Warung Gado-Gado Iyan Al-Balangi: Song Analysis

An Analysis of the Song

“Home”

A. Song Lyric

"Home"

By Michael Buble

Another summer day
Has come and gone away
In Paris and Rome
But I wanna go home
Mmmmmmmm

Maybe surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
I just wanna go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

And I’ve been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you
Each one a line or two
“I’m fine baby, how are you?”
Well I would send them but I know that it’s just not enough
My words were cold and flat
And you deserve more than that

Another aeroplane
Another sunny place
I’m lucky, I know
But I wanna go home
Mmmm, I’ve got to go home

Let me go home
I’m just too far from where you are
I wanna come home

And I feel just like I’m living someone else’s life
It’s like I just stepped outside
When everything was going right
And I know just why you could not
Come along with me
This was not your dream
But you always believed in me

Another winter day has come
And gone away
In either Paris or Rome
And I wanna go home
Let me go home

And I’m surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel alone
And let me go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

Let me go home
I’ve had my run
Baby, I’m done
I gotta go home
Let me go home
It'll all be all right
I’ll be home tonight
I’m coming back home

B. About the Song

This song was first released on March 28, 2005 in United Kingdom as Michael Buble’s second single from his second major-label studio album, It's Time. The song was written by Buble along with co-writers Alan Chang and Amy Foster-Gillies. The genre was traditional pop.

At the first time release, this song was not quite successful since it was low-promoted. It became a massive hit three month later when the album was released and accompanied with a music video, directed by Noble John. Then, this single re-released for the international version on November 14, 2005. It became top hit for adult contemporary chart in the United States, a high chart position in Canada, and relatively successful #31 in the United Kingdom. This song was also used in the film the Wedding Date.

Furthermore, two cover versions of the song have also been released as singles by other artists. The first was recorded by Irish boyband Westlife on September, 2007 as their ninth album, Back Home. It became a top ten hit in several European countries and one of MTV Asia’s list of Top 100 hits . Another version was sung by Blake Shelton, an American country music singer, in early 2008. It reached the top of American country single charts.

This song told about someone who lived far away from his love. Since it was written by the singer himself and the co-writers, it expressed Buble’s feeling that he wanted to back home and be with his love. The lyric was written and intended for his fiancée, Debbie Timus, when he was been away touring in Europe. The lyric described the singer’s loneliness from missing her in the lyric.

According to the writer, this song was not only about missing someone you love but it also can be somewhere, such as country when we go abroad or elsewhere. Wherever we go, we would never forget our home – the place where we came from. We will always feel better and more comfortable when we can be together with every one who loves us, such as our parents, friends, wife, children, etc. That is the point in this song.

C. About the Singer

Michael Buble was born on September 9, 1975, in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Michael Buble is a classic jazz and soul singer. He influenced by some singers such as Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, and Ella Fitzgerald. His first career started at age 17 when he entered and won the British Columbia Youth Talent Search. Since then, he has had several numbers of songs and albums and has won several awards.

D. Analysis of the Song

1. The Meaning of the Song

As mentioned previously, this song told about someone who misses his love because they live separately. Specifically, it expressed the singer’s feeling to his fiancée. Here is the paraphrase of the lyric for detail meaning.

The singer was being in Paris and Rome in a summer but he felt that he wanted to go home. There were a lot of people around him but he felt alone since he missed his fiancée a lot. He wrote some letters to her but he just kept it up himself since the words were not enough to express his feeling. He felt lucky because he could go to another sunny place but still he could not lie to himself that he wanted to go home. He thought that he lived too far from her so that he never felt become himself. There was nothing wrong with their love when he should leave her fiancée. She could not go with him since she had different dream in her life. Yet, she still believed in him. It had been winter either in Paris or Rome and his feeling was still the same, he wanted to go home. Eventually, his jobs were finished and he were able to come back home.

2. Poetic Devices

a) Rhyme, Rhythm, and Stanza Form

The lyric of this song is written in the form of a free-form poem. Thus, there is no consistent repeating structure for stanza form and its rhyme. However, pop songs tend to have relatively simple melodies in which two or three metric structures are repeated (http://www.soundonsound.com). Thus, in this song, we can find similar metric structures in each stanza as showing in the following analysis:

*First stanza (Quatrain)*
/ v / v /		Trochaic Dimeter
Another summer day	a
v / v / v /		Iambic Trimeter
Has come and gone away	a
v / v v /		Iambic Dimeter
In Paris and Rome	b
v / / v /		Iambic Dimeter
But I wanna go home	b
*Second stanza (Quintet)*
v / v / v /		Iambic Trimeter
Maybe surrounded by	a
v / v / v /		Iambic Trimeter
A million people I	a
v / v /		Iambic Dimeter
Still feel all alone	c
v / v / v /		Iambic Trimeter
I just wanna go home	b
v / / v /		Iambic Dimeter
Oh, I miss you, you know	d
*Third stanza (Sestet)*
v / v / v / v / v / v / v /		Iambic Heptameter
And I’ve been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you	e
v / v / v /		Iambic Trimeter
Each one a line or two	e
v / v / / v /		Iambic Trimeter
“I’m fine baby, how are you?”	e
v / v / v / v / v / v /		Iambic Hexameter
Well I would send them but I know that it’s just not enough	f
v / v / v /		Iambic Trimeter
My words were cold and flat
v / v / v /		Iambic Trimeter
And you deserve more than that	g
*Fourth stanza (Quintet)*
v / v /		Iambic Dimeter
Another aeroplane	h
v / v / v /
Another sunny place	i
v / v /		Iambic Dimeter
I’m lucky, I know	d
v / v / v		Iambic Dimeter
But I wanna go home	b
v / v /		Iambic Dimeter
Mmmm, I’ve got to go home	b
*Fifth stanza (Triplet)*
/ v / v		Trochaic Dimeter
Let me go home	b
/ v / v / v /		Trochaic Trimeter
I’m just too far from where you are	j
v / v / v		Iambic Dimeter
I wanna come home	b
*Sixth stanza (Septet)*
v / v / v / v / v /		Iambic Pentameter
And I feel just like I’m living someone else’s life	k
v / v / v /		Iambic Trimeter
It’s like I just stepped outside	l
v / v v / /		Iambic Dimeter
When everything was going right	m
v / v / v / v		Iambic Trimeter
And I know just why you could not	m
/ v/ v /		Trochaic Dimeter
Come along with me	n
v / v / /		Iambic Dimeter
This was not your dream	o
v / v / v /		Iambic Trimeter
But you always believed in me	n
*Seventh stanza (Quintet)*
/ v / v / v /		Trochaic Trimeter
Another winter day has come	b
v / v /		Iambic Dimeter
And gone away	a
/ v / v /		Trochaic Dimeter
In either Paris or Rome	b
v / v / v		Iambic Dimeter
And I wanna go home	b
v / v /		Iambic Dimeter
Let me go home	b
*Eighth stanza (Quintet)*
/ v / v /		Trochaic Dimeter
And I’m surrounded by	b
/ v / v /		Trochaic Dimeter
A million people I	b
/ v /		Trochaic Monometer
Still feel alone	c
v / v / v		Iambic Dimeter
And let me go home	b
v / v /		Iambic Dimeter
Oh, I miss you, you know	d
*Ninth stanza (Octet)*
/ v / /		Trochaic Monometer
Let me go home	b
/ v / v /		Trochaic Dimeter
I’ve had my run	p
/ v / v /		Trochaic Dimeter
Baby, I’m done	p
v / v / /		Iambic Dimeter
I gotta go home	b
/ v / v		Trochaic Dimeter
Let me go home	b
v / v / /		Iambic Dimeter
It'll all be all right	m
v / v /		Iambic Dimeter
I’ll be home tonight	m
v / v / /		Iambic Dimeter
I’m coming back home	b

Based on the analysis, it can be shown that the song has end rhyme, the most common rhythm is iambic dimeter, and the form of stanza vary from Triplet, Quatrain, Quintet, Sestet, and Octet.

b) Repetition

We can easily find the phrase “go home,” or the sentence “I wanna go home” in the song lyric. This kind of repetition is intended to repress the meaning of missing home as it is felt by the singer.

Sentences	Line, Stanza
But I wanna go home	3^rd line, 1^st stanza
I just wanna go home	4^th line, 2^nd stanza
But I wanna go home Mmmm, I’ve got to go home	4^th line,4^th stanza 5^th line, 4^th stanza
Let me go home I wanna come home	1^st line, 5^th stanza 3^rd line, 5^th stanza
And I wanna go home Let me go home	4^th line, 7^th stanza 5^th line, 7^th stanza
And let me go home	4^th line, 8^th stanza
Let me go home I gotta go home Let me go home	1th line, 9^th stanza 4 line, 9^th stanza 5 line, 9^th stanza

c)Alliteration

It is the repetition of the same initial consonant in consecutive words. See the following sentences in the lyric:

(Third stanza)

Well I would send them but I know that it’s just not enough
My words were cold and flat

(Fourth and ninth stanzas)

I’ve got to go home; I gotta go home

(Fifth stanza)

I’m just too far from where you are
And I feel just like I’m living

3. Poetic Diction

a) Denotation and Connotation

The song writer uses denotation to show straightforward dictionary meaning of a word. The word letters, for example, is a written, type, printed communication, sent by post, or messenger. The word aeroplane means a powered flying vehicle with fixed wings and a weight greater than that of the air it displaces (Oxford Dictionary). Most of the word used in this song represents denotation meaning. However, the word “home” in this song can have further association. It does not only means a place where someone lives permanently or comes from (Oxford Dictionary), but it can refer to certain people at that place, for example the singer’s fiancée in this song.

b) Allusion

The phrase “Another sunny place” is associated with some European countries since this lyric was written as the writer was touring around those countries.

c)Paradox

The sentences “Maybe surrounded by a million people I, still feel all alone” seems contradictory and absurd. However, it can be true since it is due to by the singer’s loneliness of being far away from his fiancée.

4. Imagery

a) Metaphor

Metaphor is used to compare between two different things. Here, the song writer compares between words used in his letter and inanimate things which is cold and flat. See these sentences in the lyric:

That it’s just not enough
My words were cold and flat
And you deserve more than that

It shows that the use of words cannot sufficiently express his feeling to the girl at that time.

5. Symbol and Allegory

There are some symbols used in this song such as:

Ø Home: represents a place or someone that is always be missed when you go far away from it/ her/ him.

Ø Paris and Rome: represents beautiful places.

Ø Letters: represents a tool for communication

All those symbols summarize the allegory in this song which is a narration of the singer tours around beautiful places and never felt those were better than his home. It represents the meaning that home is the most comfortable place for us. It cannot be replaced by other beautiful or convenient places as it is found in the first and second lines in the sixth stanza, “And I feel just like I’m living someone else’s life” these lines told that the singer were able to go to beautiful places, he felt lucky, but he could not lie to himself that there was always a longing for home in his heart. He felt that he was not being himself. The use of letters was also not enough to fill his loneliness.

6. Setting of time and place

The setting of time was from summer to winter when the singer toured in some European countries particularly Paris and Rome.

7. Theme

The theme for this song is homesickness since those entire lyrics express the song writer’s feeling of being away from home and he just wanted to go home.

8. Style and Tone

The style of this song is narrative since it tells about the singer’s experience when he was touring in Europe for business (concert or promoting his song) and what he felt at that time. The tone in this song is nostalgic towards his home, especially his fiancée.

9. Moral Value

People should desire to go back to their home. Although you can go to some amazing places and see some incredible parts of the world for business, study, travelling, and so on but there is always a longing for home. You should back to your home whenever you can because there is always somebody who has been waiting for you with his/her love and passion.

10. Critics and Evaluation

This song is nice to listen. The lyric is strong since it comes from the singer’s own experience. It uses a few figurative speeches and common diction so that it will not be hard to understand this song. The lyric is simple and memorable. In addition, Buble’s voice is also beautiful that can make you want to sing along while listening this song. For me, this song is a complete package to listen: beautiful lyric with beautiful voice and deep emotion.

E. Ideas For Using This Song to Teach English

This song is suitable for all level of students, such as junior high school, senior high school even college level. There are wide range of activities can be compatible with this song such as filling the gap for listening, analyzing certain grammatical pattern in the lyric, paraphrasing the lyric into a story, and analyzing the elements of the song and discussing the moral value portrayed in the song as a mean for character building.

Bibliography

Facts about the song was accessed from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home.

Hornby, A S. 1995. Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary. New York: Oxford University Press.

Michael Buble’ Biography was accessed from http://www.biography.com

Pickering, James H & Jefrfey D. Hoeper. 1981. Concise Companion to Literature. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.

Song lyric was accessed from http://www.sing365.com.

Understanding and Writing a Lyrics, Part 3: Metre and Ryhme. An online article. Accessed from http://www.soundonsound.com

Label

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Song Analysis

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