Coming Home

Album: Graffiti U (2018)
Charted: 50
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Songfacts®:

  • "Coming Home" is an upbeat song about the desire for the security that home and family provides.

    There's nothin' in the world that feels like
    The place that I know where they all know me
    I gotta get back now to the ones who love me
    Wrap myself around you, never let you go
    There's nothin' in the world that feels like
    Coming home, home, home, mmm
    Coming home


    As a touring musician, Urban knows well that feeling of longing to return home to the people he loves.
  • The feel good tune samples the opening guitar riff of Merle Haggard's 1968 song "Mama Tried." The late country legend receives a writing credit along with the track's producers Urban and JR Rotem plus pop singer-songwriter Julia Michaels and frequent collaborator, Nicolle Gallyon ("We Were Us," "Female").

    "'Coming Home' started with an idea I had of using the intro of one of my favorite Haggard songs, 'Mama Tried,' to build an entirely new song around it. Then, I took the idea to JR Rotem and he put some chords around it," Urban explained. "I called Theresa Haggard and Ben Haggard to play them what we'd been working on. It was important to me to have their blessing - and I'm so grateful that they love the song."
  • Urban explained his choice of sample to Billboard:

    "I've had this idea to use certain samples from famous country songs to try to write something new from it. But I don't want to sort of gratuitously shove a sample into a song where it didn't flow, but I did want to try to use something to create something new, and I always loved the intro of 'Mama Tried,' the rolling guitar and the (Fender) Telecaster line that's well-known to country fans."
  • Julia Michaels also contributes vocals to "Coming Home". Urban explained that he originally enlisted the songwriter to help him flesh out a few little bits and pieces, however she came up with an idea for the bridge and ended up singing that, before adding harmonies throughout the end of the track. He said:

    "Julia's writing contribution extended into the idea of the need to want to physically be home. She summed up the whole story in one sentence. 'Yeah, I know it's only one call away, but it's not the same.; For me, that simple phrase said so much, especially when she sang it!"
  • Born in Whangarei, New Zealand, Keith Urban moved with his parents to Caboolture, Queensland, Australia when he was teenager. In 1991, he released a self-titled debut album and charted four singles in Australia before moving to Nashville, Tennessee the following year.

    "Hearing that rolling Haggard guitar lick sparked memories of my childhood - and my dream to come to America," Urban said. "I knew right then the story (of the song) was about the struggles of being in a city where your dreams have brought you, but far from your home."
  • The surreal visual was directed by Andy Hines ("One Man Can Change the World," "1-800-273-8255"). The clip depicts Urban wandering in a dream state from one scene to another. "The concept for the video was really Andy Hines' idea," said Urban. "He suggested the heightened reality that we see in the video, which keeps it more like a dream – an idea, more than an actuality."

    Toward the end of the clip, Julia Michaels joins Urban to sing her portion of the song. "It was also important to have Julia there," Urban said, "she's great energy to be around and I love singing with her, so I wanted us to be on stage at the same time to capture that."
  • The video was shot at the Cowboy Palace Saloon in Chatsworth, California.

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