Take the Long Way Home - Supertramp (1979) 2/4/22

Supertramp's "Take the Long Way Home" is a "Great Song of 1979," and quite a bit deeper than it appears at "first listen." (Note: the song has a long fade in, so click the link and stay with it!)

According to Roger Hodgson, who wrote and sang the song, it's about taking the long way home because "you know your wife will treat you like a piece of furniture when you get there."

But there's also a deeper meaning: Home is where is the heart is, and sometimes it take a while for the heart to find that home.

Record critics noted the definite contradiction between the music ("jaunty, upbeat, with a crafty hook,") and the lyrics ("a pessimistic story about a man's loss of identity in a complex world"), but even so, "Take the Long Way Home" was almost universally praised.

When it was released as a single from the album "Breakfast in America" in late 1979, fans and radio listeners loved it, too. Crossing into 1980, "Take the Long Way Home" became a Top 10 hit in Canada (#4) and the US (#10).

Whatever meaning you get from listening to "Take the Long Way Home," it's a "Great Song of the '70s," and that's the "long and the short of it!"