Homeward Bound - Tide Lines
Tide Lines are a Scottish folk band, with over 108,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. Their latest single ‘Homeward Bound’ is a beautiful ode to days gone by and a fond look back on youth. The lyrics are extremely relatable, especially to those who grew up in more rural locations. The melody and catchiness of ‘Homeward Bound’ make it a bit of an ear worm for listeners, who will undoubtably have to return for another listen.
The song opens with the protagonist’s admission that when they close their eyes they return to the river shore of their youth, to ‘search for the innocence’ they knew when they last walked there. The senses are engaged as we hear of the ‘smell of the blossom on the breeze’, these lyrics create vivid imagery which will be relatable to many. The illustrative lyrics are amplified by the emotion that is apparent in the protagonist’s voice in this opening verse.
The chorus follows a simple repetitive structure, with the tempo picking up slightly and the guitars becoming more prominent but still not overpowering the vocals. ‘Homeward bound and not far left to go’ echoes the feelings embedded from the first verse, that there is a longing in the protagonist to return to their ‘home’, which is further solidified by the line ‘That far away horizon never taught me anything I didn’t know’, bringing to mind the idea of the protagonist wanting to grow up and leave their hometown to find something else, to ultimately realise that everything they needed was in their hometown all along and that one of the happiest times of their life was their youth.
The second verse continues this nostalgic romanticism of their youth and ‘long days in the summertime’ but throughout the verse it becomes apparent that it is not the hometown that they are missing but also the innocence that accompanied their youth. The protagonist longs to be carefree, as they were when they were young when ‘foreign wars and credit scores were nothing but distractions on the news’.
The final verse of ‘Homeward Bound’ was very emotive, the protagonist is ultimately brought back to the present day and the understanding that they cannot go back. This thought is beautifully illustrated through the line ‘The roses on the table now are not as red as they were back in June’. The longing to return to the past is soothed for by thinking of ’all the love you gave me etched upon my mind’. The line ‘And everywhere I go, I know you’re watching on a couple steps behind’ was particularly powerful, perfectly incapsulating the fact that your youth never truly leaves you and that the memories you carry in your heart will always be with you, no matter where you go.
‘Homeward Bound’ is a truly beautiful song and I suspect it will soon become a fan favourite.
Listen to ‘Homeward Bound’ here.
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