☝️ Key Points
- The singer describes his experiences on tour, including the loneliness and monotony he feels.
- He longs for his home, where his thoughts unfold freely, his music plays, and his love waits for him.
- Daily life on tour consists of cigarettes and magazines, and the cities he visits all look the same.
- He describes how unfamiliar faces remind him that he longs for home.
- Despite the difficulties of the tour, he performs every night and tries to lie that everything is fine, even though he feels empty and needs comfort.
Interpretation
The song 'Homeward Bound' by
Simon and Garfunkel is a melancholic reflection on life on tour and the longing for home and loved ones. The singer describes how he is sitting in a railway station with a ticket to his destination ('I'm sitting in the railway station. Got a ticket to my destination.'). He is on a tour of one-night stands and has his suitcase and guitar in hand ('On a tour of one-night stands my suitcase and guitar in hand.'). Each stop is carefully planned, but despite the order, he does not feel fulfilled. He longs to return home ('Homeward bound, I wish I was,'). Where his thoughts are escaping ('Home where my thought's escaping,'), where his music is playing ('Home where my music's playing,'), and where his love lies waiting silently for him ('Home where my love lies waiting Silently for me.'). Each day on tour is an endless stream of cigarettes and magazines ('Ev'ry day's an endless stream Of cigarettes and magazines.'). Each town looks the same to him ('And each town looks the same to me, the movies and the factories') and every stranger's face he sees reminds him of how much he longs to be homeward bound ('And ev'ry stranger's face I see reminds me that I long to be, Homeward bound,'). In the evening, he will sing his songs again and play the game and pretend that everything is okay ('Tonight I'll sing my songs again, I'll play the game and pretend.'). But all his words come back to him in shades of mediocrity ('But all my words come back to me in shades of mediocrity'). He feels empty and needs someone to comfort him ('Like emptiness in harmony I need someone to comfort me.'). And once again, he wishes he was homeward bound ('Homeward bound, I wish I was,').