Song of the Week: Come On Home

[GrrrlRomeo]

This week's song is Come On Home (http://indigovortex.com/index.php?pg=song&t=535) from the album All That We Let In (http://indigovortex.com/index.php?pg=album&t=387)

Discuss it, rate how you like it on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. (You can also rate any of the songs in the Discography (http://indigovortex.com/index.php?pg=album) section of the site anytime you want.) If you tabbed the song you can also post it in this thread if you like.

*For these threads please keep the topic related to the song.

Words and music by Emily Saliers

Dark clouds are coming in like an army
Soon the sky will open up and disarm me
You will go just like you’ve gone before, one sad soldier off to war
With enemies that only you can see

The dishes stacked the table cleared
It’s always like the scene of the last supper here
You speak so cryptically, but that’s not news to me
The flood is here it’ll carry you, and I’ve got work to do

Come on home, the team you’re hitched to has a mind of its own
It’s just the forces of your past you’ve fought before
Come back here and shut the door
I’m stacking sandbags against the river of your troubles

There is fire and there is lust
Some would trade it all for someone they could trust
There’s a bag of silver for a box of nails
It’s so simple the betrayal
Though it’s known to change the world and what’s to come

Come on home
The team you’re hitched to has a mind of its own
It’s just the forces of your past
You’ve fought before
Don’t you recognize them any more
I’m stacking sandbags against the river of your trouble

There’s the given and the expected
I count my blessings while I eye what I’ve neglected
Is this for better, is this for worse
You’re all jammed up and the dam’s about to burst

I hear the owl in the night
I realize that some things never are made right
By some will we string together here
Days to months and months to years
But what if everything we have adds up to nothing

Home, come home
The team you’re hitched to has a mind of its own
It’s just the forces of your past
You’ve fought before
Don’t you recognize them any more
I’m stacking sandbags against the river of your trouble

[Summer]

There are a lot of Emily songs that I really love and that move me deeply. Unfortunately, this one isn't in that category.

There are just way too many metaphors going on simultaneously for my taste. In my mind, the religious symbols and the whole dams bursting/teams of horses/etc. imagery just get jumbled.

But that's just one opinion. I look forward to reading more.

[Lindigo]

I LOVE this song! It is up around the top of my 'favorite Emily songs' list. I do agree with SUMMER that there are a lot of metaphors and imagery going on in this song, but that's what I like about it.

[Sassa]

For me, an Emily Saliers song is usually awesome for one of three reasons
A) A great lyric (Hammer and a Nail, Watershed)
B) A great melody (Mystery, Last Tears)
C) A great arrangement (Peace Tonight, Get Out the Map)

Then there are the songs where more than one of these things applies and you end up with an absolute classic. Galileo, for example has some of the most memorable lyrics in the whole IG catalogue (eg 'and now I'm serving time for mistakes made by another in another lifetime' to mention only one). It also has one of the strongest melodies (Emily seems to trust crowds to sing large parts of it - proof ,if proof were needed, that its a melody that sticks in the mind). And it definitely has one of the best structures (the offbeat bongos at the beginning and the brilliant change of tempo in the middle eight, 'I'm not making a joke...').

In my opinion, Come On Home is at the weaker end of her output because it doesn't really hit the heights in any of these areas. The lyrics are generally good and certainly throw up a few great lines ('it's always like the scene of the Last Supper here' and 'its so simple the betrayal' are standouts) but stand or fall on the line 'I'm stacking sandbags against the river of your troubles' - which is either terrible or total genius - I haven't yet made up my mind personally... The most memorable thing about the melody is the first line of the chorus itself, 'Come on home, the team...', but, personally, I struggle to keep it in mind as much as some of her others after that. The arrangement is tasteful. The most notable thing is the fact that it starts with a Bass guitar as the main sound - quite unusual for an IG song - but not hugely contraversial. Although I note that Dairy Queen comes directly after it and does the same thing!
It also suffers slightly by being where it is on All That We Let In. Coming directly after the best song on that album (Tether) it isn't done any favours by the direct comparison.

There is nothing whatsoever to dislike about it and most songwriters (myself included) would love to have tunes of this standard racking up in their work at all. But, judging by the incredibly high standards that IG have set with their back catalogue I don't feel that this would be up there at the top of the pile.

[paulie]

Very nice analysis above that I quite agree with---I always love Em songs for their imagery and great classic little lines that hit you tucked in the song somwhere, and I think this song has that; perhaps a bit quieter of a song then some of her best, and as said before, not a classic but what I would consider a quiet gem. Not one I think about all the time, but when I listen to ATWLI I do get this song stuck in my head afterward.....

my favorite lines:
"the dishes stacked, the table cleared
It's always like the scene of the Last Supper here" (brilliant!)

"There's a bag of silver and a box of nails
It's so simple the betrayal
Though it's known to change the world and what's to come"

"I hear the owl in the night
I realize that some things never are made right"

Apparently she rarely sings this one live, but I did see it once on a setlist last year I think--I would be happy if it popped up at a show I was at live as a surprise, though it's a slow one, and might drag a live show a little I'm sure in most people's opinion

[OldMan]

This is one of those songs I want to like more than I do. The melody is really beautiful and she sounds wonderful. But the lyrics are blah, in the sense that the metaphors are trying to be profound but come out sounding almost trite.
When I listen to it I try not to think about the words and just coast along on the feeling.

[Damocles]

Wow! So interesting to hear everyone's analysis and take on the lyrics. I echo the sentiment about this thread being a really innovative idea. I like to be challenged.

That said, hmmm...I really like the "team" metaphor in this song. Anyone who works with animals knows they've got a mind of their own. A mind that sometimes comes out of left field and goes against what you want to dictate. In this way, I envision the team's "mind of it's own" as a sort of obsession for the person being sung about - be that obsession drugs, alcohol, exercise or whatever the alter ego may be. The song's central character seems to be a loner for some reason...the "one sad soldier off to war...with enemies that only you can see" and a person that "speaks so cryptically."

In the same song, the lines..."There is fire and there is lust, Some would trade it all for someone they could trust" continue to show me the underlying reasons for staying with this person you can't really be at ease with. The fire & lust are so damn powerful...you can't give 'em up.

The last lines that speak powerfully to me are, "There’s the given and the expected - I count my blessings while I eye what I’ve neglected
Is this for better, is this for worse
You’re all jammed up and the dam’s about to burst."

These lines have been really meaningful for me and continue to be. So much so that I can't really talk about it right now. Anyhow, what I mean to convey is that I love this song.

[Sassa]

Just goes to show, Damocles, that I can pontificate in a muso manner as much as I like about why the song isn't that strong - but if something speaks to you... well there ain't no substitute for that...
Thanks for sharing. Gave me a different perspective on the song that I wouldn't otherwise have had. :)

[watershed707]

This song is amazing. It has that painful beauty that only Em can create, and i love all the images and metaphors. I like the live version of it on the DVD side of ATWLI much better than the studio version.
Favorite lyrics: "there is fire is fire and there is lust..."
"there's the given and the accepted. i count my blessings while i eye what i neglected...."

[golden]

I gave this one a 3. I think this is one of those songs that just lacks what one would normally expect from Emily. As SUMMER said -the metaphors she has running around in this song just make it completely ridiculous. Well - I added the completely ridiculous part - but this is not at all an Emily high standard song. I think its one of her most boring songs - and while the concept of the song has potential - I just dont think she gave it her all.

I dont necessarily skip it - but I dont purposely play it either.

G.