Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - Home (Analysis)

About the Band:

This band is composed by several members. In total there are 10 members, but the most popular members are Alex Ebert, and Jade Castrinos.

To understand the origin of the band, we need to comprehend the story that Alex Ebert has carried. Alexander lived the Los Angeles party life style, and had consistent drug use. Due to all this, Alex started thinking on where his life was going, and he decided to change his life (for good). He broke up with his girlfriend at the time, and entered a 1 year long rehab center. There, he reflected a lot about his life and during that time of being separated from the worl, he created an alter ego called Edward Sharpe. For Alex Ebert, Edward Sharpe is a very important figure, and he considered him a messiah. Edward Sharpe is also another way for Alexander to express his new way of living, since he had lost his identity and self – been after all the drugs and the party life style.  Afterawardsn, Alex met Jade Castrinos in the outside of a downtown cafe in Los Angeles.  Alex and Jade formed a bond, and they turned into a couple (they wrote songs, and passed time together). Even though their relationship did not last, the band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros did flourish. Other members of the band are conformed by friends that Alex Ebert has, or good musicians that are helpful to the band. So with all these people, the band originated and started performing in different locals.

The band has had 2 albums in total after their first show in 2009. Those 2 albums are:  “Up From Below”, released in July 7, 2009 (got to #76 in the peak chart positions in the US), and their newest album, “Here”, released in May 29, 2012 (got to #5 in the peak chart positions in the US). The band´s biggest hit was from the jingle, “Home”. The biggest tour the band has performed is “Big Easy Express” in which they stopped in 6 cities. In this tour the band also joined with another popular indie group, “Mumford and Sons”; they also toured with the band “Old Crow Medicine Show”. Another interesting fact from this tour is that it was filmed by the Grammy – nominated director, Emmett Malloy´s, which wanted to capture the essence of the “pure joy of music”.

Their genre:

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zero´s have been classified under several genres, but all of a similar family. Some people consider the band either “Indie Rock”, or “Alternative Rock”, “Indie Folk” and/or “Neo – Psychedelia”.  

About the Song: Home

Lyrics:

Alabama Arkansas I do love my Ma and Pa
Not the way that I do love you

Well holy moly me oh my
You’re the apple of my eye
Girl I've never loved one like you

Man o man you're my best friend
I scream it to the nothingness
There ain't nothing that I need

Hot and heavy pumpkin pie
Chocolate candy Jesus Christ
Ain't nothing please me more than you

[Chorus:]
Home, let me come home
Home is wherever I'm with you
Home, let me come home
Home is wherever I'm with you

La la la la
Take me home
Mama I'm coming home

I follow you into the park,
Through the jungle, through the dark
Girl I've never loved one like you

Moats and boats and waterfalls,
Alleyways and payphone calls
I been everywhere with you (that's true)

Laugh until we think we'll die,
Barefoot on a summer night
Never could be sweeter than with you

And in the streets you run afree,
Like it's only you and me,
Geeze, you're something to see.

[Chorus]

La la la la
Take me home
Mama I'm coming home

[‒ Jade?
‒ Alexander?
‒ Do you remember that day you fell outta my window?
‒ I sure do ‒ you came jumping right out after me.
‒ Well, you fell on the concrete, nearly broke your ass, and you were bleeding all over the place, I rushed you out to the hospital, you remember that?
‒ Yes, I do.
‒ Well, there's something I never told you about that night.
‒ What didn't you tell me?
‒ Well, while you were sitting in the back seat smoking a cigarette you thought was gonna be your last, I was falling deep, deep in love with you, and I never told you till just now!]

[Chorus]

Home, let me come home, home is wherever I'm with you
Our home, yes I'm home, home is when I’m alone with you

Alabama Arkansas I do love my Ma and Pa
Moats and boats and waterfalls,
Alleyways and payphone calls

Home is when I'm alone with you!
Home is when I’m alone with you

Analysis:

The song “Home” mainly talks about a prolific relationship a couple is having.

The chorus of the song says:

Home, let me come home
Home is wherever I'm with you
Home, let me come home
Home is wherever I'm with you.

What this chorus says is that in the beginning the relationship wasn´t so well, and they weren´t so close, but after a while they realized that they needed each other, and that it doesn`t matter the place they were at, if they were together, they felt as if they were at home. This part gets more clear near to the end when the duet of Alex and Jade say “Home, let me come home, home is wherever I'm with you” and/or “Home is when I'm alone with you!” In this two sentence we can see that this message gets more clear and we understand how big their bond is, and that when they are together, they feel so close that despite the place they are they feel as if they were at home.

In this song we can also see that these two persons trust each other a lot. We can see this happening in a verse when the lead singer says:

I follow you into the park,
Through the jungle, through the dark
Girl I've never loved one like you

In this verse we can see that they rely on each other and they trust themselves a lot. This makes it very clear when the frontman sings “I follow you into the park, through the jungle, through the dark”. That sentence makes it very clear that they trust each other. This could also mean that trust is an essential thing in a relationship, and that if there is no trust in each other the relationship won´t work.

The song home also contains a declaration of love. Near to the end of the song Alexander and Jade speak to each other in the song, as if it was a love story. The man says to the woman how he has realized that he loves her, and the man tellse her in the middle of the song that he loves her; immediately after this the song goes back to the chorus. I think this section is very effective because it is different from the rest of the song, and it gives us some knowledge about the couple, and how the men told the woman, he loved her.

 Another thing that I´ve realize from this song is that most of the sentences rhyme, even though the meaning of the sentence doesn´t has a direct link with the meaning of the song. In some sentences there is alliteration, and the last words of each sentence in a verse may rhyme.       

  

Ex: Moats and boats and waterfalls,
Alleyways and payphone calls.

This sentence serves as a very good example because a lot of the words rhyme together and you can also see alliteration. For example, the first sentence says “moats and boats and waterfalls”. The words “moats” and “boats” rhyme with each other, plus the “waterfall” also sound similar, so that sentence forms alliteration. Furthermore, the next sentence says “alleyways and payphone calls”. This sentence has a very similar structure than the past one. In this one we can see again the “and” in – between two words (in this case it is “alleyways and payphone calls”, and in the first sentence it was “moats and boats”). Also, “calls” rhymes with “waterfalls” because of the way this two words end.

Another meaning that we can receive from this song is that it may talk about the relationship the two lead singers of the band, Alex and Jade, have had. And in the song they may talk about experiences, memories, and anecdotes.

“Home” has reached the top 50 peak chart positions in several countries; some of those countries are Australia, Sweden, Netherlands and the United States.