WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.659 I want you to close your eyes for just a second. 00:00:02.080 --> 00:00:06.839 Okay. Imagine you're standing on a railway platform. 00:00:07.900 --> 00:00:11.240 It's the mid -1960s. It's England. Oh, so it's 00:00:11.240 --> 00:00:13.960 probably raining. Exactly. It's damp. It's gray. 00:00:14.119 --> 00:00:16.339 The air smells like, you know, industrial smoke 00:00:16.339 --> 00:00:19.359 and rain. Yeah. And you're holding a guitar case 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:21.899 that feels way heavier than it did this morning. 00:00:22.039 --> 00:00:24.440 Right. You're tired. You're out of cigarettes. 00:00:24.780 --> 00:00:27.679 And you have this just overwhelming physical 00:00:27.679 --> 00:00:32.179 ache. to be somewhere else, like literally anywhere 00:00:32.179 --> 00:00:34.579 else. Yeah, that specific kind of loneliness 00:00:34.579 --> 00:00:37.960 that only exists in transit. Yes, exactly that, 00:00:37.960 --> 00:00:40.079 that feeling of being suspended between where 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:42.060 you were and where you're going. And for millions 00:00:42.060 --> 00:00:44.560 of people, that specific feeling actually has 00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:46.780 a very specific soundtrack. It's the opening 00:00:46.780 --> 00:00:49.420 acoustic riff of Homeward Bound. By Simon and 00:00:49.420 --> 00:00:51.500 Garfunkel. It is, yeah. It's one of those songs 00:00:51.500 --> 00:00:54.399 that feels like it's... Like it's always existed. 00:00:54.460 --> 00:00:56.159 Like it was just carved out of the landscape. 00:00:56.399 --> 00:00:58.060 But it wasn't always there. Someone had to sit 00:00:58.060 --> 00:01:00.460 down and write it. And today, we aren't just 00:01:00.460 --> 00:01:02.960 doing a nostalgia trip. We are doing a deep dive. 00:01:03.500 --> 00:01:06.680 Our mission today is to unpack the incredibly 00:01:06.680 --> 00:01:10.079 specific, somewhat controversial, and honestly 00:01:10.079 --> 00:01:13.319 deeply romantic origins of this song. Because 00:01:13.319 --> 00:01:15.900 when you peel back the layers, it really isn't 00:01:15.900 --> 00:01:18.340 just a folk song about a train ride. Not at all. 00:01:18.540 --> 00:01:20.560 No, it's much more than that. If you look at 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:22.819 the timeline and the sources we've pulled for 00:01:22.819 --> 00:01:26.260 this deep dive, this song is a pivot point. It 00:01:26.260 --> 00:01:28.700 captures a moment where Paul Simon felt like 00:01:28.700 --> 00:01:31.939 an absolute failure literally moments before 00:01:31.939 --> 00:01:34.540 he became a massive global success. It's crazy 00:01:34.540 --> 00:01:36.719 to think about. It is. It's a song about wanting 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:39.700 to retreat to safety written right before the 00:01:39.700 --> 00:01:41.500 world basically kicked the doors down and made 00:01:41.500 --> 00:01:44.060 him a star. Right. So for you listening, we've 00:01:44.060 --> 00:01:46.379 got a massive stack of sources here today. We're 00:01:46.379 --> 00:01:49.340 talking historical records, biographical details, 00:01:49.739 --> 00:01:51.980 chart data from all over the place, from Rhodesia 00:01:51.980 --> 00:01:53.799 to New Zealand. And even some British railway 00:01:53.799 --> 00:01:56.700 history. Yeah, railway history. We're going to 00:01:56.700 --> 00:01:59.260 explore the geography of this song, like literally 00:01:59.260 --> 00:02:02.799 which train station can claim it, and also the 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:06.739 emotional landscape of Paul Simon around 1964 00:02:06.739 --> 00:02:08.979 and 1965. Which I should probably add was a lot 00:02:08.979 --> 00:02:11.479 rockier than that gentle melody suggests. Oh, 00:02:11.479 --> 00:02:13.340 for sure. OK, let's unpack this. Let's start 00:02:13.340 --> 00:02:16.030 with the setting. geography because if you are 00:02:16.030 --> 00:02:18.250 a classic rock tourist and you go to England 00:02:18.250 --> 00:02:22.090 today specifically to a town called witness up 00:02:22.090 --> 00:02:24.569 in the north right and you walk onto the main 00:02:24.569 --> 00:02:27.050 platform of the railway station there you will 00:02:27.050 --> 00:02:29.189 find something you don't usually see at a commuter 00:02:29.189 --> 00:02:31.849 stop you'll find a commemorative plaque a literal 00:02:31.849 --> 00:02:35.389 plaque yeah dedicated to a song the core legend 00:02:35.689 --> 00:02:37.789 the one that's been printed in biographies and 00:02:37.789 --> 00:02:40.689 liner notes for decades now, is that Paul Simon 00:02:40.689 --> 00:02:44.129 wrote Homeward Bound while sitting on that specific 00:02:44.129 --> 00:02:46.590 platform at witness station just waiting for 00:02:46.590 --> 00:02:49.550 a train. It's a great image. It really is. The 00:02:49.550 --> 00:02:51.430 lonely troubadour on the bench, right? And it 00:02:51.430 --> 00:02:53.830 is the accepted narrative. For a long time, it 00:02:53.830 --> 00:02:56.750 was treated as absolute gospel. I mean, you have 00:02:56.750 --> 00:02:59.050 the physical proof right there bolted to the 00:02:59.050 --> 00:03:01.530 wall. Right. But, and this is why we love doing 00:03:01.530 --> 00:03:04.009 these deep dives, memory is a really tricky thing, 00:03:04.189 --> 00:03:06.129 and even the author of the song hasn't always 00:03:06.129 --> 00:03:08.629 been consistent. Wait, so are you telling me 00:03:08.629 --> 00:03:12.050 the plaque might be lying? Well, lying is a strong 00:03:12.050 --> 00:03:14.610 word. Let's say it might be, it might be simplifying 00:03:14.610 --> 00:03:16.889 things. Okay. Because if we look at the sources, 00:03:17.250 --> 00:03:19.270 specifically an interview Paul Simon gave in 00:03:19.270 --> 00:03:22.889 2016, he wavered a bit. He basically shrugged 00:03:22.889 --> 00:03:24.490 and said, you know, it might have been winds 00:03:24.490 --> 00:03:26.849 or it might have been the nearby Warrington station. 00:03:27.110 --> 00:03:29.990 Oh, wow. That is a nightmare for the local tourist 00:03:29.990 --> 00:03:32.210 board in Wyndham. It really is, but it gets even 00:03:32.210 --> 00:03:34.469 hazier than that. There's a really compelling 00:03:34.469 --> 00:03:36.449 account in our sources from a man named Jeff 00:03:36.449 --> 00:03:39.689 Speed. Who is Jeff Speed? So Jeff was a friend 00:03:39.689 --> 00:03:42.599 of Simon's during this English period. Simon 00:03:42.599 --> 00:03:44.919 was actually staying with Speed in September 00:03:44.919 --> 00:03:48.860 of 1965. And according to Speed, the song wasn't 00:03:48.860 --> 00:03:50.659 just a lightning bolt that struck him all at 00:03:50.659 --> 00:03:53.639 once on a cold bench. It was a process. A process, 00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:56.879 like he was chipping away at it. Exactly. Speed 00:03:56.879 --> 00:03:59.620 claims he heard Simon working on the melody and 00:03:59.620 --> 00:04:01.639 the lyrics while he was staying at his house. 00:04:02.259 --> 00:04:05.300 Then Speed drove him to the station. His theory, 00:04:05.400 --> 00:04:07.259 and it makes a lot of sense musically, is that 00:04:07.259 --> 00:04:09.840 Simon likely wrote one verse in Litterpool, worked 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:12.379 on the chorus in Wigan, and then finished the 00:04:12.379 --> 00:04:14.300 song at Witness Station while waiting for the 00:04:14.300 --> 00:04:17.060 train. You know, I actually love that version 00:04:17.060 --> 00:04:19.959 so much more. Right. Yeah, it wasn't just, oh, 00:04:19.980 --> 00:04:22.060 I'm at a station, I will write a song. It was 00:04:22.060 --> 00:04:24.980 a song born from the actual act of traveling. 00:04:25.459 --> 00:04:28.439 It was written in motion. And that aligns perfectly 00:04:28.439 --> 00:04:30.519 with what was happening in his life right then. 00:04:30.740 --> 00:04:33.060 He was being dropped off at witness to catch 00:04:33.060 --> 00:04:36.160 a train to Manchester to then go to a gig in 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:39.600 Hull. Geez. So the song is literally composed 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:42.600 in the spaces between destinations. It's not 00:04:42.600 --> 00:04:45.079 just about being at the station. It's about the 00:04:45.079 --> 00:04:47.579 grind of the transit itself. That makes the lyrics 00:04:47.579 --> 00:04:49.259 hit so much harder. You know, sitting in the 00:04:49.259 --> 00:04:51.000 railway station, got to take it from my destination. 00:04:51.139 --> 00:04:54.279 It's real life. It's not a metaphor. But this 00:04:54.279 --> 00:04:57.100 begs the question, why was he there? I mean, 00:04:57.420 --> 00:05:00.019 this is Paul Simon. We think of him as this absolute 00:05:00.019 --> 00:05:03.660 titan of American music. Why is he dragging himself 00:05:03.660 --> 00:05:06.000 around the industrial north of England in the 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:08.660 mid -60s? This is the most crucial part of the 00:05:08.660 --> 00:05:11.300 deep dive. To understand the song, you really 00:05:11.300 --> 00:05:13.439 have to understand the failure. The failure. 00:05:13.639 --> 00:05:17.860 Yeah. We have to rewind to early 1964. To you 00:05:17.860 --> 00:05:21.240 and me today, Paul Simon is a legend. But to 00:05:21.240 --> 00:05:24.050 Paul Simon in 1964, well... He thought he was 00:05:24.050 --> 00:05:27.089 a flop. A flop, really? Yeah. He had released 00:05:27.089 --> 00:05:29.649 his first album with Art Garfunkel Wednesday 00:05:29.649 --> 00:05:32.889 morning, 3 a .m., and he was convinced it was 00:05:32.889 --> 00:05:35.350 going absolutely nowhere. Wow. It didn't chart. 00:05:35.550 --> 00:05:37.829 It didn't make a splash. He actually fled the 00:05:37.829 --> 00:05:40.170 Greenwich Village folk scene in New York. And 00:05:40.170 --> 00:05:42.069 just packed up and left. Pretty much. He felt 00:05:42.069 --> 00:05:44.269 intimidated by people like Bob Dylan. He felt 00:05:44.269 --> 00:05:46.370 like he just didn't fit in. So he packed his 00:05:46.370 --> 00:05:48.329 bags and went to England. So he's not over there 00:05:48.329 --> 00:05:49.970 in a bitch tree lap. He's running away. He's 00:05:49.970 --> 00:05:52.329 licking his wounds. Precisely. He spent time 00:05:52.329 --> 00:05:54.569 in Essex and eventually became a nightly fixture 00:05:54.569 --> 00:05:57.610 at a folk club called the Railway Hotel in Brentwood. 00:05:57.879 --> 00:06:00.259 The Railway Hotel. Yeah, and this is where the 00:06:00.259 --> 00:06:02.939 story shifts from geography to romance. This 00:06:02.939 --> 00:06:05.500 is where we find the home in Homeward Bound. 00:06:06.060 --> 00:06:09.139 Enter Cathy Chitty. Right. Now, looking at the 00:06:09.139 --> 00:06:11.040 sources, Cathy isn't described as a musician 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:13.220 or a manager or anything. She was working at 00:06:13.220 --> 00:06:15.399 the club, right? She was the ticket taker. She 00:06:15.399 --> 00:06:18.800 was this inquisitive, shy, 17 -year -old girl 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:21.079 selling tickets at the door of the Railway Hotel. 00:06:21.819 --> 00:06:24.120 And our sources say they quickly became close. 00:06:24.430 --> 00:06:27.870 They fell in love. But there was this fundamental 00:06:27.870 --> 00:06:30.430 tension in their relationship from day one. The 00:06:30.430 --> 00:06:32.050 tension being that he was a guy from New York 00:06:32.050 --> 00:06:35.170 who desperately wanted to be a star. Right. Simon 00:06:35.170 --> 00:06:38.009 was incredibly ambitious. He had this drive to 00:06:38.009 --> 00:06:40.670 be a musician, which meant he couldn't just stay 00:06:40.670 --> 00:06:43.290 in Brentwood forever. He wanted to perform in 00:06:43.290 --> 00:06:47.430 London, in Hull, in Manchester. He had to leave 00:06:47.430 --> 00:06:50.129 to be who he wanted to be. And every time he 00:06:50.129 --> 00:06:52.930 left to play a gig, he was leaving Cathy. Exactly. 00:06:52.970 --> 00:06:54.910 So when you hear Homeward Bound and he's singing 00:06:54.910 --> 00:06:57.230 about home, he isn't singing about an apartment 00:06:57.230 --> 00:06:59.810 in Queens or his parents' house. He isn't singing 00:06:59.810 --> 00:07:02.170 about America. He's singing about Cathy. He is 00:07:02.170 --> 00:07:04.500 singing about Cathy Chitty. The contemporary 00:07:04.500 --> 00:07:06.839 reviews at the time even picked up on this. They 00:07:06.839 --> 00:07:09.660 called it an ode to a hometown gal. Kathy was 00:07:09.660 --> 00:07:11.939 the safety he was craving. She was the anchor 00:07:11.939 --> 00:07:14.939 in this sea of train stations in strange cities. 00:07:15.139 --> 00:07:17.980 That is just heartbreaking. He's leaving the 00:07:17.980 --> 00:07:20.139 person he loves to pursue a career that he's 00:07:20.139 --> 00:07:22.220 not even sure is going to work out. And he's 00:07:22.220 --> 00:07:24.139 writing a song about how much he hates leaving 00:07:24.139 --> 00:07:27.120 her. It is. And Kathy Chitty's influence didn't 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:29.699 stop with this one track either. If you look 00:07:29.699 --> 00:07:33.149 at the Simon and Garfunkel canon, she is Really? 00:07:33.430 --> 00:07:35.350 Oh, yeah. She's the title character in Kathy's 00:07:35.350 --> 00:07:37.470 song, obviously, but she's also the presence 00:07:37.470 --> 00:07:40.370 in the song America. You know the line, Kathy, 00:07:40.470 --> 00:07:42.569 I'm lost, I said, though I knew she was sleeping. 00:07:42.829 --> 00:07:44.509 Oh my gosh, I never connected that. That's the 00:07:44.509 --> 00:07:47.629 same Kathy. Same Kathy. And later in the boxer, 00:07:47.970 --> 00:07:50.170 there's a missing verse that Paul sometimes sings, 00:07:50.209 --> 00:07:53.129 and it has lines about a railway station that 00:07:53.129 --> 00:07:55.709 many biographers believe are a direct callback 00:07:55.709 --> 00:07:58.889 to this specific time. To win. To this exact 00:07:58.889 --> 00:08:02.310 moment of standing on a platform, missing. It 00:08:02.310 --> 00:08:04.370 connects everything. It's not just a standalone 00:08:04.370 --> 00:08:07.290 pop hit. It's a chapter in a very specific, very 00:08:07.290 --> 00:08:09.970 real love story. A love story that was happening 00:08:09.970 --> 00:08:12.430 while he was physically moving further and further 00:08:12.430 --> 00:08:15.610 away from it? Man. So let's get back to the timeline. 00:08:15.910 --> 00:08:18.569 He writes the song Liverpool, Wigan, Wydnans, 00:08:18.990 --> 00:08:20.949 wherever the inspiration struck, and he finishes 00:08:20.949 --> 00:08:23.430 it. Now we have to talk about the music itself 00:08:23.430 --> 00:08:26.769 because the song comes out as a single on January 00:08:26.769 --> 00:08:30.720 19th, 1966. produced by Bob Johnston. And this 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:32.419 is important because the sound of the song marks 00:08:32.419 --> 00:08:35.129 a real transition. Yeah, the sources describe 00:08:35.129 --> 00:08:38.730 the genre as folk, rock, and jangle pop. Jangle 00:08:38.730 --> 00:08:40.990 pop is such a great term. It is, isn't it? It 00:08:40.990 --> 00:08:43.850 refers to that bright chiming sound of the electric 00:08:43.850 --> 00:08:46.409 guitar. Think of the birds. Oh, right. This was 00:08:46.409 --> 00:08:50.009 1966. Folk was plugging in. Simon and Garfunkel 00:08:50.009 --> 00:08:52.529 were transitioning from pure acoustic harmony 00:08:52.529 --> 00:08:54.870 to something with a rhythm section, something 00:08:54.870 --> 00:08:56.629 that could get played on the radio right next 00:08:56.629 --> 00:08:58.610 to the Beatles. But there's a bit of confusion 00:08:58.610 --> 00:09:00.929 for collectors here, which I found totally fascinating 00:09:00.929 --> 00:09:03.679 in the notes. Right. If you were a fan in 1966, 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:06.000 and you bought the album in the US, you found 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:08.840 Homeward Bound on Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and 00:09:08.840 --> 00:09:11.220 Time. Right. But if you were a fan in the UK, 00:09:11.620 --> 00:09:13.620 it was on the Sounds of Silence album. That was 00:09:13.620 --> 00:09:16.460 standard operating procedure back then. The UK 00:09:16.460 --> 00:09:18.519 and US markets worked completely differently. 00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:21.580 Oh, so? In the UK, putting a hit single on an 00:09:21.580 --> 00:09:24.480 album was seen as ripping off the fans. The logic 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:26.480 was, they already bought the single, why make 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:28.220 them buy it twice? That's actually very fair. 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:31.419 It is. But in the US, the single was the selling 00:09:31.419 --> 00:09:33.799 point for the album. So the track listings were 00:09:33.799 --> 00:09:36.000 always shuffled between the two countries. That 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:38.500 makes sense. But regardless of which piece of 00:09:38.500 --> 00:09:41.220 vinyl it was on, the critical reception was, 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:44.539 well, they knew they had something, but the critics 00:09:44.539 --> 00:09:47.039 described it in really interesting ways. I have 00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:49.120 some of the quotes here. Let's hear them. So 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:51.779 Billboard called it an interesting offbeat rhythm 00:09:51.779 --> 00:09:54.899 number, which I'm not really sure what offbeat 00:09:54.899 --> 00:09:57.279 means in this context because it's a pretty standard 00:09:57.279 --> 00:09:59.360 time signature, but it sounds positive. I think 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:02.779 they meant offbeat as in quirky or unconventional 00:10:02.779 --> 00:10:05.740 for a pop song. It wasn't a standard love song. 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:09.100 It was a travelogue. OK, that tracks. Then Cashbox 00:10:09.100 --> 00:10:11.220 came in with all the adjectives. They called 00:10:11.220 --> 00:10:16.659 it a low down blues tinged folk styled ode. Try 00:10:16.659 --> 00:10:18.669 saying that three times fast. They were really 00:10:18.669 --> 00:10:20.809 trying to cover all the bases there. It's blues, 00:10:21.070 --> 00:10:24.509 it's folk, it's an ode. Exactly. But they also 00:10:24.509 --> 00:10:27.490 predicted it would, quote, speedily move up the 00:10:27.490 --> 00:10:29.629 Hitsville path. Hitsville path. I absolutely 00:10:29.629 --> 00:10:32.149 love the slang of the era. It sounds like something 00:10:32.149 --> 00:10:34.889 a 1920s Bankster would say. It totally does. 00:10:35.389 --> 00:10:37.990 And finally, record world just kept it simple. 00:10:38.269 --> 00:10:41.409 They called it a haunting sad song. And honestly. 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:44.419 I think Record World nailed it. That is the duality 00:10:44.419 --> 00:10:46.559 of the song. It's catchy. It has that Hitsville 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:50.000 quality. It has that jangle. But lyrically, it 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:53.059 is deeply melancholic. It is. It's a sad song 00:10:53.059 --> 00:10:55.779 that you can tap your foot to. So Cashbox predicted 00:10:55.779 --> 00:10:58.139 it would move up the Hitsville path. Were they 00:10:58.139 --> 00:10:59.940 right? They were dead right. And this is where 00:10:59.940 --> 00:11:01.600 we have to look at the numbers. Because remember, 00:11:01.639 --> 00:11:03.179 this is written by a guy who thought he was a 00:11:03.179 --> 00:11:05.960 total failure scribbling on a scrap of paper 00:11:05.960 --> 00:11:08.580 in a gloomy English train station. Right. In 00:11:08.580 --> 00:11:10.480 the U .S., it hit number five on the Billboard 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:13.120 Hot 100. It stayed on the charts for 12 weeks. 00:11:13.460 --> 00:11:15.659 That is a massive hit. That is a career maker. 00:11:15.879 --> 00:11:18.259 It is. But what's really fascinating to me is 00:11:18.259 --> 00:11:21.360 the international reach. This song resonated 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:23.820 everywhere. I was looking at the chart data in 00:11:23.820 --> 00:11:26.480 our source deck. It is wild. It went to number 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:29.120 two in Canada. He was top five in the Netherlands. 00:11:29.379 --> 00:11:31.720 And look at the African charts. Yeah. Number 00:11:31.720 --> 00:11:34.000 four in the Rhodesia singles chart. Number six 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:37.120 in South Africa on Spring Book Radio. And then 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:39.080 all the way over in New Zealand, it hit number 00:11:39.080 --> 00:11:42.200 one. Just think about that for a second. A song 00:11:42.200 --> 00:11:44.840 about a specific train ride in northern England, 00:11:45.320 --> 00:11:48.159 about a specific girl in Essex connected with 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:51.379 people in Rhodesia, in Canada. in New Zealand. 00:11:51.580 --> 00:11:53.159 It's the universality of the feeling, right? 00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:55.379 Exactly. You didn't need to know where Windance 00:11:55.379 --> 00:11:57.440 was to understand the song. You just needed to 00:11:57.440 --> 00:11:59.139 know what it felt like to be tired and want to 00:11:59.139 --> 00:12:02.500 go home. It speaks to that universal human condition 00:12:02.500 --> 00:12:04.980 of displacement. It's the definition of a global 00:12:04.980 --> 00:12:08.440 anthem. But it didn't just fade away after 1966. 00:12:09.220 --> 00:12:11.440 The legacy of this song is something else entirely. 00:12:11.860 --> 00:12:14.279 It keeps popping up in pop culture at these really 00:12:14.279 --> 00:12:16.240 pivotal moments. It does. And it often marks 00:12:16.830 --> 00:12:19.169 significant cultural milestones. We have to talk 00:12:19.169 --> 00:12:21.610 about Saturday Night Live because Homeward Bound 00:12:21.610 --> 00:12:24.309 has had two very specific, very high profile 00:12:24.309 --> 00:12:26.830 moments on that show, spaced almost 50 years 00:12:26.830 --> 00:12:30.309 apart. Right. The first one was in 1976. November 00:12:30.309 --> 00:12:34.009 20th, 1976. Yeah. Paul Simon is hosting the show 00:12:34.009 --> 00:12:36.350 and he brings out a friend to perform with him, 00:12:36.509 --> 00:12:39.230 George Harrison. Which is legendary. A Beatle 00:12:39.230 --> 00:12:42.110 and Paul Simon. And they perform Homeward Bound 00:12:42.110 --> 00:12:44.830 as a duet. They also did Here Comes the Sun, 00:12:44.929 --> 00:12:47.370 which is amazing. But that version of Homeward 00:12:47.370 --> 00:12:50.830 Bound, it's incredibly stripped back. It's two 00:12:50.830 --> 00:12:53.850 giants of music just sitting on stools singing 00:12:53.850 --> 00:12:55.970 about wanting to go home. That performance was 00:12:55.970 --> 00:12:58.309 so powerful, it eventually ended up on the benefit 00:12:58.309 --> 00:13:01.850 album Nobody's Child. But then fast forward to 00:13:01.850 --> 00:13:05.169 the present day. Well, recently, February 16th, 00:13:05.169 --> 00:13:08.090 2025, the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary 00:13:08.090 --> 00:13:10.649 special. A massive television event. Everyone 00:13:10.649 --> 00:13:12.710 who is anyone was there. And who was there performing? 00:13:12.909 --> 00:13:14.950 Paul Simon. He performs Homeward Bound again, 00:13:15.110 --> 00:13:16.909 but this time he's not with a Beatle. He's with 00:13:16.909 --> 00:13:18.750 Sabrina Carpenter. Which is such a testament 00:13:18.750 --> 00:13:21.250 to the song's endurance. You have George Harrison 00:13:21.250 --> 00:13:23.929 in the 70s representing the rock royalty of that 00:13:23.929 --> 00:13:26.830 era and Sabrina Carpenter in the 2020s representing 00:13:26.830 --> 00:13:29.330 the new vanguard of pop. Different generations, 00:13:29.649 --> 00:13:32.389 different styles, but the song works for both. 00:13:32.629 --> 00:13:35.590 It bridges that 50 -year gap effortlessly. It 00:13:35.590 --> 00:13:37.690 really does. It's completely timeless. And it's 00:13:37.690 --> 00:13:39.850 not just live performances. It shows up in narrative 00:13:39.850 --> 00:13:43.950 TV too. Did you see The Leftovers? I did. Incredible 00:13:43.950 --> 00:13:46.850 show. Very intense. The second season finale. 00:13:47.590 --> 00:13:49.830 There's a scene where the main character, Kevin 00:13:49.830 --> 00:13:54.029 Garvey, has to sing a song, well, without spoiling 00:13:54.029 --> 00:13:55.649 the metaphysical plot too much. He has to sing 00:13:55.649 --> 00:13:57.730 to get back to the land of the living, to get 00:13:57.730 --> 00:13:59.789 back to his family. And he chooses Homeward Bound. 00:14:00.049 --> 00:14:02.991 It's a karaoke performance. Yeah. And it is... 00:14:02.990 --> 00:14:05.509 agonizing it's not a polished pop version at 00:14:05.509 --> 00:14:08.009 all it's desperate because it's used to evoke 00:14:08.009 --> 00:14:10.909 that deep desperate longing for connection it's 00:14:10.909 --> 00:14:13.190 not used as a throwaway track it's used as an 00:14:13.190 --> 00:14:16.169 emotional lever in that scene the home and homeward 00:14:16.169 --> 00:14:19.360 bound isn't a building it's life its survival. 00:14:19.659 --> 00:14:22.159 And on a more official level, the song was part 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:24.179 of the body of work honored by the Library of 00:14:24.179 --> 00:14:27.299 Congress. In 2007, when Paul Simon received the 00:14:27.299 --> 00:14:29.919 Gershwin Prize, this song was right there in 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:32.379 the mix. Which cements it as not just a pop hit, 00:14:32.539 --> 00:14:35.419 but a standard, a piece of American and British 00:14:35.419 --> 00:14:37.740 cultural history. So let's recap this journey 00:14:37.740 --> 00:14:39.919 for you listening. We start with a guy feeling 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:42.620 like a failure, hanging out in a railway hotel 00:14:42.620 --> 00:14:44.940 in Essex. falling in love with a ticket taker 00:14:44.940 --> 00:14:47.360 named Cathy. He gets dragged away by his own 00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:50.019 ambition, finds himself on a cold platform in 00:14:50.019 --> 00:14:52.179 Whittnance or maybe finishing a verse in Wigan, 00:14:52.759 --> 00:14:55.360 and writes a song on a scrap of paper. And that 00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:58.059 scrap of paper turns into a top five hit in the 00:14:58.059 --> 00:15:01.480 U .S., a number one hit in New Zealand, and a 00:15:01.480 --> 00:15:03.840 song that is still being performed on the biggest 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:06.960 stages in the world 50 years later alongside 00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:09.779 the biggest stars of the modern era. It's an 00:15:09.779 --> 00:15:12.090 incredible arc from the bottom to the top. But 00:15:12.090 --> 00:15:13.850 you mentioned earlier, before we started recording, 00:15:14.149 --> 00:15:16.190 that there's a bit of irony in all this. A twist. 00:15:16.409 --> 00:15:18.470 There is. And it's a big one. Think about the 00:15:18.470 --> 00:15:20.649 lyrics. Homeward Bound. I wish I was homeward 00:15:20.649 --> 00:15:22.750 bound. It's a song about wanting to stop. About 00:15:22.750 --> 00:15:24.730 wanting to get off the road, stop the tour, and 00:15:24.730 --> 00:15:28.070 go back to safety. Back to Kathy. Right. Home 00:15:28.070 --> 00:15:30.909 where my music's playing. Home where my love 00:15:30.909 --> 00:15:34.049 lies waiting. But the massive success of this 00:15:34.049 --> 00:15:36.960 song... The fact that it went Hitsville, as Cashbox 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:39.700 said, is the very thing that ensured Paul Simon 00:15:39.700 --> 00:15:42.940 would never really be able to stop. This song, 00:15:43.259 --> 00:15:45.600 about wanting to go home, guaranteed that he 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:47.500 would be touring, traveling, and leaving home 00:15:47.500 --> 00:15:50.399 for the rest of his life. That is well. That 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:53.360 is a heavy thought. The song that launched his 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:56.279 career is a song about wanting to quit the lifestyle 00:15:56.279 --> 00:15:59.480 that the song created. Exactly. It captured a 00:15:59.480 --> 00:16:02.779 moment of doubt that, by being captured so perfectly, 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:06.200 erased the possibility of that doubt ever being 00:16:06.200 --> 00:16:08.639 realized. He couldn't go back to being a fixture 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:11.139 at the railway hotel. He was Paul Simon now. 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:14.519 The song made it impossible for him to ever live 00:16:14.519 --> 00:16:17.059 the life described in the song. That is the ultimate 00:16:17.059 --> 00:16:20.100 be careful what you wish for. or maybe be careful 00:16:20.100 --> 00:16:22.299 what you write a masterpiece about. In a way, 00:16:22.519 --> 00:16:24.399 yes. He got the fame, but he had to give up the 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:26.899 home. It makes you wonder. And here's a question 00:16:26.899 --> 00:16:28.440 for you listening right now, something to think 00:16:28.440 --> 00:16:30.899 about. We know Paul Simon ran away to England 00:16:30.899 --> 00:16:32.740 because he felt the pressure of the New York 00:16:32.740 --> 00:16:36.100 scene. He needed that space, that anonymity, 00:16:36.419 --> 00:16:38.899 that railway hotel atmosphere to find this voice. 00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:41.360 He needed the isolation. He needed to be alone 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:44.799 on that platform. So if Paul Simon had stayed 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:47.190 in New York, If he hadn't run away to England 00:16:47.190 --> 00:16:49.990 to play in those chilly train towns, would he 00:16:49.990 --> 00:16:51.889 have ever found the voice that made him famous? 00:16:53.029 --> 00:16:56.049 Or was the act of leaving the only way he could 00:16:56.049 --> 00:16:58.090 ever really find his way home? That's the big 00:16:58.090 --> 00:16:59.730 question. Sometimes you have to go a long way 00:16:59.730 --> 00:17:01.970 to find out who you really are. Something to 00:17:01.970 --> 00:17:03.470 chew on next time you're waiting for a train. 00:17:04.349 --> 00:17:07.109 Thanks for diving in with us. Safe travels, everyone.