Take the Long Way Home



"Take the Long Way Home" is the fourth single and sixth track of Supertramp's 1979 album Breakfast in America. It was the last song written for the album, being penned during the nine-month recording cycle. 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." It reached number 10 on the U.S. charts.

Personnel

 * Roger Hodgson - vocals, piano
 * Rick Davies - harmonica, Hammond organ, synthesizers
 * Dougie Thomson - bass guitar
 * Bob C. Benberg - drums
 * John A. Helliwell - clarinet

Other versions

 * The band Trixter included a version of the song on their 1994 release Undercovers.
 * Lazlo Bane covered the song for their 2007 album Guilty Pleasures.