☝️ Key Points
- The song is about a man who is on a problematic sea journey and has a strong homesickness
- The man and his grandfather get into a fight during the journey after drinking all night
- There are problems with the ship's crew - the first mate gets drunk and the cook throws away their food
- Due to these experiences, the man describes the journey as the worst of his life
- The central point of the song is the desire to return to the safety and comfort of one's own home
Interpretation
The song 'I Want to Go Home' by
Johnny Cash tells the story of a man who is on an unpleasant sea voyage with his grandfather and longs to go home.
The journey is filled with unpleasant events. The singer and his grandfather drink all night and get into a fight ('Drinking all night got into a fight'), which intensifies his longing to go home ('Well I feel so homesick I wanna go home').
Furthermore, there are problems with the ship's crew. The first mate gets drunk and is taken away by the police ('The first mate he got drunk broke up the people's trunk. Constable had to come and take him away'). The cook has a fit and throws out all his food, causing the singer to even lose his own food ('Then the cook he caught the fits threw out all of my grits. Then he took and ate up all of my corn').
All these unpleasant events lead the singer to describe this trip as the worst of his life ('Well this is the worst trip since I have been born'). He pleads several times to be allowed to go home ('Let me go home why don't you let me go home').
Overall, the song is about homesickness and the desire to be in the familiar and comfortable environment of one's own home, especially when one is in an unpleasant and unwanted situation.