"(I Want to) Come Home" is a song written and recorded by
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
for the 2009 film ''
Everybody's Fine''.
Composition and recording
An early cut of ''Everybody's Fine'' was screened for McCartney, with
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...
's cover of "
Let It Be
Let It Be most commonly refers to:
* ''Let It Be'' (album), the Beatles' final studio album, released in 1970
* "Let It Be" (song), the title song from the album
Let It Be may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Let It Be'' (1970 film), ...
" inserted as a placeholder by director Kirk Jones. McCartney was inspired to write the song for the film after connecting with the protagonist, portrayed by
Robert De Niro
Robert Anthony De Niro ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and film producer. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of List of awards and ...
, a widower who "hits the road to visit his scattered children after they cancel a weekend gathering."
McCartney told ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'', "I can very much relate to a guy who's got older children, who happens to have lost his wife, the mother of those children, and is trying to get them all together at Christmas. I understand that."
After recording a demo version on cassette, McCartney received notes for the song from Jones requesting an intro for the song as opposed to its original "abrupt" start. McCartney then collaborated with the film's music composer
Dario Marianelli
Dario Marianelli (born 21 June 1963) is an Italian composer.
Early life
Marianelli was born in Pisa, Italy. He studied piano and composition in Florence and in 1990 he moved to London. After a year as a postgraduate composer at the Guildhall Sch ...
on orchestrations for the song "resulting in an intimate ballad with piano, guitar and spare strings."
"(I Want to) Come Home" was recorded with
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
Geoff Emerick
Geoffrey Ernest Emerick (5 December 1945 – 2 October 2018) was an English sound engineer and record producer who worked with the Beatles on their albums ''Revolver'' (1966), '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (1967) and ''Abbey Road' ...
along with 20 other tracks around this time.
Personnel
*
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
– vocals, bass, acoustic and electric guitars, piano, drums, tambourine
*Unknown – strings, horns
*Dario Marianelli – string arrangement
Release
The song was released as a single in
online music store
A digital music store is a business that sells digital audio files of music recordings over the Internet. Customers gain ownership of a license to use the files, in contrast to a music streaming service, where they listen to recordings withou ...
s on 1 March 2010. The song is not included on the soundtrack to the film. Its original and demo versions were released on ''
The 7" Singles Box
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The' ...
'' on 2 December 2022. The song was nominated for a
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Janua ...
for
Best Original Song
The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best ...
, but did not win, losing the award to "
The Weary Kind", from ''
Crazy Heart
''Crazy Heart'' is a 2009 American drama film, written and directed by Scott Cooper in his feature directorial debut. Based on the 1987 novel of the same name by Thomas Cobb, the story was inspired by country singer Hank Thompson. Starring Je ...
'', by
Ryan Bingham
George Ryan Bingham (born March 31, 1981) is an American singer, actor, songwriter, and guitarist whose music spans multiple genres. He is currently based in Los Angeles. As of 2019, Bingham has released six studio albums and one live album, ...
.
Cover version
In 2012,
Tom Jones
Tom Jones may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*Tom Jones (singer) (born 1940), Welsh singer
*Tom Jones (writer) (1928–2023), American librettist and lyricist
*''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', a novel by Henry Fielding published in 1 ...
released a recording of the song on his studio album, ''
Spirit in the Room''.
Charts
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:I Want to Come Home
Paul McCartney songs
2010 singles
2010 songs
Songs written by Paul McCartney
Rock ballads