"Better Be Home Soon" is a song written by

Neil Finn Neil Mullane Finn (born 27 May 1958) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known for being a principal member of Split Enz and for being the lead singer of Crowded House. He was also a member of Fleetwood Mac from 2018 ...

and performed by rock band

Crowded House Crowded House are an Australian-New Zealand rock band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia, in 1985. Its founding members were Neil Finn (vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter) and Paul Hester (drums), who were both for ...

. It appears on their second studio album, ''

Temple of Low Men ''Temple of Low Men'' is the second studio album by New Zealand-Australian rock band Crowded House, released by Capitol Records on 5 July 1988. The three band members, Neil Finn, Nick Seymour and Paul Hester, recorded the album in Melbourne and ...

'', which was later released in July 1988. The song was issued as a single in June 1988 by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

, peaking at number two on the Australian and New Zealand charts, number one on Canada's ''

The Record The Record may refer to: Music * The Record (Fear album), ''The Record'' (Fear album), a 1982 studio album by the hardcore-punk band Fear * The Record (Boygenius album), ''The Record'' (Boygenius album), a 2023 studio album by the indie rock supe ...

'' chart, and number 42 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In 2001, the song was voted by members of

Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwri ...

(APRA) as the 33rd-best New Zealand song of the 20th century. In 2005, following drummer

Paul Hester Paul Newell Hester (8 January 1959 – 26 March 2005) was an Australian musician and television personality. He was the drummer for the band Split Enz for their last year together from December 1983 to December 1984, and co-founding member an ...

's death, Finn performed the song solo at the

ARIA Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

while a montage of Hester's life was played in the background.

Music video

Nick Seymour attempted to explain the concept of the video in a 1988 issue of ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

''. He likened it to the

INXS INXS (a phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian rock band, formed as the Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney. The founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboardist Andrew Farriss, drummer Jon Farriss, gu ...

video he worked on for '' Listen Like Thieves'': "only theirs was sort of

macho Machismo (; ; ; ) is the sense of being " manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1940s and 1950s and its use more wi ...

." He called it a fun video with the Dickensian style clothes people were wearing. Seymour says it this way:

"Basically a film clip just makes people see things that the song's not really about. This song is definitely not about being in a
theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...
stuck out in the
desert A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the la ...
! It's about being home, how it's better being home.
Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...
magazine, 1988. Crowded House – making of video, page 13.

The reason Seymour played the

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

for the video was because "it just looks better".

Notable performances

"Better Be Home Soon" was performed by Crowded House in their 1996 charity performance '' Farewell to the World''. As a song commonly performed by the band, this was to be expected, however the end of this version featured a

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

polka Polka is a dance style and genre of dance music in originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though generally associated with Czech and Central European culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the ...

style double-time feeling at the end, possibly in joking retort to some criticisms of the song when initially released that it was a bit "country-ish". They also performed it as an encore at the Sydney Live Earth concert. At the 2005 ARIA Awards program, Neil Finn performed the song as a memorial to Paul Hester. It was performed as part of their setlist at the 2022 Glastonbury Festival.

Track listings

All songs were written by

. All tracks from the album ''Temple of Low Men'' except "

Don't Dream It's Over "Don't Dream It's Over" is a song by rock band Crowded House, recorded for their 1986 self-titled debut studio album. The song was composed and written by New Zealand frontman Neil Finn and released in October 1986 as the fourth single from ...

" were recorded at The Roxy, Los Angeles, on 26 February 1987. UK 7-inch and US cassette single # "Better Be Home Soon" – 3:08 # "Kill Eye" – 3:12 UK 12-inch and CD single # "Better Be Home Soon" – 3:08 # "Kill Eye" – 3:12 # "Don't Dream It's Over" – 5:55 (live) # "Better Be Home Soon" – 3:08

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Cover versions

* The McCarters (peaked at number 73 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart in 1990) * George Canyon (peaked at number 87 on the ''Billboard''

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...

in January 2011) * Budjerah and WILSN released a version in June 2023 as part of the

Mushroom Records Mushroom Records was an Australian flagship record label, founded in 1972 in Melbourne. It published and distributed many successful Australian artists and expanded internationally, until it was merged with Festival Records in 1998. Festival ...

' 50th anniversary celebration.

References

{{Authority control 1988 singles 1988 songs ARIA Award-winning songs Capitol Records singles Crowded House songs George Canyon songs The McCarters songs Song recordings produced by Mitchell Froom Songs written by Neil Finn