"Take the Long Way Home" is the third US single and sixth track of the British rock band Supertramp's 1979 album Breakfast in America. It was the last song written for the album, being penned during the nine-month recording cycle.Buskin, Richard (July 2005). CLASSIC TRACKS: Supertramp's 'Logical Song', Sound on Sound. In 1980, the live version from Paris became a minor hit in various European countries.

Background According to its composer Roger Hodgson, the song deals with how the desire to go home can go both ways: I'm talking about not wanting to go home to the wife, take the long way home to the wife because she treats you like part of the furniture, but there's a deeper level to the song, too. I really believe we all want to find our home, find that place in us where we feel at home, and to me, home is in the heart and that is really, when we are in touch with our heart and we're living our life from our heart, then we do feel like we found our home.

Hodgson also said:

This was the last song composed for Breakfast in America.

Reception Billboard magazine contributor David Farrell praised the "convincing melody with a crafty hook", although he felt the music contrasted with the "pessimistic lyric about man's loss of identity in an increasingly complex world." Cash Box called it "a bouncy, uptempo number, laden with pop-symphonic instrumentals, high-pitched vocals and harmonies and a jaunty harmonic figure". Record World said that "brisk keyboards slice through the bouncy rhythm and trademark vocals."

Ultimate Classic Rock critic Nick DeRiso rated it as Supertramp's 8th best song. Gary Graff of Billboard rated "Take the Long Way Home" as Supertramp's 7th best song, noting its "bouncy melody awash with keyboards" and the "rich sax-and-harmonica exchange between [John] Helliwell and [Rick] Davies."

Hodgson rated it as one of the top 10 songs he ever wrote.

The single reached number 10 on the U.S. charts[ "Take the Long Way Home" chart history], Billboard.com. Retrieved 25 January 2012. and number 4 in the Canadian charts.

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1979–1980) Peakposition Canada Top Singles (RPM)4

Year-end charts Chart (1979) Position Chart (1980) PositionUS Top Pop Singles (Billboard)86

Other versions The band Trixter recorded the song for their 1994 release Undercovers. Alternative rock band Lazlo Bane included it on their 2007 cover album Guilty Pleasures.

References

External links Supertramp - Take the Long Way Home on YouTube