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Paul Simon - 'Homeward Bound' - Brentford Station

Just listening to Tony Blackburn on Radio 2. He played 'Homeward Bound' by Paul Simon and followed it with the statement that he wrote it whilst waiting for a train at Brentford Station in the UK.Can anyone confirm this fact and maybe add some more information?

Rob Russell ● 5491d4 Comments

So Homeward Bound seems to have been written in either Liverpool or Wigan whilst dreaming of BrentWOOD.I prefer to think of it being written in Brentford whilst dreaming of some romantic place down the line, Feltham perhaps, or Staines.

Guy Lambert ● 5488d

I remember the first time I heard "Homeward Bound" - it must have been in early 1966, because I remember it was a very cold night. My friends and I used to frequent Les Cousins - a folk/blues club in Greek Street. On this particular night we went because we had heard that Jackson C. Frank was playing. Sometime during the evening the MC introduced a "shy young guy" from the US - it was Paul Simon and "Homeward Bound" was one of the songs he played that night.

Mick Brent ● 5490d

"Homeward Bound" is an American folk song written by Simon and Garfunkel, produced by Bob Johnston and recorded on December 14, 1965. Paul Simon is said to have written the song at Farnworth railway station (Widnes North) in the town of Widnes, in the north-west of England, while stranded overnight waiting for a train, a plaque was displayed in the station to commemorate this, although memorabilia hunters have stolen it many times.[citation needed] Simon has said that he is unclear on which station he was at when it was written, and it may have been Warrington Bank Quay Station in Warrington.[citation needed] The song describes his longing to return home, both to his then girlfriend, Kathy Chitty in Brentwood, Essex, England, and to return to the United States. The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart on February 12, 1966, peaking at #5. It remained on the charts for 12 weeks. Simon lived in Brentwood, Essex, England when he wrote the song and traveling back from Wigan, where he was playing, he got stuck on the station and wrote it. The song has a double meaning: literally, wanting for a ticket home to Brentwood, but on the other hand, yearning to go to his home in the USSimon talked about this song in a 1990 interview with SongTalk magazine: "That was written in Liverpool when I was traveling. What I like about that is that it has a very clear memory of Liverpool station and the streets of Liverpool and the club I played at and me at age 22. It's like a snapshot, a photograph of a long time ago. I like that about it but I don't like the song that much. First of all, it's not an original title. That's one of the main problems with it. It's been around forever. No, the early songs I can't say I really like them. But there's something naive and sweet-natured and I must say I like that about it. They're not angry. And that means that I wasn't angry or unhappy. And that's my memory of that time: it was just about idyllic. It was just the best time of my life, I think, up until recently, these last five years or so, six years... This has been the best time of my life. But before that, I would say that that was."

Ian Silver ● 5491d

"I'm sittin' in "BRENTFORD" railway station, got a ticket for my destinationOn a tour of one-night-stands, my suitcase and guitar at handAnd every stop is neatly planned for a poet and a one-man band"

Jim Lawes ● 5491d