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Take the Long Way Home (Supertramp song)

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"Take the Long Way Home"
Cover of the 1980 UK live single
Single by Supertramp
from the album Breakfast in America
B-side"From Now On"
ReleasedOctober 1979 (US)
  • 3 October 1980 (live version) [1]
Recorded1978
StudioThe Village Recorder/Studio B, Los Angeles, California
GenrePop[2]
Length
  • 5:08
  • 4:06 (single version)
LabelA&M
Songwriter(s)Roger Hodgson
Producer(s)Supertramp, Peter Henderson
Supertramp singles chronology
"Goodbye Stranger"
(1979) 		"Take the Long Way Home"
(1979) 		"Dreamer (live)"
(1980)
Official audio
"Take the Long Way Home" on YouTube

"Take the Long Way Home" is the third US single and sixth track of English rock band Supertramp's 1979 album Breakfast in America. It was the last song written for the album, being penned during the nine-month recording cycle.[3] In 1980, the live version from Paris became a minor hit in various European countries.

Background

According to its composer Roger Hodgson, the song deals with how the desire to go home can go both ways:

I'm talking about not wanting to go home to the wife, take the long way home to the wife because she treats you like part of the furniture, but there's a deeper level to the song, too. I really believe we all want to find our home, find that place in us where we feel at home, and to me, home is in the heart and that is really, when we are in touch with our heart and we're living our life from our heart, then we do feel like we found our home."[4]

This was the last song composed for Breakfast in America.[5]

Reception

Billboard magazine contributor David Farrell praised the "convincing melody with a crafty hook", although he felt the music contrasted with the "pessimistic lyric about man's loss of identity in an increasingly complex world."[6] Cash Box called it "a bouncy, uptempo number, laden with pop-symphonic instrumentals, highpitched vocals and harmonies and a jaunty harmonic figure"[7] Ultimate Classic Rock critic Nick DeRiso rated it as Supertramp's 8th best song.[5] Gary Graff of Billboard rated "Take the Long Way Home" as Supertramp's 7th best song, noting its "bouncy melody awash with keyboards" and the "rich sax-and-harmonica exchange between [John] Helliwell and [Rick] Davies."[8]

The single reached number 10 on the U.S. charts[9] and number 4 in the Canadian charts.

Charts

Chart (1979–80) Peak
position
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[10] 4
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[11] 32
Germany (GfK)[12] 53
US Billboard Hot 100[13] 10
Year-end chart (1980) Rank
US Top Pop Singles (Billboard)[14] 86

Personnel

Other versions

References

  1. ^ "Supertramp singles".
  2. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Supertramp Breakfast in America Review". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  3. ^ Buskin, Richard (July 2005). CLASSIC TRACKS: Supertramp's 'Logical Song', Sound on Sound.
  4. ^ "Acoustic Storm :: Artists". 28 February 2020. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  5. ^ a b DeRiso, Nick. "Top 10 Supertramp Songs". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  6. ^ "Closeup" (PDF). Billboard. 31 March 1979. p. 166. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  7. ^ "CashBox Singles Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. 13 October 1979. p. 22. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  8. ^ Graff, Gary (10 October 2017). "Supertramp's 10 Best Songs: Critic's Picks". Billboard. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
  9. ^ "Take the Long Way Home" chart history, Billboard.com. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  10. ^ "RPM100: Hit Tracks & Where to Find Them". RPM. 32 (13). Ottawa: Library and Archives Canada. 22 December 1979. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  11. ^ "Supertramp – Take the Long Way Home (Live Version)" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  12. ^ "Supertramp – Take the Long Way Home (Live Version)" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  13. ^ "Supertramp Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  14. ^ "1980 Talent in Action – Year End Charts : Pop Singles". Billboard. Vol. 92, no. 51. 20 December 1980. p. TIA-10.
  15. ^ "Undercovers - Trixter | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  16. ^ "Lazlo Bane's Guilty Pleasures". Cdbaby.com. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
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