Take Me Home

You know listening and reading the lyrics it sounds like the dull life that some people lead. Working day in and day out like a mouse in a wheel; going around and around with no real life inside of them, no dreams, no passions. The person is slowly losing their mind because they're chronically unhappy and spiraling downwards in despair and hopelessness. Time become distorted: hours run together and soon days run together and then it seems years slip by with no definition to them and so he "can't remember."

Christina78, I hope you still check up on the site b/c Phil is one of my favorites and he explained this song on Storytellers years ago. It's about a person in an insane asylum - There's no point escaping, I don't worry anymore...I've been a prisoner all my life... They don't think that I listen, Oh but I know who they are... He said it was kinda dark when he began talking about it. I think that's pretty much all he said. But the song is still great after all these years!

My friend told me that I should see Phill Collins farewell tour "Finally". So I did. It was fantastic!!! I knew Phil's music, but I was not "a fan". I have read Dr. Michael Newton's book "Journey of Souls". When I was watching the farewell tour's last song "Take Me Home" something struck me! I felt that the lyrics are about feelings we feel while living on Earth in human bodies, and feeling that our real home is somewhere "up" there. That our souls will return to the "real" home after death. When Phil was thanking all the musicians and told that they "gotta go home", they left the stage one by one. It was so simbolical for me. It was like people were leaving (dying) this life on Earth to be reunited once again in another world. I felt that sooner or later we all will meet again. You know, how close we feel during concerts. Just look around while being in the crowd. Phil and his team made us ONE again here on Earth! He TOOK US HOME! :)

This song holds a very dear place in my heart. I can relate to it because to me it summarizes my journey to rediscover my faith and my relationship with God by returning to church camp after not going for five years because of being bullied. This is how I interpret it as thus: "Take that look of worry, I'm an ordinary man" - Exactly what it says, I'm just ordinary guy. "They don't tell me nothin', so I find out all I can." - No one told me what to expect, so I needed to find out on my own. "There's a fire that's been burning right outside my door." - Describes how I knew there was something missing from my life, and it was within my grasp all this time. "I can't see but I feel it, and it helps to keep me warm." - Describes the will of God: You can't see it, but you know it's there, and it makes you feel good to know there's someone looking out for you. "Seems so long I've been waiting, still don't know what for." - Again, describes how I knew there was something missing from my life, and I was never really sure what. "There's no point in escaping, I don't worry anymore." - Describes how nervous I was about returning and about how scared I was that history would repeat itself, but how I no longer needed to worry, as it would never happen again. "I can't come out to find you, I don't like to go outside." - Describes the fear I once lived in of being bullied there. "They can turn off my feelings like they're turning off the lights." - Describes how my experience with bullies ruined my original perception of camp. "But I don't mind." - Describes how I buried the bad memory by returning and how it doesn't bother me anymore. "Take that look of worry, mine's an ordinary life: working when it's daylight and sleeping when it's night." - Again, exactly what it says: just an ordinary guy who lives an ordinary life. "I've got no far horizons, I don't wish upon a star." - Again describes how I knew something was missing from my life, and how I no longer wish for something. "They don't think that I listen, Oh but I know who they are." - One final message to the bullies: that I forgive them, and thanking them...because if they hadn't targeted me in the first place, none of this would have ever happened. "Well, I've been a prisoner all my life, and I can say to you." - Describes how sometimes we feel lost in our everyday lives, and how we need to get away from the world once in a while. "But I don't remember; take, take me home." - Describes me wanting to forget about the hardships of real life for a while and wanting return to the camp, which has indeed become a home for me.

Just take me home. =)

(I know this seems like some uber-religious anecdote, but I had to post this somewhere; I'm not some super-religious nuthead myself, but this was a major turning point in my life, and I just had to share it.)

Heard this on Pandora and doggone song never fails to remind me of my old piano teacher who was sharp as a tack until the mental illness. Always makes me cry. This song speaks volumes of her progressive deterioration..."Cause I don't remember, so take take me home"...but also of her attitude and perseverance in spite of the knowledge that she was losing it..."But I, I don't mind No I, I don't mind".

Got the chance to visit her one last time before she passed, and even in that moment when they said she was no longer lucid, I still believe she somehow knew me and showed me an amazing example of fortitude and heroic faith. She was singing her favorite hymn...strongly... eyes closed...on pitch...all lyrics...and all the while gripping my hand.

Tidbit: Peter Gabriel and Sting sing backup vocals in the chorus.

An insane asylum? That's very sad and a great shame. I always thought it was about shy people, and in some ways I still apply the song to myself today, even seven years out of high school. However, if you watch the video you can see that an originally dark theme has evolved into something much more for most people.

actionfrank, I can see where it could apply to shy people, like someone with social anxiety or avoidant personality disorder. They have created their own prison, sort of like Pink Floyd's The Wall.

I just love this song. To me, it always just means how I'm at school, and i'm like this prisoner with all these phonies who think i'm just a quiet girl, but I'm not, and I've never really felt free or myself at school, so I feel like, "hey, take me home."

I always get this song in my head after a longer-than-normal day or week of work. I have social anxiety issues coupled with OCD, and so I'm uncomfortable there in the first place, but then sometimes I'm trying and trying to get out of the office but my mental state won't let me leave things unfinished for tomorrow, and so I get out so late, and I'm so aggravated at that point, I just want to run to my car and get home as fast as I can, it's like just take me home already so I can sleep and hide and not think about it and be myself. I just had a day like that today actually.