Johnny Come Home by Fine Young Cannibals

Album: Fine Young Cannibals (1985)

Charted: 8 76

License This Song

lyrics

artistfacts

Songfacts®:

"Johnny Come Home" was the Fine Young Cannibals' first single from their debut album. The song follows the story of a runaway who learns the harsh reality of a life on the streets. The title refers to his parents' desperate plea for him to come home and was likely inspired by the 1975 TV documentary about London runaways, Johnny Go Home: The Murder of Billy Two-Tone.
British author Jake Arnott used this title for his 2006 novel about about the Glam-Rock period in early '70s London.
This song was featured in the thrillers Someone to Watch Over Me (1987) and The Handmaid's Tale (1990).
FYC made their television debut performing this song on The Tube, an influential UK music series that introduced an array of future hitmakers, in 1984. It was an important move for the group, who had previously been turned down by nearly every major record label. Shortly after their appearance on the program, they were offered a deal with London Records.
Roland Gift revealed the song's original premise in a Q&A with The Rebel Magazine in 2011: "'Johnny' started off about being black in a white man's world, but it evolved into something more inclusive and better."

Comments: 2

AnonymousJohnny = Johnny Gosh/Jeff Gannon
AnonymousThe song is a retort to Bronski Beat's hit the previous year, "Small Town Boy" - hence the similarity of the tune in their choruses, except "Johnny Comes Home" sounds more sinister.

Bronski Beat's song (and especially the video) reinforced the myth of London as a welcoming gay paradise, when in reality it was cold, seedy and home to predators like Dennis Nielson who murdered at least a dozen homeless gays for his own gratification - one of whom was a cousin of one of the band's members - and had been arrested only the previous year.

It wasn't the only song to offer a retort to Bronski Beat - The Men They Couldn't Hang also released a song called "Johnny Come Home", but the lyrics were far more blunt and dealt with the fate of the runaway, rather than the impact on those he's left behind: the subject of the song being lured to a predator's house with the promise of a bed for the night, where he is murdered and dissected, similar to Nielson's crimes.

see more comments

More Songfacts:

Fight SongRachel Platten

Rachel Platten refused to talk politics when her "Fight Song" became the anthem for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, a decision she came to regret.

Crazy In LoveBeyoncé

Jay-Z did the rap on "Crazy In Love" at the last minute. He and Beyoncé had started dating and the Texan songstress asked him to get on the song the night before she had to turn in her album.

In The Beatles' "When I'm 64," Paul McCartney asks a woman if she'll still be there for him when he's 64. In 2006, he got his answer when shortly before his 64th birthday, he and Heather Mills separated.

Born In The U.S.A.Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen's "Born In The U.S.A." was inspired by the book (later a movie) Born On The Fourth Of July by Ron Kovic, a Vietnam veteran who protested the war when he returned home.

Take Me to the RiverAl Green

Al Green's "Take Me to the River" describes a baptism. Two years later, he became a reverend.

Freak On A LeashKorn

Korn's most popular song, "Freak On A Leash," is about their predatory record label making huge profits off the band. It was quite profitable, helping the Follow The Leader album sell over 5 million copies.