View source for Home! Sweet Home!

{{Short description|Song}}
{{About|the 19th century song|other uses|Home Sweet Home (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox song
| name      = Home, Sweet Home
| cover     = Home Sweet Home - Project Gutenberg eText 21566.png
| alt       =
| caption   = Cover of the [[sheet music]] for a version published in 1914.
| type      =
| language  = English
| written   =
| published =
| writer    =
| composer  = [[Henry Bishop (composer)|Henry Bishop]]
| lyricist  = [[John Howard Payne]]
}}
{{Listen|filename=Home! Sweet Home!.ogg|title=Home! Sweet Home!|description=|format=[[Ogg]]}}
[[File:11 Home Sweet Home.png|right|thumb|300px|Sheet music version.]]
[[File:Musical Railing at Chatham Manor in Fredericksburg Virginia.jpg|alt=Black wrought iron railing with musical notes and a cannon in the background|thumb|Wrought iron railing with the music of the song "Home Sweet Home" in Fredericksburg, Virginia]]

"'''Home! Sweet Home!'''" is a song adapted from [[United States|American]] actor and dramatist [[John Howard Payne]]'s 1823 [[opera]] ''Clari, or the Maid of Milan.'' The song's melody was composed by [[English people|Englishman]] [[Henry Bishop (composer)|Henry Bishop]] with lyrics by Payne. Bishop had earlier published a more elaborate version of this melody, naming it "A Sicilian Air", but he later{{When|date=August 2023}} confessed to having written it himself.

== Lyrics ==
The song's lyrics are:{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}}

{{poem quote|
Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home
A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there
Which seek thro' the world, is ne'er met elsewhere
Home! Home!
Sweet, sweet home!
There's no place like home
There's no place like home!

An exile from home splendor dazzles in vain
Oh give me my lowly thatched cottage again
The birds singing gaily that came at my call
And gave me the peace of mind dearer than all
Home, home, sweet, sweet home
There's no place like home, there's no place like home!}}

== History ==
When the song was published separately,{{What year?|date=August 2023}} it quickly sold 100,000 copies. The publishers{{Who|date=August 2023}} made a considerable profit from it, net £2,100 in the first year, and the producer of the opera did well. Only Payne did not really profit by its success. "While his money lasted, he was a prince of bohemians", but he had little business sense.<ref>Charles H. Sylvester, "John Howard Payne and 'Home, Sweet Home' ", ''Journeys Through Bookland'', 1922, Vol. 6, p. 221, Project Gutenberg eBook</ref> The song's American premiere took place at the Winter Tivoli Theatre in Philadelphia on October 29, 1823, and was sung by "Mrs. Williams." In 1852, Henry Bishop "relaunched" the song as a parlour ballad, and it became very popular in the United States throughout the American Civil War and after. 

As early as 1827, this song was quoted by Swedish composer [[Franz Berwald]] in his ''Konzertstück for Bassoon and Orchestra'' (middle section, marked Andante). [[Gaetano Donizetti]] used the theme in his opera ''[[Anna Bolena]]'' (1830) Act 2, Scene 3 as part of Anna's Mad Scene to underscore her longing for her childhood home. It is also used with Sir Henry Wood's ''[[Fantasia on British Sea Songs]]'' and in [[Alexandre Guilmant]]'s ''Fantasy for [[pipe organ|organ]]'' Op. 43, the ''Fantaisie sur deux mélodies anglaises'', both of which also use "[[Rule, Britannia!]]". In 1857, composer/pianist [[Sigismond Thalberg]] wrote a series of variations for piano (op. 72) on the theme of "Home! Sweet Home!".

The song was reputedly banned from being played in [[Union Army]] camps during the [[American Civil War]] for being too redolent of hearth and home and so likely to incite desertion.<ref>{{cite web | title= Auld Lang Syne Banned | author= Patrick Browne | author-link=  | url= http://historicaldigression.com/2011/01/02/auld-lang-syne-banned/ | date= 2 January 2011 | access-date= 2012-01-24 | archive-date= 2015-09-03 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150903001935/http://historicaldigression.com/2011/01/02/auld-lang-syne-banned/ | url-status= dead }}</ref>

It was a favorite of [[Nellie Melba]] and [[Adelina Patti]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128178474 |title=Home, Sweet Home |newspaper=[[The Sydney Stock and Station Journal]] |volume=XXXV |issue=8 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=1 May 1923 |access-date=19 December 2024 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> both of whom used the song as an encore piece.

In 1926, a "Music Stair" railing (see image) at Chatham Manor in Fredericksburg, Virginia was designed by Washington, D.C.–based architect Oliver H. Clarke for the homeowners, the Devores. The ornamental iron railing features the first few bars of the score to “Home, Sweet Home.” <ref>{{Cite web|year=2019|title=Cultural Landscape Report for Chatham Manor|url=http://www.npshistory.com/publications/frsp/clr-chatham.pdf|website=Cultural Landscape Report for Chatham Manor|publisher=Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation National Park Service|page=380|language=en}}</ref> [[File:HSH door knocker 20180916 074522.jpg|left|200px|Home Sweet Home door knocker]]

The Village of East Hampton acquired his grandfathers seventeenth-century house, known as "Home Sweet Home," and the [[Pantigo Windmill (East Hampton, New York)|windmill]] behind it, converting the [[Mulford Farmhouse|homestead]] into a [[living museum]] in the landmarked [[East Hampton Village District]].

The song is known in [[Japan]] as {{nihongo|''"Hanyū no Yado"''|"埴生の宿"}} ("My Humble Cottage").  It has been used in such movies as ''[[The Burmese Harp (1956 film)|The Burmese Harp]]''<ref name="rayns07">{{cite web | title= The Burmese Harp: Unknown Soldiers | author= Tony Rayns | author-link= Tony Rayns | url= http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/472-the-burmese-harp-unknown-soldiers | date= 16 March 2007| publisher= [[The Criterion Collection]] | access-date = 2010-07-10}}</ref> and ''[[Grave of the Fireflies]]''.  It is also used at [[Senri-Chūō Station]] on the [[Kita-Osaka Kyūkō Railway]].

Bishop's tune, though, is perhaps most commonly recognized in the score from [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]]'s ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]''. The melody is played in a counterpart to "[[Over the Rainbow]]" in the final scene as [[Dorothy Gale|Dorothy]] (played by [[Judy Garland]]), after she had returned from the Land of Oz, tells her family, "there's no place like home".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/danny-schechter/in-the-shadow-of-the-wiza_b_103591.html|title=In the Shadow of the Wizard of Oz: "Home Sweet Home"|last=Schechter|first=Danny|date=2008-05-27|website=Huffington Post|language=en-US|access-date=2017-08-18}}</ref>

In the 1939 film ''[[First Love (1939 film)|First Love]]'', the song is performed by [[Deanna Durbin]].

In the 1946 [[20th Century Fox]] film ''[[Anna and the King of Siam (film)|Anna and the King of Siam]]'', as well as in [[Rodgers and Hammerstein]]'s 1951 musical, ''[[The King and I]]'' (and its 1956 [[The King and I (1956 film)|film adaptation]]), [[Anna Leonowens]] teaches her students to sing "Home! Sweet Home" as part of her psychological campaign to induce the [[Mongkut|King]] to build her a house of her own.

The 1955 Disney animated film ''[[Lady and the Tramp]]'' features a dog-howling rendition of the song.

==Notable recordings==
Popular recordings were made by [[John Yorke AtLee]] (1891), [[Harry Macdonough]] (1902), [[Richard Jose]] (1906), [[Alma Gluck]] (1912), [[Alice Nielsen]] (1915) and [[Elsie West Baker]] (1915).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Whitburn|first1=Joel|title=Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954|date=1986|publisher=Record Research Inc|location=Wisconsin, USA|isbn=0-89820-083-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/510 510]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/510}}</ref>

Later recordings were made by [[Deanna Durbin]] (recorded July 7, 1939 for Decca Records, catalog No. 2758B),<ref>{{cite web|title=The Online Discographical Project|url=http://www.78discography.com/Dec2500.htm|website=78discography.com|access-date=September 10, 2017}}</ref> [[Vera Lynn]] (1941) and by [[Bing Crosby]] (recorded July 30, 1945 with [[Victor Young]] and His Orchestra).<ref>{{cite web|title=A Bing Crosby Discography|url=http://www.bingmagazine.co.uk/bingmagazine/crosby1bDecca.html|website=BING magazine|publisher=International Club Crosby|access-date=September 10, 2017}}</ref> The Crosby version was included in his album ''[[Auld Lang Syne (Bing Crosby album)|Auld Lang Syne]]'' (1948).

[[Joan Sutherland]] recorded it in 1962 as part of the two-disc recital album "Command Performance" and sang it at her two stage farewells in 1990, the first at the [[Sydney Opera House]], the second at the [[Royal Opera House, Covent Garden]]. [[Katherine Jenkins]] included the song in her album ''[[Home Sweet Home (Katherine Jenkins album)|Home Sweet Home]]'' (2014).

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Wikisource|Home, Sweet Home}}
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21566/21566-h/images/home.pdf Sheet music] and [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21566/21566-h/music/home.midi MIDI] for Home, Sweet Home, from [[Project Gutenberg]]
* [http://www.ompersonal.com.ar/ompoetry/payne1.htm Text of the poetry] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230510154722/http://www.ompersonal.com.ar/ompoetry/payne1.htm |date=2023-05-10 }} from ompersonal.com.ar
* [http://www.victorianweb.org/mt/parlorsongs/2.html Derek B Scott sings “Home, Sweet Home” (1823)] from victorianweb.org
* [http://www.seiyaku.com/hymns/en/148.html "Home Sweet Home"] from seiyaku.com
* {{Internet Archive short film|id=gov.dod.dimoc.30155|name=A NATION SINGS (1963)}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLQOD-WmRTY Far Cry New Dawn version of "Home, Sweet Home"] on [[YouTube]].
* {{Cite news |last=Mead |first=Julia C. |date=16 January 2005 |title=The Home Is Sweet, but It Wasn't His |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/16/nyregion/thecity/the-home-is-sweet-but-it-wasnt-his.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=11 May 2024}} About the Home Sweet Home Museum.

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[[Category:1823 songs]]
[[Category:American patriotic songs]]
[[Category:British patriotic songs]]
[[Category:Songs in Japanese]]
[[Category:Songs of the American Civil War]]
[[Category:John Howard Payne]]