"Hurry Home" is a song written by Zane Williams, and first recorded by him on a 2005 album of the same name. American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer

Jason Michael Carroll Jason Michael Carroll (born June 13, 1978) is an American country music artist. After being discovered at a local talent competition in 2004, Carroll was signed to the Arista Nashville label in 2006, releasing his debut album ''Waitin' in the Co ...

later recorded it on his 2009 album '' Growing Up Is Getting Old'', releasing it as that album's second

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

in June 2009. The song is his fifth Top 40 hit on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart.

Content

"Hurry Home" is a mid-tempo country

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

mostly accompanied by

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, ...

, with

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

and

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

flourishes. Its lyrics describe a father trying to contact his runaway daughter and ask her to come home. In the first verse of the song, a man is about to go to work after waiting by the phone for a call from his daughter. Before leaving, he takes his guitar and records himself playing and singing a greeting on his answering machine (the song's chorus) to tell her that no matter what, he loves her, and she can still come back. At the end of the recording, he sings, "I can't hug you on the phone, so hurry home." In the second verse, the man gets a message from an old friend, who has just found out about the missing daughter. The friend says that if he sees her, he will "remind her that her daddy's worried". In the song's bridge, many days have flown by since the father has heard from his daughter, and people are starting to doubt that she will ever come back. When they tell the father that he should remove the recording, he says he will leave it on the machine, just in case. In the third verse, the song shifts to the daughter, who has been abandoned by "her so-called friends" outside a

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. She is scared her father will reject her as well, but having nowhere else to turn, finally calls and gets the recording asking her to "hurry home." The last chorus is followed by, "He walked in just in time to hear her say, 'Dad, I'm on my way.'" Zane Williams, who wrote the song, first recorded it in 2005. His rendition won him a $20,000 prize at the John Lennon Songwriting Contest.

Music video

A video was made for the song was directed by

Chris Hicky Chris Hicky is a writer/director from Forrest City, Arkansas, United States, best known for directing many of Keith Urban's music videos. Hicky has also directed videos for many other artists in the country music genre, including Dierks Bentley ...

Critical reception

Matt Bjorke of Roughstock gave a positive review, saying that he considered it well-suited to Carroll's voice, also saying, " Anyone who is alive has felt that kind of limitless love be it as a child or a parent and that's what makes this song a winner as it tells a gentile tale of the best kind of love. Country songs are best when they deal with human emotion and that's what 'Hurry Home' does here."

Chart performance

"Hurry Home" debuted at number 56 on the U.S. ''Billboard''

Hot Country Songs 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 dated July 11, 2009, and reached a peak of number 14 on the chart in February 2010. It also peaked at number 99 on the Billboard Hot 100.

References

{{authority control 2009 singles 2005 songs Jason Michael Carroll songs Song recordings produced by Don Gehman Arista Nashville singles Music videos directed by Chris Hicky Songs about fathers Songs about telephone calls