THE HOMECOMING - TOM T HALL

SONG TITLE: THE HOMECOMING

PERFORMER: TOM T HALL

SONGWRITER: TOM T HALL

YEAR OF RELEASE: 1969

COMMENTS: The story here is in the words of a professional musician who has stopped in back home to talk with Dad after some years of just not getting around to it. This includes having missed his mother's funeral. It is a beautifully detailed study in alienation, with barely concealed hostility from the old man. "We don't never call them 'beer joints.' Night clubs are the places where I work." He doesn't particularly have anything against the home town, he just really doesn't relate to them anymore.

The melody flows out from the words so naturally that it almost sounds like a conversation more than like a tune. Part of not sounding like a "regular" song is that there is no chorus. The structure is basically AAAA. But be not mistaken, there is a catchy and well-crafted tune, with some good nuance. There is a subtle but powerful sense in the measure of the tune and the phrasing of the strained conversational tone he is having to try to maintain; struggling to sound casual, comfortable and glad to be home though the actual emotions underneath are basically exactly the opposite. Listen to the carefully placed pause like a shrug of the shoulders as he explains missing Mom's funeral. "I was on the road, and when they came and told me it was just... too late."

Much like the experience of many young people from rural backgrounds who have gotten out, you can hear the relief in his voice as he says his last words and starts backing toward the car and escape.

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