I can’t remember the first time I heard Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros‘ “Home,” but it was fairly recently. I’m pretty sure it was on a TV show or a commercial — I’d heard it and liked it but had no idea who sang the song. It was catchy — complete with whistling — and had this comforting, almost retro feel, like the best way to do the song justice would be to listen to it on vinyl. And how could I forget the way the song began, with the drawling “Alabama, Arkansas / I do love my ma and pa …”? Then the other day my sis-in-law, K, told us we just had to hear this CD her friend gave her: “I’m skipping right to my favorite track, number six.” Mystery solved! And thus my fascination with Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros was born. The video is pitch-perfect in that its home-movie feel perfectly complements the folksiness of the song. And, like the song, it leaves me feeling happy.

Lyrics:
[Her:] Alabama, Arkansas / I do love my ma and pa / Not the way that I do love you.

[Him:] Holy, Moley, me, oh my / You’re the apple of my eye / Girl I’ve never loved one like you.

[Her:] Man oh man you’re my best friend / I scream it to the nothingness / There ain’t nothing that I need.

[Him:] Well, hot and heavy, pumpkin pie / Chocolate candy, Jesus Christ / Ain’t nothing please me more than you.

[Both:] Ahh Home. Let me come home / Home is wherever I’m with you / Ahh Home. Let me go ho-oh-ome / Home is wherever I’m with you / La, la, la, la, take me home / Mother, I’m coming home.

[Him:] I’ll follow you into the park / Through the jungle through the dark / Girl I never loved one like you.

[Her:] Moats and boats and waterfalls / Alley-ways and pay phone calls / I’ve been everywhere with you.

[Him:] We laugh until we think we’ll die / Barefoot on a summer night / Nothin’ new is sweeter than with you

[Her:] And in the streets you run afree / Like it’s only you and me / Geeze, you’re something to see.

[Both:] Ahh Home. Let me go home / Home is wherever I’m with you / Ahh Home. Let me go ho-oh-ome / Home is wherever I’m with you / La, la, la, la, take me home / Daddy, I’m coming home.

(Talking)
Him: Jade
Her: Alexander
Him: Do you remember that day you fell outta my window?
Her: I sure do, you came jumping out after me.
Him: Well, you fell on the concrete, nearly broke your ass, you were bleeding all over the place and I rushed you out to the hospital, you remember that?
Her: Yes I do.
Him: Well there’s something I never told you about that night.
Her: What didn’t you tell me?
Him: While you were sitting in the backseat smoking a cigarette you thought was gonna be your last, I was falling deep, deeply in love with you, and I never told you til just now.

[Both:] Ahh Home. Let me go home / Home is wherever I’m with you / Ahh Home. Let me go ho-oh-ome / Home is where I’m alone with you.

[Him:] Home. Let me come home / Home is wherever I’m with you.

[Her:] Ahh home. Yes I am ho-oh-ome / Home is when I’m alone with you.

[Her:] Alabama, Arkansas / I do love my ma and pa … / Moats and boats and waterfalls / Alley-ways and pay phone calls …

[Both:] Ahh Home. Let me go home / Home is wherever I’m with you / Ahh Home. Let me go ho-oh-ome / Home is where I’m alone with you …