"(I Want to) Come Home" is a song written and recorded by

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

for the 2009 film '' Everybody's Fine''.

Composition and recording

An early cut of ''Everybody's Fine'' was screened for McCartney, with

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...

's cover of "

Let It Be Let It Be most commonly refers to: * ''Let It Be'' (Beatles album), the Beatles' final studio album, released in 1970 * "Let It Be" (Beatles song), the title song from the album It may also refer to: Film and television * ''Let It Be'' (1970 ...

" inserted as a placeholder by director Kirk Jones. McCartney was inspired to write the song for the film after connecting with the protagonist, portrayed by

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...

, a widower who "hits the road to visit his scattered children after they cancel a weekend gathering." McCartney told ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'', "I can very much relate to a guy who's got older children, who happens to have lost his wife, the mother of those children, and is trying to get them all together at Christmas. I understand that." After recording a demo version on cassette, McCartney received notes for the song from Jones requesting an intro for the song as opposed to its original "abrupt" start. McCartney then collaborated with the film's music composer

Dario Marianelli Dario Marianelli (born 21 June 1963) is an Italian composer known for his frequent collaborations with director Joe Wright. Early life, education Marianelli was born in Pisa, Italy. He came from a musically inclined family and learned the piano ...

on orchestrations for the song "resulting in an intimate ballad with piano, guitar and spare strings." "(I Want to) Come Home" was recorded with

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

Geoff Emerick Geoffrey Ernest Emerick (5 December 1945 – 2 October 2018) was an English sound engineer and record producer who worked with the Beatles on their albums '' Revolver'' (1966), '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (1967) and ''Abbey Road ...

along with 20 other tracks around this time.

Personnel

- vocals, bass, acoustic and electric guitars, piano, drums, tambourine *Unknown - strings, horns *Dario Marianelli - string arrangement

Release

The song was released as a single in

online music store A digital music store is a business that sells digital audio files of music recordings over the Internet. Customers gain ownership of a license to use the files, in contrast to a music streaming service, where they listen to recordings without ...

s on 1 March 2010. The song is not included on the soundtrack to the film. Its original and demo versions were released on ''

The 7" Singles Box ''The 7" Singles Box Set'' is a box set by Paul McCartney released in December 2022 containing 80 seven-inch vinyl singles originally released between 1971 and 2022. The box set was packaged in a wooden crate manufactured in the United Kingdom an ...

'' on 2 December 2022. The song was nominated for a

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

for

Best Original Song This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

, but did not win, losing the award to "

The Weary Kind "The Weary Kind" (full title "The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)") is a country song written by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett for the film ''Crazy Heart'', a 2009 film directed by Scott Cooper starring Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal. C ...

", from ''

Crazy Heart ''Crazy Heart'' is a 2009 American drama film, written and directed by Scott Cooper, in his feature directorial debut. Based on the 1987 novel of the same name by Thomas Cobb, the film centers on a down-and-out country music singer-songwriter ( ...

'', by

Ryan Bingham George Ryan Bingham (born March 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and actor whose music spans multiple genres. He is currently based in Los Angeles. As of 2019, Bingham has released six studio albums and one live album, t ...

Cover version

In 2012, Tom Jones released a recording of the song on his studio album, ''

Spirit in the Room ''Spirit in the Room'' is the 39th studio album by Welsh musician Tom Jones, released 21 May 2012 It was produced by Ethan Johns. The album is composed entirely of covers. Among the songs covered on the album are Tom Waits’ "Bad as Me", Odett ...

''.

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:I Want to Come Home Paul McCartney songs 2010 singles 2010 songs Songs written by Paul McCartney Rock ballads