About the song
Willie Nelson has long been a poet of the restless spirit, a troubadour whose weathered voice carries the weight of miles traveled and memories gathered. His music is rooted in the wide-open spaces of country and folk, yet it transcends borders, speaking to the universal longing for comfort, belonging, and the familiar warmth of home. Home Away from Home is no exception—a song that gently unfolds like a well-worn map, tracing the contours of longing and solace in equal measure.
Few artists have so seamlessly blended wanderlust with deep sentimentality the way Nelson has. From the lonesome highways of On the Road Again to the bittersweet nostalgia of Always on My Mind, he has spent decades articulating the push and pull between movement and rootedness. In Home Away from Home, he returns to this familiar theme, but with a perspective that feels particularly reflective—one that understands that “home” is not always a place, but a feeling, a presence, or even a fleeting moment of peace.
Musically, the song embraces Nelson’s signature sound—an effortless blend of traditional country and folk with tinges of blues and Western swing. His nylon-string guitar, Trigger, offers its distinctive, slightly worn timbre, adding an intimacy to the arrangement. There’s a tenderness in his delivery, a kind of knowing warmth that only an artist of his age and experience can provide. His voice, now rich with time and texture, doesn’t strain to convince—it simply tells, allowing the listener to step into the song’s embrace.
Lyrically, Home Away from Home speaks to the weary traveler, the outsider looking for connection in unfamiliar places. But there is no despair here, only the quiet understanding that home is something we often carry within us. Whether it’s found in the kindness of a stranger, the embrace of a loved one, or the familiar strains of a song, Nelson reminds us that comfort is always within reach—if only we allow ourselves to recognize it.
Video
Lyrics
There is a place in Arizona
Called a Pony Express
They will make you welcome
They’ll take your request
My kinda people and my kinda proud
They say play your guitar volt
And turn it up loud
And there is a place in Carolina
(There is a place in Carolina)
It’s almost the same
Only the faces and the names have been changed
They understand what I need to go on
And it’s my home away from home
When the sun is down from Carmel to Savannah by the sea
There is a neon candle in the window for me
And when I’m sick and tired of bein’ alone
You gotta home away from home
I got a home away from home
And when the sun is down from Carmel to Savannah by the sea
There is a neon candle in the window for me
And when I’m sick and tired of bein’ alone
You gotta home away from home
I got a home away from home
