Home Lyrics - Beetlejuice

Song Overview

Review and Highlights

Quick summary

1. Act II linchpin from the Broadway adaptation, sung by Lydia while searching the Netherworld and, finally, choosing the living.
2. Music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect; featured on the Original Broadway Cast Recording released June 7, 2019 by Ghostlight in partnership with Warner.
3. On most services the track sits at number 16 and clocks around 3:47 to 3:50.
4. Key center reads D major around 146 BPM on common analytics; audition packs often offer flexible transpositions.
5. The show earned eight Tony nominations in 2019; this number is one of the score’s emotional anchors.

Creation History

The Washington-to-Broadway journey taught the team that Lydia needed a moment of agency after the chaos. Eddie Perfect wrote a pop-rock ballad that starts as a plea and ends as a vow. The cast album dropped digitally ahead of the Tonys and kept the spotlight on Lydia’s arc - grief to acceptance, but never neat. Playbill’s release note pinned the timeline, and label pages later bundled digital, CD, and vinyl.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

Lydia combs the void for her mother and finds only silence. The song tracks her spiral, then her pivot: if the dead will not answer, she will return to the messy, breathing crowd that still wants her - Dad, Delia, the Maitlands. She goes back by choice, which changes how the last scenes land.

Song Meaning

It is acceptance without amnesia. The hook asks for directions and discovers they were already in her pocket: grief does not end, it fits around new bonds. The band sits in a steady rock pocket while the vocal rides chest-mix peaks; it feels like running downhill and deciding not to fall.

Annotations

“Mama, I could use some help here / Tired of talking to myself here”

A direct callback to the earlier solo, where she first begged the universe for a sign. The conversation continues, just with less bargaining.

“Back at home, you don’t exist”

At home, Dad has treated the loss as taboo. Naming that erasure is half the decision.

“Stuck on this impossible road… Whichever path I choose, I lose”

Classic no-win framing. The turn is not in the map, it is in the traveler - the choice to return even if the path is fogged.

“You always saw life as a game… Confused by rules that alter every day”

Mother as north star and co-conspirator. Without her, the rulebook reads in static.

“No light above and there’s no hope below”

Echoes the earlier roof scene; the stakes are still life-and-death, but the answer is different now.

“I’m gonna go back home… It’s messy, but they’re all that I have”

The thesis line. Home shifts from a person to a community. The show’s humor earns this warmth.

Style and instrumentation

Mid-tempo rock ballad: piano and guitars lay the grid, drums keep a forward lean, low strings add weight on the plea phrases. The orchestration saves the biggest lift for the decision to return - not the cry, the choice.

Key Facts

• Artist: Sophia Anne Caruso; Adam Dannheisser; company
• Featured: Lydia’s Act II solo with brief dialogue bridge
• Composer: Eddie Perfect
• Producer: Kurt Deutsch; Alex Timbers; Eddie Perfect; Matt Stine
• Release Date: June 7, 2019
• Genre: Musical theatre - pop rock
• Instruments: Vocal, piano, guitars, bass, drums, woodwinds, brass, strings
• Label: Ghostlight Records with Warner Records partnership
• Mood: Resolute, tender, forward-leaning
• Length: ~3:47
• Track #: 16 on the cast album
• Language: English
• Album: Beetlejuice (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
• Music style: Pop-rock ballad with theatrical lift
• Poetic meter: Conversational scansion with rhymed couplets

Canonical Entities & Relations

Questions and Answers

Where does the number fall in the running order?

Late in Act II, after the Netherworld detour, just before the final run to the curtain. It sits as track 16 on the album.

Why does it matter to the plot?

It is Lydia’s pivot from fixation to connection. She returns to the living and the family she has, not the memory she cannot recover.

How does it relate to the earlier solo?

The first solo demands a sign; this one makes a choice. Same ache, new posture.

What musical colors drive it?

Piano-guitar bed, steady drums at mid-tempo, strings for lift, with chest-mix peaks on the final refrains.

Is there an official upload?

Yes - label-distributed audio on YouTube and full listings on Apple Music and Spotify.

Any notable key or tempo data?

Most analytics place it in D major at roughly 146 BPM, with typical performance cuts available in adjusted keys.

Did the show earn awards attention?

Yes. The production received eight Tony nominations, including Best Musical and Best Original Score.

Awards and Chart Positions

How to Sing Home

Snapshot: Commonly listed at D major, ~146 BPM; typical published range centers around A3 to G5. This sits in a comfortable mezzo belter lane with chest-mix crests and a conversational midsection.

1. Tempo and feel: Set the grid first. Count a straight 4 and let the band carry you; resist dragging the plea phrases.
2. Diction: Keep consonants crisp on talky lines, then round the vowels on sustained words like “home” and “alone.”
3. Breath plan: Map breaths before “I’m falling, quit stalling” and the final run. Sneak inhales after rhyme buttons.
4. Flow and rhythm: Sit slightly ahead of the beat during the search imagery; lay back when the decision lands.
5. Accents: Build a three-step arc: searching - bargaining - choosing. Dynamic swells should track that arc, not just volume for its own sake.
6. Ensemble and doubles: If using background parts, keep them faint until the last refrain so Lydia still sounds alone until she is not.
7. Mic craft: Ease off the capsule on high belts; come closer for the “Mom, I don’t wanna forget you” aside.
8. Pitfalls: Oversinging the middle, flattening the emotional turn, clipping word endings on faster lines.

Practice materials: Licensed Piano-Vocal editions allow transposition; key-tempo sites list analytics to match your range and breath plan.

Additional Info

Critics often singled out this cut as the show’s emotional ballast. Playbill’s coverage tied the album drop to awards season buzz. According to Official Charts Company data, the album found UK traction in autumn 2019. For vocalists, analytics like Tunebat and Musicstax converge on D major at mid-140s BPM, while singer tools list working ranges that match the original belter blueprint. As stated in the American Theatre Wing’s entries, the production’s nominations confirmed how strongly this score landed in its year.

Sources: Ghostlight Records; Playbill; Apple Music; Spotify; Musicstax; Tunebat; Singing Carrots; Official Charts Company; Tony Awards website.