For the follow-up, the band headed back to London to record with Watson again. The resulting album, Look at Life Again Soon, was issued by Take Root in September 2008, followed 12 months later by Do You Want Power, which was recorded at the Bomb Shelter in Nashville with producer Greg Cartwright (Reigning Sound). At the sessions Cartwright and Hames hit it off and decided to collaborate on a single, but after spending time writing together the single became an album, Strychnine Dandelion. It was released by In the Red in 2010. By this time the band had moved to Nashville and started working on another album. The writing sessions continued on the road, where the group served as the opening act for Kings of Leon and the Dead Weather. The Ettes reunited with longtime producer Liam Watson at his Toe Rag Studio in London to record their fourth album, 2011's Wicked Will.
After the touring cycle for the record wore down and they released a single, "Teeth," in 2012, the band turned toward a new pursuit. The trio, plus some friends, leased out a retail space in Nashville and began putting together a record store/artist space called Fond Object. It opened in April of 2013, then after a couple years, the store branched out into a record label of the same name. The label's first release was a 2016 reissue of Shake the Dust, timed for the debut full-length's tenth anniversary and with two extra tracks added. Meanwhile, Hames toured in 2014 as a member of the New Pornographers and began work on her first solo album.
There is another band with the same name:
[2] A all-girl punk trio from Edinburgh, Scotland, formed in April 1979. They played eleven gigs, supporting: Another Pretty Face, The Visitors, Shake and The Exploited. The same year, they recorded a five track demo, from which "A Conversation" also appears on "Messthetics #105: D.I.Y. 77-81 Scotland I". They played their final 70s gig on 22 Sept 1979. The band reformed for the Fritz Van Helsing Memorial gig (15 Apr 2012 at Bannermans, Edinburgh), where Anne, Teen and Trash were joined by Steve Fraser (guitar).
I Wanna Go Home
The Ettes Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And you talk like that
You make me wanna go home
I'm seeing stars
In passing cars
I'm bored
And I wanna go home
There's no one here like me
No one near I can believe
You too would leave this place
If I held a mirror to your face
I wait all day
To sit down and play
My guitar
When I come home
And I've never been
One for reality
But it's all wrong
And I wanna go home
The Ettes's song I Wanna Go Home is a reflective piece that describes the feeling of being displaced and disconnected from one's surroundings. Through the repetition of the chorus line "you make me wanna go home," the singer is expressing a longing to return to a place where they feel more comfortable and accepted. The opening lines, "when you walk like that and you talk like that," suggest that the singer is observing someone who embodies everything they are not, further emphasizing their feeling of being out of place.
The second stanza further highlights the singer's sense of detachment, describing how they are "seeing stars in passing cars" and "bored." The third stanza reveals that there is "no one here like me" and "no one near I can believe," signifying that the singer is struggling to connect with those around them. Ultimately, the last stanza portrays the singer's desire to escape reality and retreat into their music, ending with the lines "it's all wrong, and I wanna go home."
Overall, I Wanna Go Home delves into themes of alienation and displacement, highlighting the importance of having a place where one feels a sense of belonging.
Line by Line Meaning
When you walk like that
The way you walk creates a strong desire in me to go back home.
And you talk like that
The way you talk also contributes to my feeling of homesickness.
You make me wanna go home
All of these things combined make me want to leave and return to my home.
I'm seeing stars
I am bored and find myself fantasizing about random things like seeing stars.
In passing cars
Even the cars passing by are more interesting than this place.
I'm bored
I am extremely uninterested and restless in this environment.
And I wanna go home
All of this boredom and discomfort makes me want to return home even more.
There's no one here like me
I feel isolated and alone because there is no one here who is similar to me.
No one near I can believe
I cannot find anyone trustworthy or like-minded in this place.
You too would leave this place
Even you would want to leave this location if you saw it from my perspective.
If I held a mirror to your face
If you saw what I saw, you would also be desperate to leave this place.
I wait all day
I spend most of my day anxiously waiting for something to keep me occupied.
To sit down and play
The only thing that can pacify my anxiousness is playing my guitar.
My guitar
Music is my only source of comfort in this place.
When I come home
This is what I look forward to doing when I finally return home.
And I've never been
I have never been truly connected or invested in the reality of this place.
One for reality
Real life does not interest me, and I struggle to find meaningful connections in this environment.
But it's all wrong
Everything about this place feels incorrect and unsatisfying to me.
And I wanna go home
All of these factors make me desperately want to go back to my safe and familiar home.
Writer(s): Maria Silver, Jeremy Cohen, Hames Lindsay
Contributed by Noah W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.