in a 1990 interview with SongTalk magazine: "That was written in Liverpool when I was traveling. What I like about that is that it has a very clear memory of Liverpool station and the streets of Liverpool and the club I played at and me at age 22. It's like a snapshot, a photograph of a long time ago. I like that about it but I don't like the song that much. First of all, it's not an original title. That's one of the main problems with it. It's been around forever. No, the early songs I can't say I really like them. But there's something naive and sweet-natured and I must say I like that about it. They're not angry. And that means that I wasn't angry or unhappy. And that's my memory of that time: it was just about idyllic. It was just the best time of my life, I think, up until recently, these last five years or so, six years... This has been the best time of my life. But before that, I would say that that was."[cite this quote]
A live version of the song takes the place on the studio version of the compilation Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits. Several artists have covered this song, including The Beau Brummels, Cher, Glen Campbell, Janie Fricke, Davey Graham, Jack Jones, Jack's Mannequin, Petula Clark, and Ronan Keating.
[edit] Chart performance
| Chart (1966)[1] |
Peak
position |
| Australian Kent Music Report |
20 |
| Canadian RPM 100[2] |
2 |
| Dutch Singles Chart |
4 |
| Swedish Singles Chart |
12 |
| UK Singles Chart[3] |
9 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 |
5 |
[edit] References
[edit] See also
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