So you think you're a Romeo
Playing a part in a picture-show
Take the long way home
Take the long way home

'Cause you're the joke of the neighborhood
Why should you care if you're feeling good
Take the long way home
Take the long way home

But there are times that you feel you're part of the scenery
All the greenery is comin' down, boy
And then your wife seems to think you're part of the furniture
Oh, it's peculiar, she used to be so nice

When lonely days turn to lonely nights
You take a trip to the city lights
And take the long way home
Take the long way home

You never see what you want to see
Forever playing to the gallery
You take the long way home
Take the long way home

And when you're up on the stage, it's so unbelievable
Oh unforgettable, how they adore you
But then your wife seems to think you're losing your sanity
Oh, calamity, is there no way out, oh yeah
Ooh, take it, take it out
Take it, take it out
Oh yeah

Does it feel that your life's become a catastrophe?
Oh, it has to be for you to grow, boy
When you look through the years and see what you could have been
Oh, what you might have been
If you'd had more time

So, when the day comes to settle down
Who's to blame if you're not around?
You took the long way home
You took the long way home
Took the long way home
You took the long way home
You took the long way home, so long
You took the long way home
You took the long way home, uh yeah
You took the long way home

Long way home
Long way home
Long way home
Long way home
Long way home
Long way home

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Lyrics submitted by Hunter, edited by ehennigan

Take The Long Way Home Lyrics as written by Roger Hodgson Richard Davies

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Capitol CMG Publishing

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Take The Long Way Home song meanings

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51 Comments

+9
General Comment
Agree this is one of their best songs, but you're all missing the point of the song. The important lines are: "When you look through the years and see what you could have been oh, what might have been, if you'd had more time." He's been "taking the long way home" so often he's wasted time which he can now not get back. Stay focused. Life is not a dress rehearsal and you won't get a second chance at your best years..

Agree this is one of their best songs, but you're all missing the point of the song. The important lines are: "When you look through the years and see what you could have been oh, what might have been, if you'd had more time." He's been "taking the long way home" so often he's wasted time which he can now not get back. Stay focused. Life is not a dress rehearsal and you won't get a second chance at your best years..

Reason:

longwayhomeon June 07, 2005 Link
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@longwayhome

Awesome way to put it.

justfellinon January 17, 2014

you posted this nine years ago so probably through your best years, if you get this reply. Did you take the long way home?

bmaniskingon October 09, 2014

I know I'm super late on this, but you make a good point. I think you're just about spot-on with the general theme of the song being about life passing by. Although, it might not just be about letting it waste away:
"But there are times that you feel you're part of the scenery"
I take this line to mean that the person in question realizes that life is going on around him and feels that he's missing out--that he's been taking the long way home and he wants to go and make it big instead of sitting around. In that context, maybe they're trying to say that we "never see what you want to see," as is sung later on, and assume that life isn't going the way it should, rather than just living it. The last verse, I think, can take two meanings, then: "So when the day comes to settle down/who's to blame if you're not around?" Obviously, the "day to settle down" refers to the eventual slowing down and ending of a person's life, and the fact that they're "not around," I, at least, think implies that they've not slowed or settled down at all, as would be expected of an aging person. Again, this can be taken in two contexts: either they're fretting about the time they've wasted (like you mentioned) and are trying to get as much out of life at the last minute as they can, or they just have such a zest for life that they're not done living yet.

Insanity_Prevailson October 15, 2014

@longwayhome @Insanity_Prevails Exactly! I think those final few lines paint a happy ending (up to interpretation of course) - makes it feel to me like a second chance or second wind. The subject has run off to do what they want to, they're "not around" for the same ol' stuff because they took the long way, thought about it, and made a decision.

Goatllamaon January 23, 2021
+8
General Comment
I can see the celebrity angle that the lyrics seem to suggest but I think this song is about a guy who got married young and is expressing regret. This would be a guy who feels 'part of the crowd' when he's out on the town. He's in the spotlight - meeting new people, having fun, and (of course) meeting new women. The guy is narcissistic - he considers himself a Romeo - a lady's man. When he got married everything changed. Now he's part of the scenery - he's the joke of the neighborhood (his crowd). His wife thinks he's 'part of the furniture' - but 'she used to be so nice'. 'Take the long way home' would be going out on the town instead of going home to his wife and family. He's married but he's living the single life and his wife thinks he's nuts (which might suggest midlife crisis). The lyric 'there's no way out' is the feeling this guy has being stuck in a marriage he's unhappy with. This guy sits back and thinks what could have been if he'd had more time when he was single. In the end, when he's ready to settle down, no one's going to be there because he never really adapted to marrried life. Maybe i'm taking the lyrics to literally - but that's my take.

I can see the celebrity angle that the lyrics seem to suggest but I think this song is about a guy who got married young and is expressing regret. This would be a guy who feels 'part of the crowd' when he's out on the town. He's in the spotlight - meeting new people, having fun, and (of course) meeting new women. The guy is narcissistic - he considers himself a Romeo - a lady's man. When he got married everything changed. Now he's part of the scenery - he's the joke of the neighborhood (his crowd). His wife thinks he's 'part of the furniture' - but 'she used to be so nice'. 'Take the long way home' would be going out on the town instead of going home to his wife and family. He's married but he's living the single life and his wife thinks he's nuts (which might suggest midlife crisis). The lyric 'there's no way out' is the feeling this guy has being stuck in a marriage he's unhappy with. This guy sits back and thinks what could have been if he'd had more time when he was single. In the end, when he's ready to settle down, no one's going to be there because he never really adapted to marrried life. Maybe i'm taking the lyrics to literally - but that's my take.

Reason:

mrjobuon February 07, 2006 Link
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@mrjobu

You hit the nail right on the head. If you have been in a relationship like this, you know what it's like. He is on his way to divorce and trapped in a marriage that is going down the toilet fast. Very few who I have interpreted this song to, can here what I do in the lyrics.

watusi14on November 21, 2009

I think this analysis is spot on. I picture a guy not wanting to go home to his suburban life and wife and taking the long way home so he doesn't have to be there.

StevenMarkon February 12, 2012

I think this analysis is spot on. I picture a guy not wanting to go home to his suburban life and wife and taking the long way home so he doesn't have to be there.

StevenMarkon February 12, 2012

Your analysis of this song is probably the most accurate one on here, however, there are a few things I need clarified, such as what the line, "And then your wife seems to think you're part of the furniture" means. I have never been able to figure out what "part of the furniture" means; it is clearly a metaphor for something. Nor can I decipher what the metaphor "part of the scenery" means, as well as the line "All the greenery is coming down, boy."

Also, you mention that the subject of the song thinks about what he could have been if he'd had more time when he was single; why did he not have enough time when he was single? And does he wish he had never gotten married at all or that he had waited until he was older?

I apologize for asking so many questions here, but I am very interested to understand the full meaning of this song, as it is my favorite Supertramp song. Thanks!

alx19881on May 25, 2015

@mrjobu You pretty much hit how I always imagined it. I imagined it two ways: 1. Your Way, and 2. It could be about a singer/writer who is getting burnt out with the life he's in while everyone else is wanting him to do more. But in hindsight the former is the better because it's more relateable and makes more since.

Alx, I always took the "part of the furniture," line as a reference to the decline of the relationship. My guess is that she's tired of him and is sleeping around with someone else hence why she just ignores him. Mainly she just doesn't love him anymore; she's there to either to leech off of him or for the kids sake. Hence why he feels he's part of the scenery he's just there pretending.

He's "the joke of the neighborhood" because he's stayed around and let her do all of that stuff. However he's at his breaking point and she realizes that which references his sanity and the greenery coming down. The guy at this point's regretting even marrying her and is getting close to divorcing her and getting back out on the single scene. However he realizes his prime is gone he's old news.

tyler64648on September 03, 2015

@mrjobu good interpretation!

dtloganon March 31, 2018
+6
General Comment
I'm reminded of a story I read about, where a guy out west, not a celebrity, just an ordinary guy, had just left a bar to go home, right before a landslide hit it. He was the only survivor, and here's what he did. He got in his car, and headed east. He said he felt like somebody'd said, here's your life again, see if you can't do better this time. He really did escape.

I'm reminded of a story I read about, where a guy out west, not a celebrity, just an ordinary guy, had just left a bar to go home, right before a landslide hit it. He was the only survivor, and here's what he did. He got in his car, and headed east. He said he felt like somebody'd said, here's your life again, see if you can't do better this time. He really did escape.

Reason:

georgemcfly2000on April 17, 2005 Link
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@georgemcfly2000

awesome comment, west can be michigan, florida or wherever opportunity takes you away from home and family.

ricksil2000on June 23, 2014

@georgemcfly2000 cool story!

dtloganon March 31, 2018
+6
General Comment
The beauty here lays in how many ways you can look at it.

The beauty here lays in how many ways you can look at it.

Reason:

CosmicStewon September 23, 2008 Link
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@CosmicStew

@CosmicStew Yes!!

ehenniganon April 08, 2018
+5
Song Meaning
Wikipedia has a great quote from the artist, Roger Hodgson, from a "making of Breakfast in America" recording: 'Take The Long Way Home' has a quality about it that just makes me feel warm inside. I don't know if it's the harmonies or the melodies, or whatever, but I never get sick of it. I always saw the song a little ambiguous. It's on two levels. I see 'home' as being internal and external. It's kind of a play on words. Definitely part of the song is about the shallowness of success and getting caught up in a world and success and chasing, being popular, or whatever, is taking 'the long way home'. Because I think 'home' in its deepest sense is inside, is being at peace with oneself. Again it's ambiguous - 'if you're not around' means… you're dead or you couldn't settle down - you couldn't take it and you're off looking for things that are more important. It's a fun song! I remember having a lot of fun writing it but never really having a clear picture of it. It was more… often when I write songs, I go by gut instinct. A line comes to me and they usually do come to me… the best lines come to me rather than me trying to think them up consciously and I just feel they're right and I go with them whether I totally understand the meaning or not.

Wikipedia has a great quote from the artist, Roger Hodgson, from a "making of Breakfast in America" recording: 'Take The Long Way Home' has a quality about it that just makes me feel warm inside. I don't know if it's the harmonies or the melodies, or whatever, but I never get sick of it. I always saw the song a little ambiguous. It's on two levels. I see 'home' as being internal and external. It's kind of a play on words. Definitely part of the song is about the shallowness of success and getting caught up in a world and success and chasing, being popular, or whatever, is taking 'the long way home'. Because I think 'home' in its deepest sense is inside, is being at peace with oneself. Again it's ambiguous - 'if you're not around' means… you're dead or you couldn't settle down - you couldn't take it and you're off looking for things that are more important. It's a fun song! I remember having a lot of fun writing it but never really having a clear picture of it. It was more… often when I write songs, I go by gut instinct. A line comes to me and they usually do come to me… the best lines come to me rather than me trying to think them up consciously and I just feel they're right and I go with them whether I totally understand the meaning or not.

Reason:

TheLongWayHomeon September 08, 2010 Link
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@TheLongWayHome

@TheLongWayHome sometimes the intent of songs is lost when other people try to interpret what the artist was trying to say. Refreshing to hear what Roger Hodgeson was actually thinking about while penning this song.

james11466on August 17, 2019
+5
General Comment
It is really a great sad song of life. To understand this song just substitude Long with Wrong. Take the long way home is realy take the wrong way home. He married the wrong woman when everyone is telling him he is joke because she is just using him. As he grows he realized she does not love him anymore so he takes a trip to the city lights( Cheap thrills) to get away. He sees himself stuck and can't change things. He wants to go back to the days he had fun with her and how she adored him and made love to him. Home is what the wife make for you. The moral of the story here is if you are shallow in seeking love and physical satisfaction, don't blame anyone but yourself. Life and love are very deep and it is important to have depth in a realationship.

It is really a great sad song of life. To understand this song just substitude Long with Wrong. Take the long way home is realy take the wrong way home. He married the wrong woman when everyone is telling him he is joke because she is just using him. As he grows he realized she does not love him anymore so he takes a trip to the city lights( Cheap thrills) to get away. He sees himself stuck and can't change things. He wants to go back to the days he had fun with her and how she adored him and made love to him. Home is what the wife make for you. The moral of the story here is if you are shallow in seeking love and physical satisfaction, don't blame anyone but yourself. Life and love are very deep and it is important to have depth in a realationship.

Reason:

mfarison November 15, 2011 Link
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+3
General Comment
I agree with everything mrjobu said except for what the line "Take the long way home" means. I think this literally means take the long way home. The man does not want to go home to his wife or his life, so he drives around a little while longer every night and takes the long way home.

I agree with everything mrjobu said except for what the line "Take the long way home" means. I think this literally means take the long way home. The man does not want to go home to his wife or his life, so he drives around a little while longer every night and takes the long way home.

Reason:

Yeahbro25on April 25, 2007 Link
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@Yeahbro25

My thoughts exactly on this song.

StevenMarkon February 12, 2012
+3
General Comment
The meaning is simple... Home is inside you. Don't turn to others or drugs or material things to find yourself, your identity, your happiness. Your true self can only be found by you within you.

The meaning is simple... Home is inside you. Don't turn to others or drugs or material things to find yourself, your identity, your happiness. Your true self can only be found by you within you.

Reason:

justme1969on February 18, 2012 Link
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+2
General Comment
Deceptively simple song that holds a great deal of insight to life. I interpret it because it is written in an inspired way about certain interesting aspects of life... from a perspective of someone who has been sort of 'self-actualized' or living out dreams of theirs, to an extent, but it is starting to become apparent that that isn't really reality... that there is some divergence or illusion (my words) to it all... and not meant in any bad way, but it's just something, as it says in the song, that you have to use the same or even deeper parts of that desire and that identity you have within yourself, that ambition, that attraction to life, in order to help yourself reckon with the feeling that you seem to be on the downslope of things and the sooner you accept your lack of ability to do anything about it, the sooner you can introspectively, or perhaps literally, take a long way to where you will find peace next........ oh, and the music itself is absolutely brilliant in the melancholy mixed with an almost triumphant kind of inner peace feeling to complement the music... that harmonica that lingers at the end... there sound is unique but it works perfectly and for that they should be admired for a long time.......

Deceptively simple song that holds a great deal of insight to life. I interpret it because it is written in an inspired way about certain interesting aspects of life... from a perspective of someone who has been sort of 'self-actualized' or living out dreams of theirs, to an extent, but it is starting to become apparent that that isn't really reality... that there is some divergence or illusion (my words) to it all... and not meant in any bad way, but it's just something, as it says in the song, that you have to use the same or even deeper parts of that desire and that identity you have within yourself, that ambition, that attraction to life, in order to help yourself reckon with the feeling that you seem to be on the downslope of things and the sooner you accept your lack of ability to do anything about it, the sooner you can introspectively, or perhaps literally, take a long way to where you will find peace next........ oh, and the music itself is absolutely brilliant in the melancholy mixed with an almost triumphant kind of inner peace feeling to complement the music... that harmonica that lingers at the end... there sound is unique but it works perfectly and for that they should be admired for a long time.......

Reason:

caucasianon March 11, 2010 Link
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+2
General Comment
This song explains that we all have dreams, no matter how big or small, but reality will always come and kick you to the curb. People, such as the narrators wife, will make you doubt yourself, but taking time to be alone and find yourself, (hence, taking the long way home for extra thinking and breathing room, I do it all of the time," gives you the chance to make yourself who you want to be. Moral of the story is, that you need to be the person you want to be and not the one others want to see

This song explains that we all have dreams, no matter how big or small, but reality will always come and kick you to the curb. People, such as the narrators wife, will make you doubt yourself, but taking time to be alone and find yourself, (hence, taking the long way home for extra thinking and breathing room, I do it all of the time," gives you the chance to make yourself who you want to be. Moral of the story is, that you need to be the person you want to be and not the one others want to see

Reason:

FanOfFans88on July 05, 2013 Link
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Take The Long Way Home

Supertramp

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