Homeward Bound
Words and music by Marta Keen Thompson
Melinda Painter suggested this piece for Dan’s page. It was a favorite of his, and it belongs here.
People often take it for an old hymn or a traditional folk song.
It is neither. Marta Keen Thompson wrote both the words and the music in 1991. It was first sung by an Irish tenor in Seattle, and the choral setting most people know is Jay Althouse’s. What makes it feel a hundred years older than it is, is that she caught the old folk idiom so exactly — the modal tune, the plain line, the sense of a song handed down rather than composed. The recording we’re sharing was sun by Sir Bryn Terfel.
She wrote it for someone she loved who was setting out on a new phase of life. That is what it is about: the one who goes, and the ones who stay behind and trust that he will come back. It says nothing about where home is, and that is deliberate. It has been sung at graduations and farewells, by soldiers coming back from overseas, and at services for people who have finished the journey.
The words are under copyright and are not reproduced here. The recording is linked below. It is worth three and a half quiet minutes.
Dan – this is for you.
Click HERE to go to the recording of Homeward Bound – sung by Sir Bryn Terfel
(It’s a YouTube recording – I apologize if the song is preceeded by an ad. Just click “Skip”)