About The Song
“Take Me Home” is a song written and performed by English drummer, singer and songwriter Phil Collins. It is the tenth and final track on Collins’ third solo album, No Jacket Required. Collins co-produced the song with Hugh Padgham and released it as a single in the UK in July 1985 and the U.S. in March 1986. It did moderately well in the UK, peaking at No. 19. While it was not as successful as other singles from the album, such as “Sussudio” or “One More Night” in the US, it still reached the top 10, peaking at No. 7.
The “extended mix” of “Take Me Home”, released on the 12-inch single, was one of the six songs to be included on Collins’ 12″ers album. John “Tokes” Potoker created an edited extended mix of the song for the Japanese release of 12″ers, removing around one and half minutes from the full length mix.
In a readers poll, Rolling Stone ranked “Take Me Home” number five on their list of ten best Collins songs.
“Take Me Home” appeared on the opening episode of the second season of the popular crime show Miami Vice, much like Collins’s own “In the Air Tonight” appeared in the series premiere a year earlier. The song was included on the Miami Vice II soundtrack album. The song was also the closing theme song for the World Wrestling Federation’s television show, Saturday Night’s Main Event, for several years in the late 1980s.
“Take Me Home” appeared on the Phil Collins tribute album Urban Renewal, as performed by Malik Pendleton.
In 2003, the hip-hop group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony based their song “Home” on this single. That version of the song featured the original song’s chorus, and reached No. 19 in the UK. Collins appeared in the music video to sing the chorus.
In 2014, R&B singer JoJo included her own revamped interpretation of “Take Me Home” on her three-track Valentine’s Day EP, #LoveJo. The cover, which features production from Da Internz, was praised for JoJo’s vocals and the incorporation of trap and 808 beats. “The clear standout is her version of Phil Collins’ ‘Take Me Home,’ all militant stomp buried under ambient noise,” said Sam Lansky of Time magazine. “Her voice soars and crashes over the glitchy, stuttering beat.”
In 2016, the extended mix was prominently used in a scene from the season 2 premiere episode of USA’s television series Mr. Robot, in which an executive of the show’s villainous corporation is blackmailed into publicly burning $5.9 million of his own company’s money.
Little Big Town and Sugarland covered this song to honor LBT’s 25th anniversary as a band, and they performed it on the 2024 CMT Music Awards. The title was also the name of the tour in Fall 2024
Video
Lyrics
Take that look of worry
I’m an ordinary man
They don’t tell me nothin’
So I find out all I can
There’s a fire that’s been burnin’
Right outside my door
I can’t see but I feel it
And it helps to keep me warm
So I, I don’t mind
No I, I don’t mind
Seems so long I’ve been waitin’
Still don’t know what for
There’s no point escaping
I don’t worry anymore
I can’t come out to find you
I don’t like to go outside
They can turn off my feelings
Like they’re turnin’ off the light
But I, I don’t mind
No I, I don’t mind
Oh I, I don’t mind
No I, I don’t mind
So take, take me home (’cause I don’t remember)
Take, take me home (’cause I don’t remember)
Take, take me home
Oh, Lord
‘Cause I’ve been a prisoner all my life
And I can say to you
Take that look of worry
Mine’s an ordinary life
Working when it’s daylight
And sleeping when it’s night
I’ve got no far horizons
I don’t wish upon a star
They don’t think that I listen
Oh, but I know who they are
And I, I don’t mind
No I, I don’t mind
Oh I, I don’t mind
No I, I don’t mind
So take, take me home (’cause I don’t remember)
Take, take me home (’cause I don’t remember)
Take, take me home (’cause I don’t remember)
Take, take me home
Oh, Lord
Well, I’ve been a prisoner all my life
And I can say to you
But I don’t remember
Take, take me home (’cause I don’t remember)
Take, take me home (’cause I don’t remember)
Take, take me home (’cause I don’t remember)
Take, take me home (’cause I don’t remember)
Take, take me home (’cause I don’t remember)
Take, take me home (’cause I don’t remember)
Take, take me home (’cause I don’t remember)
Take, take me home (’cause I don’t remember)
Take, take me home