SUPERTRAMP - TAKE THE LONG WAY HOME

TAKE THE LONG WAY HOME

SUPERTRAMP

SONGWRITERS: RICK DAVIES & ROGER HODGSON

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: BREAKFAST IN AMERICA

LABEL: A&M

GENRE: CLASSIC ROCK

YEAR: 1979

Supertramp were a British rock band formed in London in 1969. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, keyboards, guitar) and Rick Davies (vocals, keyboards), they are distinguished for blending progressive rock and pop styles and for their use of Wurlitzer electric piano and saxophone. The group's line-up changed numerous times throughout their career, with Davies the only consistent member. Other longtime members included bassist Dougie Thomson, drummer Bob Siebenberg, and saxophonist John Helliwell.

The band were initially a full-fledged prog-rock group, but starting with their third álbum Crime of the Century (1974), they maintained a more pop-oriented sound. They reached their commercial peak with 1979's Breakfast in America, which yielded the international top 10 singles "The Logical Song", "Breakfast in America", "Goodbye Stranger" and "Take the Long Way Home". Their other top 40 hits included "Dreamer" (1974), "Give a Little Bit" (1977) and "It's Raining Again" (1982).

As of 2007, Supertramp album sales exceeded 60 million. They attained significant popularity in North America, Europe, South Africa and Australia. Their highest sales levels were in Canada, where they had two diamond-certified (ten-times platinum) albums (Crime of the Century and Breakfast in America). In 1983, Hodgson left the group to pursue a solo career. Davies took over as the band's sole leader until 1988, after which they disbanded and periodically reformed in various configurations.

"Take the Long Way Home" is the fourth single and sixth track of Supertramp's 1979 album Breakfast in America. It was the last song written for the album, being penned during the nine-month recording cycle. 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."

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."

The single reached number 10 on the U.S. charts.

So you think you're a Romeo

Playing a part in a picture-show

Take the long way home

Take the long way home

Cos you're the joke of the neighborhood

Why should you care if you're feeling good

Take the long way home

Take the long way home

But there are times that you feel you're part of the scenery

All the greenery is comin' down, boy

And then your wife seems to think you're part of the furniture

Oh, it's peculiar, she used to be so nice

When lonely days turn to lonely nights

You take a trip to the city lights

And take the long way home

Take the long way home

You never see what you want to see

Forever playing to the gallery

You take the long way home

Take the long way home

And when you're up on the stage, it's so unbelievable

Unforgettable, how they adore you

But then your wife seems to think you're losing your sanity

Oh, calamity, is there no way out?

Althought you feel that you life's become a catástrofe

Oh, it has to be for you to grow, boy

When you look through the years and see what you could have been

Oh, what you might have been

If you'd had more time

So, when the day comes to settle down

Who's to blame if you're not around?

You took the long way home

You took the long way home.