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So you think you're a Romeo
playing a part in a picture-show
Take the long way home
Take the long way home
'Cause you're the joke of the neighborhood
Why should you care if you're feeling good
Take the long way home
Take the long way home
But there are times that you feel you're part of the scenery
All the greenery is comin' down, boy
And then your wife seems to think you're part of the
furniture oh, it's peculiar, she used to be so nice.
When lonely days turn to lonely nights
You take a trip to the city lights
And take the long way home
Take the long way home
You never see what you want to see
Forever playing to the gallery
You take the long way home
Take the long way home
And when you're up on the stage, it's so unbelievable,
Oh unforgettable, how they adore you,
But then your wife seems to think you're losing your sanity,
Oh, calamity, is there no way out?
Does it feel that your life's become a catastrophe?
Oh, it has to be for you to grow , boy.
When you look through the years and see what you could
have been oh, what you might have been,
If you'd had more time.
So, when the day comes to settle down,
Who's to blame if you're not around?
You took the long way home
You took the long way home...
playing a part in a picture-show
Take the long way home
Take the long way home
'Cause you're the joke of the neighborhood
Why should you care if you're feeling good
Take the long way home
Take the long way home
But there are times that you feel you're part of the scenery
All the greenery is comin' down, boy
And then your wife seems to think you're part of the
furniture oh, it's peculiar, she used to be so nice.
When lonely days turn to lonely nights
You take a trip to the city lights
And take the long way home
Take the long way home
You never see what you want to see
Forever playing to the gallery
You take the long way home
Take the long way home
And when you're up on the stage, it's so unbelievable,
Oh unforgettable, how they adore you,
But then your wife seems to think you're losing your sanity,
Oh, calamity, is there no way out?
Does it feel that your life's become a catastrophe?
Oh, it has to be for you to grow , boy.
When you look through the years and see what you could
have been oh, what you might have been,
If you'd had more time.
So, when the day comes to settle down,
Who's to blame if you're not around?
You took the long way home
You took the long way home...
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He goes out at night instead of going home, because at home he's part of the furniture and out he's the life of the party, and they like him for who he is. Thus the "long way home."
He's incapable of forming more solid relationships with women because of his wife; "you never see what you want to see...playing to the gallery."
This is sort of an optimistic way of looking at the song, admittedly; he might simply FEEL like he's the life of the party and that he's capable of going out there and beginning new relationships. Thus his "wife thinks he's losing his sanity." However, it's possible the wife just doesn't know him the way that the nightlife people do.
Either way, he apparently feels better away from home than he does at home.
You can only ever have one first love, and for just a few hours of my life I had felt unity with mine.
And then the pain when she decided not to split with her existing boyfriend ... and so for different reasons I'm taking the long way home even now...
I always liked it's melancholy tone
Roger may disagree, but artists don't always recognize all that they've said. when Paul McCartney first began playing "Yesterday" to his bandmates, the lyrics were:
Scrambled eggs
Oh my baby how I love your legs
...which is a bad example; it just means he got the music before he got the lyrics.
But it's also a good example. because it took decades for Paul to realize the song wasn't about a jilted lover; it was about grief for his mother's passing.
we appear to have multiple interpretations which contradict each other. how to resolve this? early in the song, we learn important things, about self-deception:
So you think you're a Romeo
playing a part in a picture show
and:
...there are times that you feel you're part of the scenery
All the greenery is comin' down, boy
But these details might easily be forgotten, later, as the portrait grows more complex.
Our narrator's life is one of "quite desperation," regarded as pathetic by others around him. a Walter Mitty type? he's not a famous and beloved performer; he only imagines this, because it gives him solace and escape. But he never had the time (or courage) to pursue his dreams.
Overly simplified analysis? probably.
all the greenery is comin' down, boy....
And take the long way
Take the long way home"