The Road Home
Stephen Paulus Lyrics
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Tell me, where is the road
I can call my own,
That I left, that I lost
So long ago?
All these years I have wandered,
Oh when will I know
There's a way, there's a road That will lead me home?
Oo, Oo, Oo, Oo, Oo Oo, Oo, Oo, Oo, Oo
After wind, after rain,
When the dark is done,
As I wake from a dream
In the gold of day,
Through the air there's a calling
From far away,
There's a voice I can hear
That will lead me home.
Oo, Oo, Oo, Oo, Oo Oo, Oo, Oo, Oo, Oo
Rise up, follow me,
Come away, is the call,
With the love in your heart
As the only song;
There is no such beauty
As where you belong;
Rise up, follow me,
I will lead you home.
Oo, Oo, Oo, Oo, Oo Oo, Oo, Oo, Oo, Oo
The first stanza of Stephen Paulus's song The Road Home begins with an introspective musing about the search for a personal, internal sense of comfort and belonging. The singer asks, "Tell me, where is the road I can call my own, that I left, that I lost so long ago?" The lyrics express a sense of longing, of being lost or disconnected from something important. Through the repetition of the refrain, "Oo, oo, oo," the song creates a sense of echoing emptiness.
The second stanza shifts to a more hopeful and optimistic perspective. The singer describes waking up to a world of possibilities and hearing a calling "from far away," a voice that promises to "lead me home." This change in tone is reflected musically as well, with a more upbeat rhythm and a brighter melody.
The final stanza urges the listener to "rise up" and follow the voice that is calling, promising that it will lead to a place of beauty and belonging. The repetition of the phrases "rise up" and "follow me" create a sense of urgency and a call to action. The song ends with the same refrain as the beginning, but this time it feels more hopeful and purposeful.
Overall, The Road Home is a song about the search for meaning and connection in life. It acknowledges the difficulties of feeling lost and disconnected, but also offers a sense of hope and a promise that there is a way to find one's way back home.
Line by Line Meaning
Tell me, where is the road
I can call my own,
That I left, that I lost
So long ago?
The singer is searching for a path in life that he can feel is truly his own, but he feels lost and unable to find it.
All these years I have wandered,
Oh when will I know
There's a way, there's a road
That will lead me home?
Despite his wandering, the singer has yet to find the path that leads him to where he feels he truly belongs.
After wind, after rain,
When the dark is done,
As I wake from a dream
In the gold of day,
Through the air there's a calling
From far away,
There's a voice I can hear
That will lead me home.
The singer feels a pull toward a place that he can't quite see or reach on his own, but he senses that it is out there waiting for him.
Rise up, follow me,
Come away, is the call,
With the love in your heart
As the only song;
There is no such beauty
As where you belong;
Rise up, follow me,
I will lead you home.
The voice the singer hears is calling to him, urging him to take a leap of faith and follow a path that will take him to where he truly belongs, where he will find beauty and love.
Contributed by Kennedy D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@jasperdebunker4608
This piece somehow found me after years of vaguely remembering it from high school choir and man does it hit different as a struggling adult out on my own. I do really miss that warm fuzzy feeling I got when I was singing in a group like that.
@robertdouglas6089
One can never fully express that feeling. It must be felt. I’m glad you got to experience it.
@paradox__chaotic6098
This was sung by my high school choir at our graduation ceremony on June 6th 2024 and it brought me to tears realizing it was all over
@MichaelaH02
I dropped out of chorus during my last year because i hated how the teacher was. But when they sang this song and i wasnt singing the solo know i wanted it since freshman year made me so sad. So being able to sing it now is like crazy yk?
@bridgetsylvesterprice7379
@@MichaelaH02we sang this too. Being out of high school for two years now. And a senior got to have the solo. I never got it though.
@bridgetsylvesterprice7379
@@MichaelaH02my choir teachers were mean to me. I dropped out in middle school in 8th grade due to both choir teachers in my 6th and 7th grade years there not giving me a chance, and my high school teacher said something VERY uncalled for about me being on the spectrum during senior night. It was honestly very sad and hurtful.
@MichaelaH02
@@bridgetsylvesterprice7379 nah that's crazy you had it rough from the start😭
@bridgetsylvesterprice7379
@@MichaelaH02 yes. It was terrible. The sixth grade choir teacher wouldn’t let me be in acapella group, and said I could be in a musical instead, which was NOT what I wanted to do, then in seventh grade, I had it the absolute worst, the choir teacher that year discriminated both me and my friend with Down’s syndrome, and just because both of us had disabilities, we had to sit on the edge of the stage in chairs, and not stand on the risers with everyone else. Only because we both had disabilities, and we had to move our chairs back and forth after each song for further humiliation.
@johnfu3850
I sang this in 2015 in the Normandy American Cemetery in France, in front of over 2000 graves of soldiers who died on D-Day. I promise you there was not one dry eye in the audience. Hope we were able to bring the spirits of the perished soldiers home. They had left the US long enough.
@lisaqwh
Even reading you post my eyes are wet. RIP. and thank you for singing for them.