"Finally Home" is a song by

contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music (CCM), also known as Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music, is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christianity, Chri ...

band

MercyMe MercyMe is an American contemporary Christian music band founded in Edmond, Oklahoma. The band consists of lead vocalist Bart Millard, percussionist Robby Shaffer, bassist Nathan Cochran, and guitarists Michael Scheuchzer and Barry Graul. The b ...

. Co-written by Bart Millard, Barry Graul, and Mike Scheuchzer, the song has lyrical themes revolving around heaven, with the music written around an acoustic guitar riff. It also contains musical influences from

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, ...

and

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

music, and features harmony vocals from Millard. "Finally Home" was released as the third single from MercyMe's 2007 album ''

All That Is Within Me ''All That Is Within Me'' is the fifth studio album by American Christian rock band MercyMe. Produced by Brown Bannister, it was released on November 20, 2007 through INO Records. The album, intended by the band to be a worship album split betwee ...

'' and peaked at No. 1 on ''

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 ...

'' magazine's Soft AC/INSPO and Christian AC charts, No. 3 on the

Hot Christian Songs Hot Christian Songs is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It ranks the popularity of Christian songs using the same methodology developed for the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, the magazine's flagship songs c ...

chart, and No. 16 on the

Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by stat ...

chart. The song ranked at No. 9 on ''Billboard's'' 2009 year-end

Hot Christian AC The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

chart, and No. 12 on the year-end

chart.

Background

"Finally Home" was written after lead singer Bart Millard heard guitarists Mike Scheuchzer and Barry Graul improvising with an

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

riff. According to Millard, he "wrote the first line and just started bawling. Then we played it for our producer, and he started bawling". Millard was not sure the song would fit on the record, but

Brown Bannister Elliott Brown Bannister III (born August 15, 1951) is a contemporary Christian music (CCM) producer and songwriter. Biography Bannister released one album of his own, ''Talk to One Another'', in 1981 on NewPax Records. It was reissued on the Reuni ...

(the group's producer) told him "You just made a grown man cry. It's going on the record".

Composition

"Finally Home" is a

Contemporary Christian Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

song with influences from

and

, and has a length of three minutes and 30 seconds. The song is set in the key of

E major E major is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, F-flat maj ...

and has a moderate

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of 64 beats per minute, and with a vocal range spanning from B₃–A₅. "Finally Home" is similar to MercyMe's previous songs " I Can Only Imagine" and " Homesick" in theme, with the lyrics revolving around

heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

. The instrumentation of the song is based around an acoustic guitar riff, and features harmony vocals from lead singer Bart Millard.

Reception

Critical reception

"Finally Home" received generally positive to mixed critical reception. Jared Johnson of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

opined in his review of ''

'' that "The album's crowning moment is "Finally Home," a mesmerizing acoustic journey that takes listeners to a place where they are reunited with loved ones". Russ Breimeier of The Fish commented that "With "Finally Home," we get another heaven song from the same guys responsible for " I Can Only Imagine," " Homesick," and others. The flowing acoustic pop style sets it apart from others, but seriously, can we expect a heaven medley from MercyMe in concert someday?" Chuck Taylor of ''

'' commented that "Finally Home"... is a midtempo guitar-driven ode to meeting the maker. Christian AC has already offered its approval and though thematically it's genre-specific, lead singer Bart Millard's beautiful harmonies accompanying a singalong chorus and

radio's wholesome persona open the doors to acceptance there. Overall, a fine contender to further this established band's brand". Lauren Summerford of Jesus Freak Hideout was more apathetic about the song, commenting that "The acoustic guitar based "Finally Home" fills the void of the "ballad about getting to heaven" spot we've come to expect from MercyMe".

Chart performance

"Finally Home" debuted at No. 21 on the

chart for the chart week of January 17, 2009. The song moved to No. 19 in its second chart week, and to No. 16 in its third week. "Finally Home" jumped to No. 8 in its sixth chart week, and advanced to No. 5 in its thirteenth chart week, a spot it held for two weeks. After advancing and spending a further three weeks at No. 4, "Finally Home" reached its peak of No. 3 for the chart week of May 16, 2009, a position it held for two weeks. The song spent a further eight weeks on the chart before dropping out after the chart week of July 18, 2009. "Finally Home" also peaked at No. 1 on the Christian AC and Soft AC/INSPO charts. On the

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

chart, "Finally Home" debuted at No. 27 for the chart week of April 4, 2009, a spot it held for two weeks. The song advanced to No. 27 in its third chart week, and reached its peak position of No. 16 on its tenth chart week. The song spent ten more weeks on the chart before dropping out, spending twenty weeks on the chart in total.

Music video

A music video was released for "Finally Home". The video features the band performing the song live, with heavy uses of special effects in between and during shots.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

External links

*The

References

;Notes ;Footnotes {{authority control 2007 songs 2009 singles MercyMe songs Songs written by Bart Millard Song recordings produced by Brown Bannister