Hello, and welcome to Hearing Double, where I compare and contrast two unrelated songs of the same title and decide which title does the most justice!
This week, we dive deep into yearning in some very different ways with “Homesick” by Noah Kahan or Kane Bown.
Kane Brown’s 2018 country song tells the story of being away from the person you love. It’s a ballad of adoration and yearning for someone far away, which can be deeply relatable for anyone who’s far from home. The official music video even features clips of soldiers coming home to their loved ones, which can tug at anyone’s heartstrings.
The core lyric that brings this song together is the final line of the chorus, where Brown says, “if home is where the heart is / I’m homesick for you.” Brown’s song slightly subverts the common meaning of homesickness by making a person “home” instead of a place, a sweet and earnest sentiment for a love song.
The music in Brown’s “Homesick” is masterful at reflecting the lyrics, with a slow, pining rhythm and gentle instrumentation. It’s an easy song to sway along to, but it paints the picture of a genuine personal struggle and deep love. Brown makes it clear in the song that he himself is the speaker, including personal details that elevate “Homesick” from a generic love song to a touching ballad towards the person he misses the most.
Noah Kahan, on the other hand, takes on a very different tone about homesickness. In fact, he uses the title as a play on words; along with an undertone of nostalgia, he’s just plain sick of home.
The song starts off with sarcasm, saying you’d have to be a masochist to enjoy the weather. He even jokes that it makes sense the town once produced an Olympic distance runner because everyone wants to get away from there.
However, the tone starts to slowly shift from bitterness to quiet desperation over feeling stuck. Even in the second verse, before we even hear the chorus, the music picks up and Kahan dramatizes his lament about the town, saying “time moves so damn slow / I swear I feel my organs failing.”
This is what takes us into the chorus. The subject of the song shifts from mostly describing the hometown itself to describing the speaker’s specific issues, with each line starting with an “I” statement. He now puts the onus of being stuck in the town on himself, acknowledging “I got dreams, but I can’t make myself believe them.”
The music has an excellent buildup to the forceful and emotional chorus. Kahan crescendos with both vocals and instruments as he becomes less snarky and more vulnerable about his stagnation in his hometown.
Kahan’s “Homesick” becomes almost visceral in the end while still conveying relatable sentiments. It should be noted that I’m writing this as a college student in New England, which is essentially Kahan’s target audience. There’s no denying the influence Kahan has by cultivating such a real sense of place in his lyrics.
Both songs include deep and relatable sentiments, but this is ultimately about who wins the songs’ title. As much as we all love a good love song, Noah Kahan’s subversion of homesickness elevates his song to another level.
Winner: Noah Kahan