Homeward Bound (song)
| "Homeward Bound" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Simon and Garfunkel | ||||
| from the album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme | ||||
| Released | February 1966 | |||
| Format | vinyl record 7" | |||
| Recorded | 1965 | |||
| Genre | Folk | |||
| Length | 2:42 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Writer(s) | Paul Simon | |||
| Producer(s) | Bob Johnston | |||
| Simon and Garfunkel singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"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 debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart on February 12, 1966, peaking at #5 and remained on the charts for 12 weeks. It describes Simon's longing to return home to his then girlfriend, Kathy Chitty, who was in London.[1] It is uncertain exactly where the song was written: in an interview with Paul Zollo for SongTalk Magazine, Art Garfunkel says that Simon wrote the song in a railway station "around Manchester"[2] while in an earlier interview for Playboy Magazine Simon stated that the railway station was in Liverpool.[1] It is likely, however, that it was written at Widnes railway station during a long wait for a train, when traveling back from Widnes, where he had been playing; a commemorative plaque is displayed on the wall of the Liverpool-bound waiting room.[3]
A live version of the song takes the place on the studio version of the compilation Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits, and its performance from the duo's legendary 1981 reunion concert appeared on the subsequent live album; Simon himself has performed the song with other artists such as George Harrison (on a 1976 Saturday Night Live episode) and Willie Nelson (at a 2003 musical celebration of Nelson's 70th birthday). Several artists have covered this song, including The Beau Brummels, Cher, Glen Campbell, Janie Fricke, Davey Graham, Jack Jones, Jack's Mannequin, Petula Clark, Cliff Richard, Ronan Keating, The New Christy Minstrels, and the Glee Cast as a mash-up with Phillip Phillips' "Home" on Glee.
Chart performance
| Chart (1966)[4] | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Kent Music Report | 20 |
| Canadian RPM 100[5] | 2 |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 4 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 12 |
| UK Singles Chart[6] | 9 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 5 |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Schwartz, Tony (1984). "Playboy Interview: Paul Simon". Playboy Magazine. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
- ↑ Zollo, Paul (1990). SongTalk Magazine http://www.artgarfunkel.com/articles/songtalk.html
|url=missing title (help). Retrieved 27 September 2012. - ↑ "'Paul Simon immortalised Widnes Station'". Cheshire Magazine (Cheshire, England: C.C. Publishing). Retrieved 27 September 2012.
- ↑ http://swisscharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Simon+%26+Garfunkel&titel=Homeward+Bound&cat=s
- ↑ http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.5709&type=1&interval=20&PHPSESSID=vvdcheb4950msfeulc46vbap50
- ↑ http://archive.is/20120721121155/http://www.chartstats.com/artistinfo.php?id=1850
