1
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, oh yeah
Ooh, take it, take it out
Take it, take it out
Oh yeah
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
Took the long way home
You took the long way home
You took the long way home, so long
You took the long way home
You took the long way home, uh yeah
You took the long way home
Long way home
Long way home
Long way home
Long way home
Long way home
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, oh yeah
Ooh, take it, take it out
Take it, take it out
Oh yeah
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
Took the long way home
You took the long way home
You took the long way home, so long
You took the long way home
You took the long way home, uh yeah
You took the long way home
Long way home
Long way home
Long way home
Long way home
Long way home
Long way home
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Agree this is one of their best songs, but you're all missing the point of the song. The important lines are:
"When you look through the years and see what you could have been oh, what might have been, if you'd had more time."
He's been "taking the long way home" so often he's wasted time which he can now not get back. Stay focused. Life is not a dress rehearsal and you won't get a second chance at your best years..
Awesome way to put it.
you posted this nine years ago so probably through your best years, if you get this reply. Did you take the long way home?
I know I'm super late on this, but you make a good point. I think you're just about spot-on with the general theme of the song being about life passing by. Although, it might not just be about letting it waste away:<br /> "But there are times that you feel you're part of the scenery"<br /> I take this line to mean that the person in question realizes that life is going on around him and feels that he's missing out--that he's been taking the long way home and he wants to go and make it big instead of sitting around. In that context, maybe they're trying to say that we "never see what you want to see," as is sung later on, and assume that life isn't going the way it should, rather than just living it. The last verse, I think, can take two meanings, then: "So when the day comes to settle down/who's to blame if you're not around?" Obviously, the "day to settle down" refers to the eventual slowing down and ending of a person's life, and the fact that they're "not around," I, at least, think implies that they've not slowed or settled down at all, as would be expected of an aging person. Again, this can be taken in two contexts: either they're fretting about the time they've wasted (like you mentioned) and are trying to get as much out of life at the last minute as they can, or they just have such a zest for life that they're not done living yet.
@longwayhome @Insanity_Prevails Exactly! I think those final few lines paint a happy ending (up to interpretation of course) - makes it feel to me like a second chance or second wind. The subject has run off to do what they want to, they're "not around" for the same ol' stuff because they took the long way, thought about it, and made a decision.