Soul Song #4: Home

Soul Song #4: “Home” – songwriter: Charlie Smalls (as performed by Stephanie Mills)

Home’s Background

“Home” is a song from the 1975 Broadway musical, The Wiz. It was written by Charlie Smalls and was performed by Stephanie Mills in the stage production. Charlie Smalls (October 25, 1943 – August 27, 1987) was an American composer and songwriter, best known for writing the music and lyrics for playwright William F. Brown’s 1975 Broadway musical The Wiz; an African American soulful retelling of L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”.

Stephanie Mills,  after “having starred for five years in the smash Broadway show “The Wiz”, and recording the song “Home” for the play’s 1975 original cast soundtrack album, wanted to record the song again as a posthumous tribute to the play’s producer, Ken Harper, and the song’s composer, Charlie Smalls. On her new version of “Home” Take 6 sang the background vocals and additional opening and closing lyrics were added to Smalls’ original lyrics. The song went to #1 on the R&B charts in late 1989. 

(Spoken Intro)

When I think of Home
I think of a resting place
A place where there’s peace, quiet, and serenity
And that’s where some of my friends have gone
Friends who have traveled with me through my wonderful experience in Oz
A journey I’ll never forget

CDDoula’s Comments

In June 2020, a friend had a question for Spirit about why ‘home’ or the idea of home was so important to her. Spirit’s response was simple:

“Beloved, ‘home’ is that which brings-to-mind (suggests) a sense of belonging and a sense of safety. Your intention is to be within that womb of safety while maintaining a sense of freedom. This is a balance you have had difficulty finding in the past. Perhaps it is time to expand your definition of home.”  

We both wanted Spirit to speak more on the idea of “expanding your definition of home.” I decided to take this new question to Spirit for elaboration. But first, I found myself doing a little – okay, a lot of research on what the word ‘home’ means to different people; this led me to the famous line “There’s No Place Like Home” from the closing scenes of the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz”, to the song “Home” from the 1975 Broadway musical “The Wiz”, and to a long list of interesting definitions and interpretations.  Finally, I came up for air and took the new question “What does it mean to expand your definition of home?” to Spirit; I have shared Spirit’s response later in this post.  Although we never discussed Spirit’s response to the follow-up question, hindsight leads me to believe that her question was just Spirit’s way of getting me to prepare for writing this post.

This song has been a favorite of mine since the late 70s. I sing along with it at full volume and usually replay it at least 5 times. I sing, I cry, I sing again. The song taps into an emotional place and has a feeling of truth for me.

Spirit’s Comments

Beloved daughter the song is another that is very dear to you for reasons you undoubtedly do not clearly understand. But if you would stand inside the energy of the song as you listen to or sing it, you would understand better the emotional response to this magical piece. Charlie is more than happy – excited even – to step forward to discuss his baby and his friend Miss Stephanie. Indeed!

[Why do I tear up or cry when I listen or sing along with this song?]

For the same reason you cried during the choir performances in church or on the television. Beloved there is a spirit of the song or ‘soul’ of the song that is called forth whenever it is performed. Some songs are imbued with an energy, a vibration – some would call it the “holy ghost presence”. When you are singing a song and are overtaken with emotion you have awakened the soul energy of the song – and you feel it “all in your soul” and specifically in your heart. This allows a heart opening and emotion, you have refused to feel/release, is able to surface and be felt and integrated.  Beloved, do you see how all you have been learning is fitting together? This is the Soul Research you have been doing. Indeed!

In regard to the SoulResearch.blog, it is a precursor to your becoming more of who you truly are. You are remembering and accepting your soul gifts back home to be a part of who you have always been. You are no longer needing to exile your gifts because they make others uncomfortable which caused you to feel unlovable. Beloved, you can never exit the realm of love-ability; you are love incarnate. The more you understand this, the more you will love yourself and the more you will welcome/embrace the gifts you’ve always possessed. SoulResearch.blog represents your willingness to research your own soul’s journey and the existence of soul gifts that remain with you throughout your lifetimes/incarnations. You will help/encourage others to do the same. Yes, if you peruse your journals you will see the connecting thread in/to your memories and the truth that Spirit/Source has always been hinting and nudging you toward. Indeed!

Charlie Smalls’ Comments

I am here and happy to participate and be of service. This song, one of my babies and my most commercially popular creation, came to me during a time when I was at my lowest. I remember feeling very much alone and unloved in the world. I was convinced that this, earth – yes – but more specifically America/the USA, could not be my home.  There was so much hatred toward people of color, people with melanin; yet this is where I was born. So, as I sat and played, I imagined how I would feel in a place that was truly my home. How would I feel, how would it look? In the process of doing this I realized/understood that the only place someone could find that level of love – unconditional acceptance, peace, and joy is within oneself. When that revelation/insight came to me I realized also how much I had missed by not knowing or learning to love myself as a child. I had, indeed, always had the power and once I understood this, deep in my soul, I became clear about my purpose also.

[Am I correct in guessing that Stephanie Mills wrote the additional opening and closing stanzas for the 1988 new recording of ‘Home’?]

Absolutely and she did a beautiful job/thing with it, Beautiful!

[I didn’t expect your energy to be so exuberant.]

I really surprise people with it, but it wasn’t always so; this song highlights/represents a turning point in my life when I began to love, appreciate, and enjoy my life. Gratitude is the word I’d use – Gratitude came into my life. 

I would be pleased and honored to step through the lyrics with you if you desire.

When I think of Home, I think of a place
where’s there’s love overflowing
I wish I was Home, I wish I was back there
With the things I’ve been knowing

Yes. This was me longing for a place where I was loved unconditionally – and desiring/believing it exist and desiring to return with the understanding not only of the power the gift of love but the destructive nature/impact of hatred.

Wind that makes the tall grass bend into leaning
Suddenly the raindrops that fall they have a meaning
Sprinkling the scene
Makes it all clean

It is about the beauty and connectedness of all of life. It is like a dance – a beautiful choreographed danced where everything has a purpose, and all is in perfect balance – from the wind to the rain – the intricate design of life (all life) is a beautiful force/energy.

Maybe there’s a chance for me to go back
Now that I have some direction
It sure would be nice to be back at Home
Where there’s love and affection

Yes. I was daydreaming of/about returning to my real home and remembering all that I’ve learned here about kindness, compassion, and love and to never take it for granted.

And just maybe I can convince time to slow up
Giving me enough time, ooh, in my life to grow up
Time be my friend
And let me start again

If I could start this life over and hold on to what I now understand, I believe I would have had a better time of it. I wouldn’t have cared so much about what others thought. I would have loved myself first and more.

Suddenly my worlds gone and change its face
But I still know where I’m going
I have had my mind spun round in space
Yet, I’ve watched it growing

The world had become unrecognizable, but I was clear on who I was and my focus/purpose/mission. My mind had been spun around in the sense that I had a whole new way of looking at the world and what was taking place all around me. I had grown in my thinking and understanding of myself and the world around me.

And oh, if you’re listening, God, please don’t make it hard
To know if we should believe the things that we see
Tell us should we try and stay or should we run away
Or will it be better just to let things, let them be, oh

I’d read that this whole world/earth is just a hologram/an illusion – a learning experience for our souls – but none of it is real, like an elaborate “Land of Oz” with someone behind the curtain manipulating the experiences we have/encounter. If so, I wondered, especially when it gets hard, is it best to stick it out or find a way to exit/escape the madness – to awaken from the dream. Or the other option of, letting it be – seeing it for what it is, an illusion.

Living here in this brand-new world
Might be a fantasy
But its taught me to love, oh, yeah
So it’s real, it’s so real, its real to me

I came to my conclusion that even if it is an illusion – an elaborate hologram, that I’ve learned so much being here, especially about love and loving myself. So, the experience/learning is very real!

And I’ve learned that we must look
Inside our hearts to find
A world full of love
Like yours, like mine
Like Home

I’ve learned that if it is love you are searching for, look no further than your own heart to find that world that’s full of love and that is where and what ‘home’ is.

[Is there anything else you’d like to share?]

Yes, the beauty of the additional stanzas so complement the original work. The idea that the friends you traveled with in this world’s experiences – have gone “Home” and are watching over you and smiling and, most importantly, giving/sharing energy; that the love you have shared is never gone – it goes on.  YES! Miss Stephanie, sing our song!

My friends smiling down on me
Giving me their energy, oh
I think of a peaceful world and joy all around me, yeah
And no love we shared can never, never, ever be taken away from me, yeah, yeah, yeah

O-oh, I just sit down and think
It gets all down in my soul-oul, yeah
I can hear my friends telling me
Stephanie, please sing our song
I want to sing, I want to shout
I want to tell you what it’s all about.

~~~~

As I promised, here is Spirit’s response to the follow-up question: “What does it mean to expand your definition of home?”

Spirit’s Response

One can expand her definition of home by not limiting it to a place/location or structure. Your true home is within. The safety and security you are searching for can be found within. By making this connection you will find “home” is wherever you happen to be – in your hometown or in another country. You carry your true home within and if you can acknowledge this and tap into it, you will indeed discover “Home” is where the heart is; Home will keep you safe and secure; Home will ground you and raise you up.

Sources

Spirit

The Collective Unconscious/Universal Consciousness

Wikipedia

https://www.goodreadbiography.com/stephanie-mills-biography