Home By The Sea

through a accurate metaphore of a house holding huge amounts of memories, regrets and secrets phil collins for me speaks about every man who went through big changes in his life.

and a home facing the sea which unpenetrable view could possibly be representing all of the wide enigma that our lives are. perfect image of all of the unknown that we're facing.
being at the center of this, tricked and forced or appealed to look back this man feels overwhelmed wanting to go back, but still reliving the things that happen to him prisoner of his mistakes he maybe not wise enough to want to understand why his life went that wrong path... ghost seems to get back at him as it always happens sooner or later great text. mysterious lyrics but somehow clear and really touching a nerve I think

Goodness people - it's a haunted house. Phil Collins said as much during a Genesis concert. Just enjoy the song. Why do people over analyze these things?

Everyone is forgetting an important undertone in the song. As soon as he enters the house he hears "Welcome to the Home by the Sea" from out of the darkness. In the stanza after he says "then as one they signed and the moaned" he says "Before the time when we first heard 'welcome to the Home by the Sea'". So the man breaking into the house was not the first to do so. He is the newest victim and will become like the others. Now there is one more ghost in the house waiting for another victim so he can relive his life to someone who is 'living'.

In the absence of a better explanation, I think this song is about a schizophrenic having a self-aware moment and trying to silence the voices in his head, only to hear the voices say more or less "we're here to stay and you're not going to get rid of us..." I base this on the lyrics "Sit down, sit down, 'cause you won't get away for the rest of your days, sit down...as we relive our lives in what we tell you...let us relive our lives in what we tell you". It's like the voices are saying, don't try to silence us, let us relive our lives in your head, listen to what we say". The images the song evokes in me makes me think of the movie "A BEAUTIFUL MIND" with Russell Crowe, and his character's struggle to quiet the voices and people he saw and heard. Perhaps the character in the song is in a mental institution, The Home By The Sea.

In the first part of the song, the chorus goes, "Help me someone, let me out of here...then out of the dark was suddenly heard...welcome to the Home by the Sea". The man is saying to the voices that he doesn't want to hear the voices anymore, and to his displeasure a voice says "welcome to the home by the sea".

The lyrics "Images of sorrow, pictures of delight...things that go to make up a life...endless days of summer longer nights of gloom...waiting for the morning light... scenes of unimportance, photos in a frame...things that go to make up a life " seems to show the variety of emotions and types of "personalities" of the different voices/people the schizophrenic sees.

But, one alternate theory came to mind, although I doubt that it is correct; the song could possibly be about HELL and what a man might see in HELL..."shadows but no substance, in the shape of men, round and down and sideways they go, adrift without direction, eyes that hold despair, then as one they sign and they moan".

I doubt the latter theory is correct, because the title doesn't make much sense then. Home by the Sea in Hell? Unless it's an obscure reference to the Lake of Fire, I don't see the Hell theory as plausible.

What do you think?

I always thought it was written from the perspective of an elderly person in a convalescent home (the "home by the sea"), talking to someone who has come to visit them. They are asking the person visiting them to "let us relive their lives, in what we tell you". It's about the value of listening to elderly people and valuing them as people and valuing their experience.

It's a brilliant song. but I think this song only comes in the guise of a haunted house but it just doesn't make sense not to look for a deeper meaning in it. This song seems to describe government, it may in fact describe any government but in particular it appears to reflect the US government.

It's about a burglar breaking in to serve themselves just like politicians do!

Lines like "Checking to the left and the right" (party politics) "stepping to the floor" Congress has a floor where they speak.

"Coming out the woodwork, through the open door Pushing from above and below" (special interests, wealthy corporations from above, unions from below--the poor, the increasing tyranny of groups over free individuals)

"Shadows without substance, in the shape of men Round and down and sideways they go Adrift without direction, eyes that hold despair Then as one they sign and they moan"

(They sign bills they vote on, bills they don't read, they don't have any idea of what they're doing, they moan because somewhere in the back of their minds they know what they're doing really stinks)

"Dreaming of the time we were free So many years ago Before the time when we first heard Welcome to the Home by the Sea"

(A time when we were free...when we weren't ruled by government(s))

"Home by the Sea" (Pick your land mass! I pick North America!)

"Sit down, sit down" (As "the voice of authority" they are saying shut up and do what you're told) "As we relive our lives in what we tell you" (Enjoy our stories of patriotism while we make the laws you will follow.)

OH my goodness! It's much clearer now. It reminds me of Take Me Home b/c the meaning of it according to Phil on Storytellers years ago. (See my posting) That makes sense, but I'd like to do something a little better. A friend of my father's got me in touch with his PA, with whom I'm still in touch with. So I'll see what she has to say... Anyway, that sounds like what it could be! I sometimes thought it was about a person lost at sea who found a mysterious or something. Whatever. Thanks for your take on it.

I always thought that it was a bit more straightforward than that. Why can't the home by the sea be a haunted house by the seashore. The liner notes clearly show a picture of a house. One could argue that this is metaphore, but there is the possibility that the song is just about an abandoned house.

Intresting theory jlbrpt. I always thought this was a song about a burgular who broke into a home, got busted and send to a jail by the sea. And then an introspective look at the suffering the criminal is going under and how he just wants it to end.

While I agree with jlbrpt to some extent, another take on this song I'd head was that it's about elderly people (possibley with Alzheimer's) abandoned in a rest home to die.

In which case, I suppose the first verse would be about the various "nutty" things an old person could do that would get them sent to a rest home.

After that, we are given the image of trapped, shambling beings...shadows of their former selves who live in memories of the past.