Songfacts®:

• Slash created the song's music in his studio. It began with the opening riff, then he came up with the underlying chord changes, at which point he was unsure whether to pursue the track. The guitarist wondered what his bandmates would think, as it had "a certain sentimental kind of feel," but recorded a demo anyway. Slash sent his instrumentation to vocalist Myles Kennedy, who returned it with some heartfelt lyrics.
• Kennedy wrote the lyrics from the perspective of his little Shih Tzu named Mozart. The singer cast his mind back to an occasion when his flight was delayed and he and his family couldn't get home. There was a really powerful storm over his house and the camera system that monitors his dog when they're away showed him freaking out. "It was heartbreaking to watch," Kennedy said. "It terrified the little guy. So, the narrative of the song is inspired by what I imagined he might have been thinking as it all went down. And his plea to us to come home."
• As Kennedy sang about his pooch entreating him and his family to return and "fill my world again," he became quite emotional. "To be really honest, as I was singing the song in the studio, at one point you can hear my voice crack a little bit," he admitted. "It was getting to me. So, it's definitely sung from the heart. And I'm man enough to admit it."
• When Kennedy sent Slash his lyrics, the musician initially thought they were about the losses we've all suffered from during the coronavirus pandemic. Then the singer told him it was about his dog. Slash responded, "Well, you know, everybody has had somebody that they love affected by this, so."
• Slash should have known better as Kennedy has form for writing about his dogs. He penned the lyrics for the 2018 track "The One You Loved Is Gone" about missing his pet Chow Chow/Golden Retriever mix named Cinnamon.
• Slash, along with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, recorded the song for their 4 album. They laid down all the tracks live at the historic RCA Studio A in Nashville with producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, John Prine, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile). "The thing that turned me on about Dave was this initial phone call where we started talking about great Rock N' Roll records, live records, studio records that were performed live," Slash said. "He said, 'man, we'll just bang this thing out live.' I was like, that's what I want to do, with the guitars in the room."