Home Lyrics
Home
Home is not a placeAn address you memorize
Its more than central park
Or apartment 8a
It's where you never feel lonely
Whenever you're alone
That's how you know you are home
How i wish that i could feel that
Once more
Right now
How i wish that you could find it again
Home is like a smile you see in a photograph
No matter what you do
Its not supposed to change
I really need you to be here because you want to be
Back on the ground no more racing around
Here safe and sound with me
Song Overview
Review and Highlights
I’ve always liked how “Home” opens the door without kicking it in. Piano starts small, strings arrive like a hand on your shoulder, and a child’s voice (Chloe) sits right at the center of the room. It’s not a belter. It’s a postcard - the kind you keep in a book for years. Janet Dacal, as Alice, folds in a second thread so the song reads like a two-person memory. By the final “safe and sound,” you can feel the show’s thesis: family is the map, not the destination.
Highlights
- Production choices: The cast album captures intimacy - close mics, unfussy mix - so the lyric leads.
- Vocal balance: Chloe’s clear top line framed by Alice’s warmer answer phrases gives the track its ache-with-light.
- Placement: Track 2 on the album, it grounds the story before Wonderland tilts the floorboards.
- Key takeaway: “Home” is less about an address and more about permission to rest.
Creation History
Recorded for the 2011 Wonderland Original Broadway Cast album from Masterworks Broadway, produced by Frank Wildhorn, David Lai, and Jason Howland. The show opened at the Marquis Theatre in April 2011, and the album arrived May 3, 2011. Orchestrations across the set lean glossy-pop with theatre polish, keeping this opener compact and conversational.
Song Meaning and Annotations
Plot
Context first: Chloe is navigating her parents’ separation and a move with her mother, Alice. “Home” arrives before the rabbit hole - a snapshot of what’s broken and what they hope to repair. The child names the loss; the parent tries to make space for hope.
Song Meaning
The lyric defines home as feeling, not furniture. It warns how change scrambles the picture and asks whether love can be steady inside new walls. Mood-wise it’s reflective, not tragic. The message is plain: being together used to be easy - can we relearn it now?
Annotations
“Home is not a place / An address you memorize”
The first line refuses the easy comfort of street and number. The song locates safety in relationship, not real estate.
“Why can’t we all be together / The way we used to be”
That’s Chloe without filter. It’s the show’s human-sized problem statement, and it lands because the harmony stays simple.
“Back on the ground / No more racing around / Here safe and sound”
A small cadence that reads like a bedtime wish. The rhyme scheme plays gentle, almost like spoken thought.
Style and instrumentation
Piano-led ballad in a bright major key. Light strings and pads add lift; percussion stays out of the way. Think pop-lullaby with theatre diction.
Emotional arc
It begins with definition, shifts to longing, and ends in a half-answered prayer. No fireworks - just candor.
Cultural touchpoints
Wildhorn and Murphy play to a familiar Broadway tradition - the early-act “grounding” song that names what the characters want before the plot scrambles it. Here, the family lens keeps the Carroll frame human-sized.
Key Facts
- Artist: Original Broadway Cast - lead vocals by Carly Rose (Sonenclar) and Janet Dacal
- Composer: Frank Wildhorn
- Lyricist: Jack Murphy
- Producers: Frank Wildhorn, David Lai, Jason Howland
- Release Date: May 3, 2011
- Album: Wonderland: A New Alice (Original Broadway Cast)
- Label: Masterworks Broadway - Sony Music Entertainment
- Length: 1:45
- Track #: 2
- Genre: Broadway pop ballad
- Instruments: piano, strings, light pads
- Mood: reflective, warm, steady
- Language: English
- Music style: pop-tinged theatre ballad in a simple verse-hook shape
Questions and Answers
- When did Frank Wildhorn release “Home”?
- May 3, 2011, as part of the Wonderland Original Broadway Cast album.
- Who wrote “Home”?
- Music by Frank Wildhorn; lyrics by Jack Murphy.
- Who sings on the cast recording?
- Carly Rose (credited as Carly Rose Sonenclar) with Janet Dacal.
- What key is commonly published for this song?
- Original key C major, with licensed transpositions available.
- How long is the track on the album?
- About one minute and forty five seconds.
How to Sing Home
- Vocal range: Published in C major with an A3 to C5 span for the lead line. Transposition to adjacent keys is common for young voices.
- Breath plan: Keep lines conversational. Take soft, quick breaths after “photograph” and “together” to let the final phrase float.
- Diction: Land the soft consonants cleanly - “address,” “apartment,” “racing” - without biting. It should feel spoken on pitch.
- Tempo and feel: Ballad with an easy pulse. Resist rubato that breaks the through-line between Chloe and Alice.
- Acting beats: 1) Define home, 2) Admit the fracture, 3) Wish for repair. Smile with the eyes, not the teeth.
Additional Info
- Single-source listen: The “Provided to YouTube” upload lists the track under the cast album, credited to CRS on Masterworks Broadway.
- Notable performances: The piece pops up in cabarets and youth concerts; recent renditions at 54 Below and other showcases keep it in the repertoire.
- Where it sits in the show: Early Act 1 - a grounding moment before the visual dazzle.