You know the one. Even if you don’t remember the part ‘home is wherever I’m with you’, you’ll at least remember the beginning.
“Alabama, Arkansas
I do love my ma and pa
Not that way that I do love you”
Yes, the 2010 classic Home, by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros is the song and I have to say, this song makes me feel certain emotions.
Freedom. Hope. Love.
I think music is a great way to communicate emotion and, in this case, it even tells a story.
Let’s start with freedom.
The way that I interpret this song, I imagine a couple running away. Where our female lead finally works up the courage to leave her home in a small town to travel with her lover to wherever they want to go.
It’s a classic road trip love story, where the couple travels to all these different places and they can go wherever they want.
I think we’ve all had that feeling when we were younger. The thought of just getting in a car with nothing at all, and driving for miles and miles to somewhere we’ve never been.
Being able to live off jerky and sodas, going wherever the road takes you, with your favourite person.
Sure, running away in a road trip could represent freedom. But to me, it’s a deeper sense of freedom.
I think the song speaks to being able to be who you are, whenever you’re with the person you love.
It’s being free to say what you want and do what you want, with no restrictions.
Not being afraid to be who you are, and just being with someone that can accept everything about you.
This song also gives me a little bit of hope
As you can imagine, when this song came out, I was still in my teens.
At the time, I remember feeling very lost and very nervous. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, or where it was headed.
I had never been in love and I never would have thought that anyone could accept me for who I am.
All I had at the time was music.
When I heard this song, it gave me hope.
I saw a future where I’d be able to one day travel to wherever I want, with the love of my life.
It gave me the strength to keep going and a possibility that this was one day possible.
I think the lyrics and meaning behind it can mean so much for so many different people.
Some may not see what I saw, but to me, it gave me hope that one day my life was going to be filled with laughter and love.
Lastly, the love
Last but not least, this song reminds me of a very specific type of love. I see two very misunderstood people, who are only comfortable when they’re with each other.
It doesn’t matter where they go, or where they are, because they left everything and everyone behind, and as long as they have each other, everything will be okay.
I completely understand that feeling, and I think it’s very common among those with unfortunate experiences in their childhood.
However, as misunderstood as this type of love is, I think it’s perfect.
It represents a carelessness about what other people think, and an emphasis on the importance of your partner.
“Home is whenever I’m alone with you.”
It’s perhaps one of the sweetest things you can say about your significant other.
In conclusion
Every song can mean something different for everybody.
To me this song really told a story. It told a story that gives you hope for something better, and a future where you’re in love.
As a romantic, that’s all I wanted growing up.
Home is one of those songs that you don’t listen to for a while, but when you hear it, it can bring back so many memories of your past.
It taught me to love without fear and to be spontaneous when you have the opportunity to love somebody.
What comes to mind when you hear Home?
Let me know in the comments!
If you’d like, you can read my previous article on insecurity and social media.
You can also check out more content from WILF (What I Learned From).
I also write for Medium and a publication called P.S. I Love You.
Thank you so much for reading.
Love always,
Alex
[…] If you’d like, you can read my previous article on what I learned from the song – Home. […]