Take the Long Way Home (Supertramp song)

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"Take the Long Way Home"
Take the Long Way Home (Supertramp song).jpg
Cover of the 1980 United Kingdom live single
Single by Supertramp
from the album Breakfast in America
B-side "From Now On"
ReleasedOctober 1979 (United States)
  • 3 October 1980 (live version) [1]
Recorded1978
Studio The Village Recorder/Studio B, Los Angeles, California
Genre Progressive rock [2]
Length
  • 5:08
  • 4:06 (DJ single version)
Label A&M
Songwriter(s) Roger Hodgson
Producer(s) Supertramp, Peter Henderson
Supertramp singles chronology
"Goodbye Stranger"
(1979)
"Take the Long Way Home"
(1979)
"Dreamer (live)"
(1980)
Official audio
"Take the Long Way Home" on YouTube

"Take the Long Way Home" is the third US single and sixth track of English rock band Supertramp's 1979 album Breakfast in America . It was the last song written for the album, being penned during the nine-month recording cycle. [3] In 1980, the live version from Paris became a minor hit in various European countries.

Contents

Background

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. [4]

Hodgson also said:

Take the long way home is a metaphor for the universal journey of self-discovery. The song is a vehicle for reflection in which the sometimes-disappointing realities in our grown up lives can reflect in a not so positive way on the hopeful idealism of our youth... A lot of my songs have multi-levels and the deeper meaning to this song is about taking the long way home to our true home, that place of real connection inside our heart. [5]

This was the last song composed for Breakfast in America. [6]

Reception

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." [7] Cash Box called it "a bouncy, uptempo number, laden with pop-symphonic instrumentals, high-pitched vocals and harmonies and a jaunty harmonic figure". [8] Record World said that "brisk keyboards slice through the bouncy rhythm and trademark vocals." [9]

Ultimate Classic Rock critic Nick DeRiso rated it as Supertramp's 8th best song. [6] Gary Graff of Billboard rated "Take the Long Way Home" as Supertramp's 7th best song, noting its "bouncy melody awash with keyboards" and the "rich sax-and-harmonica exchange between [John] Helliwell and [Rick] Davies." [10]

Hodgson rated it as one of the top 10 songs he ever wrote. [5]

The single reached number 10 on the U.S. charts [11] and number 4 in the Canadian charts.

Charts

Chart (1979–1980)Peak
position
Canada Top Singles ( RPM ) [12] 4
Netherlands (Single Top 100) [13] 32
Germany (Official German Charts) [14] 53
US Billboard Hot 100 [15] 10
Year-end chart (1980)Rank
US Top Pop Singles (Billboard) [16] 86

Personnel

Other versions

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supertramp</span> British rock band

Supertramp were a British rock band that formed in London in 1970. They experienced their greatest global success in 1979 with their sixth album Breakfast in America. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies, the group were distinguished for blending progressive rock and pop styles as well as for a sound that relied heavily on Wurlitzer electric piano. The group's lineup changed numerous times throughout their career, with Davies being the only constant member throughout its history. The classic lineup, which lasted ten years from 1973 to 1983, comprised Davies, Hodgson, Dougie Thomson (bass), Bob Siebenberg (drums) and John Helliwell (saxophone).

<i>Breakfast in America</i> 1979 studio album by Supertramp

Breakfast in America is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Supertramp, released by A&M Records on 16 March 1979. It was recorded in 1978 at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles. It spawned three US Billboard hit singles: "The Logical Song", "Goodbye Stranger", and "Take the Long Way Home". In the UK, "The Logical Song" and the title track were both top 10 hits, the only two the group had in their native country.

<i>Crime of the Century</i> (album) 1974 studio album by Supertramp

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<i>Paris</i> (Supertramp album) 1980 live album by Supertramp

Paris is a live album by the English rock band Supertramp, released in 1980. It was recorded on Supertramp's Breakfast in America tour in Paris, France, with most of the tracks taken from a 29 November 1979 show at the Pavillon de Paris, a venue which was once a slaughterhouse. The album was originally going to be called Roadworks. Paris reached number 8 on the Billboard 200 in late 1980 and went Gold immediately, while the live version of "Dreamer" hit the US Top 20.

<i>...Famous Last Words...</i> 1982 studio album by Supertramp

...Famous Last Words... is the seventh studio album by English rock band Supertramp, released in October 1982. It was the studio follow-up to 1979's Breakfast in America and the last album with vocalist/keyboardist/guitarist Roger Hodgson, who left the group to pursue a solo career. Thus, it was the final album to be released by the classic lineup of the band.

<i>Brother Where You Bound</i> 1985 studio album by Supertramp

Brother Where You Bound is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Supertramp, released in 1985. It was their first album after original member Roger Hodgson left the band, leaving Rick Davies to handle the songwriting and singing on his own. The album features the group's Top 30 hit "Cannonball".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Hodgson</span> English singer and songwriter (born 1950)

Charles Roger Pomfret Hodgson is an English singer, musician and songwriter, best known as the former co-frontman and founding member of the progressive rock band Supertramp. Hodgson composed and sang the majority of the band’s hits, including "Dreamer", "Give a Little Bit", "Take the Long Way Home", "The Logical Song", "It's Raining Again", and "Breakfast in America".

<i>The Autobiography of Supertramp</i> 1986 greatest hits album by Supertramp

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Logical Song</span> 1979 single by Supertramp

"The Logical Song" is a song by English rock group Supertramp that was released as the lead single from their album Breakfast in America in March 1979. It was written primarily by the band's Roger Hodgson, who based the lyrics on his experiences being sent away to boarding school for ten years. The song became Supertramp's biggest hit, rising to No. 7 in the United Kingdom and No. 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. In 2001, a cover version by the band Scooter returned the song to the top 10 in several European countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breakfast in America (song)</span> 1979 single by Supertramp

"Breakfast in America" is the title track from English rock band Supertramp's 1979 album of the same name. Credited to Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson, it was a top-ten hit in the UK and a live version of the song reached No. 62 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1981. The lyrics tell about a person, presumably British, who dreams of visiting the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dreamer (Supertramp song)</span> 1974 single from Supertramp

"Dreamer" is a hit single from British band Supertramp's 1974 album Crime of the Century. It peaked at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart in February 1975. In 1980, it appeared on the band's live album Paris. This live version was also released as a single and hit number 15 on the US charts, number 36 in the Dutch Top 40, and number one on the Canadian Singles Chart. When "Dreamer" had been released in 1974, its B-side "Bloody Well Right" was more popular in North America leading it to chart instead, at No. 35 in the US and No. 49 in Canada, with "Dreamer" only charting in Canada, that being at No. 75. "Dreamer" also appeared on Roger Hodgson's album, Classics Live, recorded on tour in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goodbye Stranger</span> 1979 single by Supertramp

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">It's Raining Again</span> 1982 single by Supertramp

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bloody Well Right</span> 1974 single by Supertramp

"Bloody Well Right" is a song by English rock band Supertramp from their 1974 album Crime of the Century. It appeared as the B-side of the single "Dreamer" in 1974. Listeners in the United States preferred it to the A-side, and "Bloody Well Right" became their breakthrough hit in the country, peaking at number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">School (Supertramp song)</span> 1983 single by Supertramp

"School" is a song co-written by Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson of British rock band Supertramp, and included in the band's third and breakthrough 1974 album, Crime of the Century, of which it was the opening track. It was later released as a single in 1983, backed with "Oh Darling", a track from their 1979 album Breakfast in America, and charted at number 27 in Netherlands in 1989. In 2020, the song peaked at number 1 as its highest radio airplay chart in Spain.

References

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  6. 1 2 DeRiso, Nick (22 July 2013). "Top 10 Supertramp Songs". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  7. "Closeup" (PDF). Billboard. 31 March 1979. p. 166. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  8. "CashBox Singles Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. 13 October 1979. p. 22. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  9. "Hits of the Week" (PDF). Record World. 20 October 1979. p. 1. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
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  11. "Take the Long Way Home" chart history, Billboard.com. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  12. "RPM100: Hit Tracks & Where to Find Them". RPM . 32 (13). Ottawa: Library and Archives Canada. 22 December 1979. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
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  14. "Supertramp – Take the Long Way Home (Live Version)" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  15. "Supertramp Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
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