Show Me the Way to Go Home

"Show Me the Way to Go Home" is a folk song. It was made famous by its 1925 adaptation by the pseudonymous "Irving King" (the British songwriting team James Campbell and Reginald Connelly). The song was written on a railroad train journey from London by Campbell and Connelly. They were tired from the traveling and had a few alcoholic drinks during the journey, hence the lyrics. It is believed to be of English origin but is also sung commonly in Ireland and North America. The song can be modified to be used in swing dancing.

The lyrics are:

Show me the way to go home
I'm tired and I want to go to bed
I had a little drink about an hour ago
And it went right to my head (or it's gone straight up to my head)
Where ever I may roam
On land or sea or foam
You will always hear me singing this song
Show me the way to go home

Popular culture

• Famously used in the popular 1975 thriller film Jaws, the song was sung by the three principal characters, following the famous Indianapolis speech by Robert Shaw's character, Quint.
• George Orwell references the song in his 1934 novel Burmese Days.
• Supporters of the Scottish football team, Celtic fc used to sing the song at their home games.
• Brick, a main character of the Tennessee Williams play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, sings this song toward the end while drinking liquor, leaving out the line "And it's gone right to my head." and the last two lines due to dialogue between other characters.
• In a season 1 episode of the anime Pokemon, Team Rocket member James quotes "Show me the way to go home, I'm tired and I want to go to bed" after being exploded by Voltorb and Electrode.
• In the World War II TV show Combat!, a captured German soldier shows his love for America by singing this song.
• In an episode of Family Guy (A Fish out of Water) where Peter and his friends are on his boat hunting a feared fish, they recreate the scene from Jaws and sing this song as they become weary.
• In the film Rory O'Shea Was Here, Rory (James McAvoy) sings the first line, replacing "home" with "Carrigmore," the residential home where he and his friend Michael (Steven Robertson) lived.
• The character Harry Hewitt sings a portion of this song in a drunker stupor in an early episode of Coronation Street, transmitted in early 1961.
• Bono sings the first four lines in his MacPhisto alter-ego during the Zoo TV: Live from Sydney video.
• It is sung by Cat, Lister, Holly and Rimmer in Red Dwarf Series 2 Episode 3 by a rather intoxicated crew.
• Jefferson Starship covered the song live during shows of their Acoustic Explorer / Acoustic Shuttlecraft incarnation in 1996-1998.
• Emerson, Lake & Palmer included their version of the song on the 2006 release Works Volume II.
• Shai Hulud sings the song as a group as the hidden track on their album Hearts Once Nourished with Hope and Compassion".
• Neleh Dennis and Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien sing the song in the season finale of Survivor: Marquesas
• Sawyer sings it in the ninth episode of the third season of Lost.
• Duckman and Cornfed sing this song at the end of the Duckman episode "The Amazing Colossal Duckman".
• St. Mary's College of Maryland's Ultimate Frisbee Team (SMUT) has adapted this song to use in one of their cheers
• The Toy Dollstag the end of their track Lambrusco Kid with the first 4 lines
• In an episode of Family Guy, Mind Over Murder in which Peter builds a bar in his basement while being under house arrest, Lois brings Stewie downstairs and tells Peter to watch him. Stewie is teething and begins to cry, so Peter rubs alcohol on his gums. Later, when Lois retrieves Stewie he is drunk, and as she carries him upstairs he begins to sing the song.
• In the Babylon 5 episode "Meditations on the Abyss", Michael Garibaldi sings this while drunk.
• In an episode of the US dubbed version of Pokémon, James from Team Rocket says the first two lines of this song, disguised as normal dialogue.
• Wyclef Jean has also remade the original song and is featured in the credits of the documentary "Running the Sahara."
• It is sung by an old man in the jail in A River Runs Through It when Paul is picked up by his brother
• Asa-Chang & Junray do a rendition on their 2009 album Kage No Nai Hito.
• In the Traveling Wilburys inspired play, The Lion's Den, tramps Pancho and Lefty singing the first half of this song upon entering the stage.
• Davy Jones sings this during the Listen To The Band/Chaos segment of The Monkees TV special 33 and a 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee (NBC, 1968.)
• Tobias Schneebaum says the first four lines at the end of his bio-documentary, Keep the River on Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale (David and Laurie Shapiro, 1999).
• In the Woody Allen film Cassandra's Dream, Terry (Colin Farrell) and Ian (Ewan McGregor) sing this song on the maiden voyage of their boat.
• In the opening scene of Piranha 3D (2010), Richard Dreyfuss (reprising/spoofing his character of Matt Hooper from Jaws) is listening to this song as well as singing along.