Home. A word that carries monumental emotions and enormous amount of significance. Yet the most astounding thing about the word itself is the fact that it means something unique and vastly different within each of us. Home can be a place—a childhood home, a new apartment; or maybe perhaps an old restaurant or a relative’s humble abode. Home can be a person; many of us may connect the strong feelings of home with our parents, our grandparents, old friends, best friends, or a significant other. Home can even be thing! A bed, a smell, a specific article of clothing, food, or a stuffed animal—or even a real one. One overlying theme that can be clearly examined throughout these people, places or things is the sense of comfort and internal warmth they provide us with. The sense familiarity makes us feel safe from the changing world we encounter day after day. These are the very things we reach out for in our time of need because it feels as if they will be there forever. Their everlastingness alone gives us a sense of relief, making us feel that at the end of the day, when everything else has left, it will be the only thing left standing among the debris of chaos.

But most importantly, home simply makes us feel happy—genuinely, completely happy. It is that warm and fuzzy feeling that lets us know exactly what in our lives is near and dear to our hearts. Home also makes us feel like our truest self. As mentioned before, regardless of the changing manner of life, whenever we think or are in the presence of home, we automatically feel whole again. We feel as if nothing has changed, as if time stood still as we open the door, take a bite, or run into the arms of what we call home.

This feeling is like no other. The intensity of the warmth, comfort and joyfulness it hold is truly indescribable; yet when words fail, art speaks—and specifically in this case, music. The song Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, released in 2009 really hits home (no pun intended) with the exact emotions previously described. The song evokes feelings of blissful happiness—the purest and the sweetest kind. Its uplifting melody and simple, genuine lyrics make accurately describe what home should feel like to all of us—regardless of our great differences in experiences and emotions. If you haven’t heard of this song, I highly suggest you do so right now, here. And even if you’ve already heard it, go ahead, refresh your memory here.

The song begins in a very welcoming and cheerful way with a happy and playful whistle—in a way you expect a homecoming to exactly be. The strum of the guitar then follows, gracefully complementing this happy start. The lyrics begin to roll through:

Alabama, Arkansas

I do love my ma and pa

Not the way that I do love you

These lyrics are very simple and have an obvious rhyme and rhythm, making it easy to remember and clearly understand. Paying closer attention to the last two lines of this verse, the speaker makes a clear distinction of the difference of emotions between other important figures in their lives in comparison with the subject at hand. Although there are countless amounts of people, places and things that hold important memories, significances and emotions, our home seems to surpass all.

The lyrics continue this way through the first verse of the song, slowly making its way to the chorus:

Home, let me come home

Home is whenever I’m with you

Home, let me come home

Home is when I’m alone with you

The chorus gets straight to the point we are discussing: our immense desire to be and feel as if we are home. Although it is pretty obvious that the two speakers within the song are speaking about a person (most likely a significant lover), we must not let that close our minds from the themes that we are still able to connect to when talking about our own meaning of home. For example, the speaker in the second verse begins to describe their willingness to go on until they are alongside what her calls “home.” We can all easily connect our strong desire and willfulness to always be/feel as if we are home—our never-ending journey to return home, or even perhaps find something meaningful enough to call home.

Before the song is over, there is an interlude where both speakers hold a personal conversation with each other, where one tells the other the exact moment in which they recall first falling in love with his significant other (the other speaker in the song). This very heartfelt moment within the song is still very relatable; I believe we all recall the very special, decisive moment in which we knew this certain person, place or thing was our home. Home usually also awakes feelings of love and passion.

The concept behind what we humans call home is one of the most personal and sentimental characteristics of each unique being. What someone calls home can reveal a person’s past, their values, and their experiences. Home is different to everybody, but the intense emotions of comfort, love, warmth and overall happiness that our homes make us feel—those are universal.