Home.
I have always been a bit obsessed with that four-letter word. Turns out I am not the only one.
"This is big," my friend said as a group of us piled into her car. "Siri," she paused, then smiled. "Take me home." Her phone responded with directions back to campus. My friend grew up on the other side of the world in China, so our Midwestern college now qualifying as home was certainly smile-worthy.
It made me think of my high school self, moving from one place to the next. I recall many road trips, with my headphones in, considering the concept, wondering if I'd ever find home, or if I just had many. I wanted to be able to define home, but it wasn't an obvious house or location.
I went to music, because, well, what better depiction of the human experience? I discovered a plethora of songs, many with the exact same title.
If anyone remembers 2012 and the confusion between Home by Phillip Phillips and the older song Home by Edwarde Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
My ever-growing list of songs went from pen/paper, to my iPod (remember clickwheel On The Go playlists?), to 8tracks (the website, I'm not THAT old), to where it now dwells on Spotify.
So when someone asks you, "Who's that artist that sings Home?"
The correct response is, "Which one?"'
Here are 21 songs, with different focuses and in different styles, but all with the same four-letter title:
H-O-M-E.
Home is Here (Being Home)
1. Home - Ingrid Michaelson
This is my home/This is my home/Where I go when I've got nowhere else to go
2. Home - Dan Croll
When the cold shakes my bones it's the rug that warms my soul/It's the textile to the skin, and the sensation alone feels like home, home
3. Home - Jack Savoretti
This feeling is real/I only know that now/I wait for my love/To come home, home, home... come home, home, home
Home is Elsewhere (Missing Home)
4. Home - Michael Buble
Another aeroplane/Another sunny place/I’m lucky, I know/But I wanna go home/Mmmm, I’ve got to go home
5. Home - Ben Rector
I wanna go home, please take me home/Back to the place where I belong/There ain't nothing wrong with all the places that I've been/But Lord won't you take me home again
6. Home - Rudimental
I’m headed for somewhere else/I’m guessing the time will tell/‘Cause it’s a long way home/Courage to carry on/And now I got to be oh so strong/‘Cause it’s a long way home
Home is Made (Building Home)
7. Home - Phillip Phillips
Hold on to me as we go/As we roll down this unfamiliar road/And although this wave is stringing us along/Just know you're not alone/'Cause I'm gonna make this place your home
8. Home - Beauty & The Beast
Is this home/Is this what I must learn to believe in/Try to find/ Something good in this tragic place/Just in case/I should stay here forever/Held in this empty space
9. Home - MAX
And darling, where do we go?/Do we make this a home?/Do you think that we're grown enough to make this a home?
Home is Sought (Chasing Home)
10. Home - Madeon
If I could/Try a little harder/I would succeed (oh, oh)/I'd rather give up/And be happy/I will come home/I will come home/I will come home in time
11. Home - Dotan
The sound of the wind is whispering in your ear/Can you feel it coming back?/Through the warmth, through the cold, keep running 'til we're there/We're coming home now, we're coming home now
12. Home - Little May
Blind man, if I heal you, could you tell me/How to go, where I can be/'Til we get, 'til we get, 'til we get home
Home is Human (Loving Home)
13. Home - Gabriella Aplin
'Cause they say home is where your heart is set in stone/Is where you go when you're alone/Is where you go to rest your bones/It's not just where you lay your head/It's not just where you make your bed/As long as we're together, does it matter where we go?
14. Home - Snoh Aalegra
I've been homeless, hopeless with no address/'Til my heart, you chose/Now I got a home, baby/Out here in the world I'm not alone/As long as I've got you, I've got a home
15. Home - Edward Sharpe
And in the streets you run afree/Like it's only you and me/Geez, you're something to see/Home, let me come home/Home is wherever I'm with you/Home, let me come home/Home is wherever I'm with you
Instrumental Home (Hearing Home)
16. HoMe - Marshmello
[Check this out!]
17. Home - ODESZA
[Let me go home...]
18. Home - Sophie Hutchings
[No words needed.]
Home is Peace (Finding Home)
19. Home - Mumford & Sons
Wrap up your questions, keep them down/Let the water lead us home/And I was sorry for what I’d done
20. Home - Johnnyswim
We're all bruised and beaten/Lost on account of many reasons/But only love would make you understand/Home/Oh I love me some home
21. Home - Phil Wickham
You were pure and I was stained/But you ran to me and you called my name/There were tears of joy upon your face/Father, I'm running/Father, I'm coming home/Cause I cannot go on/Your child is running/Father, I'm coming home/Back into your arms
The word home has different meanings, and different things can mean home to me, just as it can for you. My little sister used to say that our minivan felt like home more than anything. Many musicians live life on the road, so maybe that's why I've always connected to their search for home. But the diversity of music indicates how different each experience is.
Even a person who has grown up in the same house their entire life, can feel like their house is just a house - a building devoid of home.
That is why I find peace of mind most enthralling, it can thrive independent of circumstance or location. Home is security amidst the storm, the aftermath of forgiveness, driven by love.
Back to where we belong.
Ephesians 2:19
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household.
