"You're My Home" is a single by

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man (song), Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo ...

. It was originally on Joel's 1973 album ''

Piano Man Piano Man refers to a male pianist. Piano Man may also refer to: Music * ''Piano Man'' (Billy Joel album), a 1973 rock album by Billy Joel ** "Piano Man" (song), a 1973 song from the album * ''Piano Man'' (Hilton Ruiz album), 1975 * ''Piano Man'' ...

'', and also appears on ''

Songs in the Attic ''Songs in the Attic'' is the first live album by Billy Joel, released in 1981. At the time of its release, it was the first widely available appearance of music from his first album, ''Cold Spring Harbor'', released in 1971. History In the lin ...

'' (1981), '' The Ultimate Collection'' (2000), '' The Essential Billy Joel'' (2001) and ''

12 Gardens Live ''12 Gardens Live'' is the fourth live album by American singer/songwriter Billy Joel, recorded during a former record run of 12 sold-out concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City in early 2006. It was released on June 13, 2006. Altho ...

'' (2006). The song appears as a

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

on "Piano Man" and "All My Life" singles. The song was also covered by

Helen Reddy Helen Maxine Reddy (25 October 194129 September 2020) was an Australian-American singer, actress, television host, and activist. Born in Melbourne to a showbusiness family, Reddy started her career as an entertainer at age four. She sang on rad ...

on her album ''Love Song for Jeffrey'', which was released as the flipside of her "

Keep On Singing "Keep on Singing" is a 1973 song composed by Danny Janssen and Bobby Hart, and was originally recorded by Austin Roberts from the album ''Austin Roberts''. It was released as a single on Chelsea Records and reached No. 50 on the U.S. ''Billboa ...

" single. It was also recorded by Sami Jo Cole on her album ''Sami Jo'' produced by Jimmy Bowen.

Background

The song was written for Joel's first wife (and business manager) Elizabeth Weber because he could not afford to buy her anything while in California. As Joel says in the liner notes of ''Songs in the Attic'', "Corny but true; I was broke at the time ('73) so I wrote this for my wife as a Valentine's Day gift". The bridge makes references to

Pennsylvania Turnpike The Pennsylvania Turnpike (Penna Turnpike or PA Turnpike) is a toll highway operated by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. A controlled-access highway, it runs for across the state. The turnpike's we ...

, the early morning

dew Dew is water in the form of droplets that appears on thin, exposed objects in the morning or evening due to condensation. As the exposed surface cools by radiating its heat, atmospheric moisture condenses at a rate greater than that at wh ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

and the hills of California. The original version is accompanied by a finger-picked acoustic guitar as well as a

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...

. The latter introduces a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

element to the song. The live version on ''Songs in the Attic'' omits the pedal steel guitar, but it is included on the live version from the "All My Life" single. The version from ''Songs in the Attic'' was released as a single in Australia and as a promotional-only release in UK.

Critical reception

Author Ken Bielen describes "You're My Home" as being from the

Jim Croce James Joseph Croce (; January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973) was an American folk and rock singer-songwriter. Between 1966 and 1973, he released five studio albums and numerous singles. During this period, Croce took a series of odd jobs to pa ...

school of singer-songwriting.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

critic

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

describes it as the one introspective song on the ''Piano Man'' album. Erlewine does state that the line "instant pleasure dome" indicates that Joel "doesn't have an ear for words."

Helen Reddy's cover version

Australian singer

's cover version incorporates an orchestral arrangement, in addition to a finger-picked acoustic guitar. Joel was critical of Reddy's version; he commented of her cover: "Helen Reddy once cut something of mine, a song called 'You're My Home,' which wasn't great. I did it at a gig once and introduced it sayin,' 'This is a song of mine Helen Reddy cut... to pieces.' Turns out her husband or her manager was in the audience, and they were talkin' about suing me. Then Helen got in touch and said she was never recording one of my songs again, and I was like, 'D'you promise?' Kind of a smart-ass reply – maybe I shoulda just shut up. I gotta let these things go, it shouldn't bother me."

In popular culture

The song was used to wake up astronauts aboard space shuttle mission STS-132 in May 2010. The song was selected for astronaut

Kenneth Ham Kenneth Todd "Hock" Ham (born December 12, 1964) is a retired American astronaut and a captain in the United States Navy. Ham was selected for NASA's astronaut program in August 1998, while serving as the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet lead carrier suit ...

References

{{Authority control Billy Joel songs Songs written by Billy Joel 1973 songs 1973 singles Song recordings produced by Michael Stewart (musician) Helen Reddy songs