35 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
Can't Find My Way Home Lyrics
Come down off your throne and leave your body alone.
Somebody must change.
You are the reason I've been waiting so long.
Somebody holds the key.
But I'm near the end and just ain't got the time
And I'm wasted and I can't find my way home.
Come down on your own and leave your body alone.
Somebody must change.
You are the reason I've been waiting all these years.
Somebody holds the key.
But I'm near the end and just ain't got the time
And I'm wasted and I can't find my way home.
But I can't find my way home.
But I can't find my way home.
But I can't find my way home.
But I can't find my way home.
Still I can't find my way home,
And I ain't done nothing wrong,
But I can't find my way home.
Somebody must change.
You are the reason I've been waiting so long.
Somebody holds the key.
And I'm wasted and I can't find my way home.
Somebody must change.
You are the reason I've been waiting all these years.
Somebody holds the key.
And I'm wasted and I can't find my way home.
But I can't find my way home.
But I can't find my way home.
But I can't find my way home.
Still I can't find my way home,
And I ain't done nothing wrong,
But I can't find my way home.
Song Info
Submitted by
fraggles On Mar 21, 2002
More Blind Faith
Presence of the Lord
Had To Cry Today
Sea of Joy
Do What You Like
Sleeping in the Ground
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
You guys are waaaaay over thinking these lyrics. You have to consider the context of the period in which they were written. It is about drugs and the wreakage they make of your life. "Come down off your throne" = The grandiosity and the euphoria created by the drugs. "Leave your body alone" = stop taking drugs "Some body must change" = You gotta do what ever it take to man up and take responsibilty for your own addictions "You are the reason/I've been waiting here so long" = I LOVE YOU, J@ck@$$ "Somebody holds the key" = Help! Help! What are the magic words that will penetrate his doped out core?? "But i'm near the end" = I'm near the end "And i just ain't got the time no" = I mean it. I'm near the end. I have a life to live. "Well i'm wasted and I can't find my way home" = in today's lingo it would translate roughly to "Dude, where is my car?" but there is a more urgent cut to it. This person has sacrificed his life(her life). Sort of, 'I have walked this path with you and now we are both lost, and if you don't come out of that drug hazed cloud it will all be for nothing. What a waste of talent/intellect/skill/gift.
It really is very straight forward.
And it doesn't have to be a romantic relationship in the offing here. Friendships can be even more enduring than romances. Often these people, especially from this era, where pals in childhood, so they followed each other into the drug culture, because that is where much of this talent was doing it's most outstanding work, and their lives were indelibly altered by both the music and the drugs. You have but to read the life stories of the people who wrote the songs and you know what they were talking about.
And it doesn't have to be a romantic relationship in the offing here. Friendships can be even more enduring than romances. Often these people, especially from this era, where pals in childhood, so they followed each other into the drug culture, because that is where much of this talent was doing it's most outstanding work, and their lives were indelibly altered by both the music and the drugs. You have but to read the life stories of the people who wrote the songs and you know what they were talking about.
That is not to say that, as art, and...
That is not to say that, as art, and as with any other art medium, it is shaped and molded by whoever sees it. we all see it from our own frame of reference and so, we shape it by what it says to US and that, too, is a totally legit interp. What the artist was saying can,and often does, get lost in the morphology brought on through the years.
i dont think stevie w really knew --- they were just streams of consciousness and vocal sounds that you can interpret anyway you want. u should really ask him. not as obvious as "sea of joy" or "presence of the lord" (the hippie "jesus freak" fad of the time as in Godspell and JC Superstar. how do i know this? i was there and part of it) and to muddy the waters further it was suggested a long time ago that "had to cry today" was a lament of Kent State. the song was written and released way before that tragedy, but it...
i dont think stevie w really knew --- they were just streams of consciousness and vocal sounds that you can interpret anyway you want. u should really ask him. not as obvious as "sea of joy" or "presence of the lord" (the hippie "jesus freak" fad of the time as in Godspell and JC Superstar. how do i know this? i was there and part of it) and to muddy the waters further it was suggested a long time ago that "had to cry today" was a lament of Kent State. the song was written and released way before that tragedy, but it just shows to go ya, u can read whatever the heydeeho u want into these lyrics :-0
@PoeMax I agree completely. At its heart, this is a Brit drinking song. Steve Winwood wrote a lovely story about getting fall-down drunk/stoned/high/wasted. Wonderful Tonight is another lovely Brit drinking song. My girlfriend LOVES Wonderful Tonight, but she is less receptive to a scenario where we go to a party, I get fall-down drunk and have her drive me home and give me a hummer while a verge on passing out (hitch is what WT is about).
@PoeMax I agree completely. At its heart, this is a Brit drinking song. Steve Winwood wrote a lovely story about getting fall-down drunk/stoned/high/wasted. Wonderful Tonight is another lovely Brit drinking song. My girlfriend LOVES Wonderful Tonight, but she is less receptive to a scenario where we go to a party, I get fall-down drunk and have her drive me home and give me a hummer while a verge on passing out (hitch is what WT is about).
@PoeMax This song has been in my mind since the first time I heard it..what, 45 years ago. I think about it a lot, but I have to say I disagree with your analysis, being from those days myself, and having watched the video of him doing this song in 1971, while blazing on acid......."come down off your throne"--stop being so stuck-up and holier than though......"leave your body alone"---get natural, stop being fake......."you are the reason I've been waiting so long"---I've been hoping you would get it together for a long time now so we can have a real...
@PoeMax This song has been in my mind since the first time I heard it..what, 45 years ago. I think about it a lot, but I have to say I disagree with your analysis, being from those days myself, and having watched the video of him doing this song in 1971, while blazing on acid......."come down off your throne"--stop being so stuck-up and holier than though......"leave your body alone"---get natural, stop being fake......."you are the reason I've been waiting so long"---I've been hoping you would get it together for a long time now so we can have a real relationship......."somebody (her?) holds the key"......."but I'm weary and I just ain't got the time"---I can't wait much longer, I'm getting tired of holding on......."and I'm wasted and I can't find my way home"----not Dude, where's my car, more like, I'm wasted (literally and figuratively)and can't figure out my life, and where home is (see All come to look for America, S and G)--we were the lost generation who saw beyond our parent's 50s empty lives, but didn't quite know how to take our more enlightened state and find peace within it....."come down on your own"---you have to do it for yourself, nobody can enlighten you but you.
Its one of the best songs of the 60s, actually. One my friends and I always have loved a lot.
@PoeMax, Agree it's about dope and too much dope! He's lost his identity. He's forgotten who he used to be. In wartime, soldiers who endured the worst used to say "I'm not sure I'll ever find my way home". Meaning, they don't know where home is because the don't know who they are. It's the title of the song and in this case, the title is everything. I feel he does have hope though. Which is good, as some who are so lost, give up.
@PoeMax, Agree it's about dope and too much dope! He's lost his identity. He's forgotten who he used to be. In wartime, soldiers who endured the worst used to say "I'm not sure I'll ever find my way home". Meaning, they don't know where home is because the don't know who they are. It's the title of the song and in this case, the title is everything. I feel he does have hope though. Which is good, as some who are so lost, give up.
@PoeMax I agree to the interpretation but it is to himself - he is talking to himself. This song's theme has spured "Snow" by Chili peppers and "I can't feel my face" by Weekend
@PoeMax I agree to the interpretation but it is to himself - he is talking to himself. This song's theme has spured "Snow" by Chili peppers and "I can't feel my face" by Weekend
@PoeMax Best interpretation yet. Thanks
@PoeMax Best interpretation yet. Thanks
@PoeMax I always thought it was about addiction and he is at the end of his toleration for it. Like a final intervention. His way of getting help has not worked so do something that will. Something has got to change.
@PoeMax I always thought it was about addiction and he is at the end of his toleration for it. Like a final intervention. His way of getting help has not worked so do something that will. Something has got to change.
Warning: This is a spoiler alert for the movie, Fandango....
This song is subject to many interpretations. I will address just one as it applies to the movie, Fandango. In this context, I believe it about love. Costner's character must accept that the girl he loves and with whom he was once involved is now marrying his close friend. All of his buddies have plans for the future, except him. "Come down on your own, leave your body alone," refers to growing up, ultimately, and leaving behind infatuations and reaching toward your "higher self." His "lust" for the girl must be replaced with a respect and acquiescence to her desire to have a future with another man. I agree with "Longfellow" who commented above..."Wasted, is used more in a destroyed or broken manner." In this case, Costner's youth is "destroyed," by having to face the future as a responsible adult. This song is a multifaceted masterpiece.
@DeadPoetsSociety I think you are right on. "Come down off your throne" - Because of their lust and desire, men put women on a pedestal (throne) and many women, if not most, take advantage of that to completely control them. "Leave your body alone" - Women use their bodies to achieve the control. "You are the reason I have waited all these years" - Men will patiently wait and suffer hoping against hope that the relationship will change and she will let go of his balls and emotions. "Somebody holds the key" - the woman is in charge of his...
@DeadPoetsSociety I think you are right on. "Come down off your throne" - Because of their lust and desire, men put women on a pedestal (throne) and many women, if not most, take advantage of that to completely control them. "Leave your body alone" - Women use their bodies to achieve the control. "You are the reason I have waited all these years" - Men will patiently wait and suffer hoping against hope that the relationship will change and she will let go of his balls and emotions. "Somebody holds the key" - the woman is in charge of his life, his emotions, his fears, his joys and has the key to his entire being. "Well, I'm near the end and I just ain't got the time, And I'm wasted and I can't find my way home" - He doesn't know how to break free and even if he could he is at a loss as to how to pickup the pieces of his life. He never had a life. It belonged to, and was controlled by, her.
Sometimes I listen to this song on repeat on my CD player. And I LOVE playing it on my acoustic guitar while belting it out or singing it soulfully to myself. If I had to pick ONE song that described "my head", THIS WOULD BE IT! I would probably say this is my all-time favorite song at this point in my life.
This is a song about an alcoholic or drug addict in the late stages of addiction, battling with a voice inside that's telling them to "leave your body alone," and stop killing themselves.
"Well I'm near the end, and I just ain't got the time" That is the drugs talking, apologizing to the voice of reason and survival, telling that voice that it's too late to change or turn around.
"Well I'm wasted and I can't find my way home," is total oblivion and being lost in a state of self-loathing, self-pity, and self-destruction. "Home," is a metaphor for safety and self-care.
I can't believe a kid in his early twenties wrote these lyrics. Songwriting doesn't get more powerful. A frightening precursor to the likes of Kurt Cobain, Elliot Smith and Amy W. It's a cry for help. The help comes from within.
no, Stevie Winwood is the vocalist on this one
Its already been said but "Well, I'm near the end and I just ain't got the time" says it all to me, its about death. "Come down off your throne and leave your body alone, somebody must change" release from your physical self. "You are the reason I've been waiting so long, somebody holds the key" you are given life not knowing when it will end. "And I'm wasted and I can't find my way home" life has not been what you expected, bad choices, futility of life itself, human condition, meaning of life and what comes after life. Ultimately, home being heaven. Excellent song.
Come down off your throne and leave your body alone - stop being arrogant, stop taking drugs Somebody must change - you should change You are the reason I've been waiting so long - your true self, not the addict you have became, is the reason I patently waited all these years for you to change. And I'm still waiting for you to "return" Somebody holds the key - only you can get yourself together, I can only be here to support you Well, I'm near the end and I just ain't got the time - I wasted my whole life being beside you, trying to help, and I can't wait any longer. My life is reaching its end And I'm wasted and I can't find my way home - I'm tired, exhausted of trying to bring you back from drugs... and I feel like I can't bring the old life back... in which we once were both happy and healthy
This is my take... I read in the other comments that Winwood said somewhere that it is a monologue, like the person is talking to himself. But I don't know if it's true. I tried to find a simple meaning for me, without any metaphors, just plain and simple.
good song
I am still unsure but this is my feeling as to it's meaning:
The person has been standing by their friend or lover who is a drug user and they are divided between leaving them or staying and waiting for the possibility that they will stop. It's possible he is also a user and is tired of the life but can't do it alone. They have been in this position for so long that they aren't sure how to get back to the way it used to be.
This is one of my favorite songs.
"Eric Clapton sings this, right?"
The song is by Blind Faith
Stevie Winwood, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Ric Grech
stevie winwood
stevie winwood