Home Sweet Home

Background

"Home Sweet Home" is a power ballad by the American heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, originally released in 1985 on the album Theatre Of Pain.

Nikki Sixx originally crafted the riff when he was 17, but never found a use for it until nearly a decade later, when, after a booze-fueled recording session, Tommy Lee added the piano line atop Sixx’s bass melody. Lyrically, Sixx says the song is about the fatigue the band felt from endless touring. "Those lyrics were born out of being exhausted on the road and getting back to L.A."

The song was remixed for the original promotion for the single in 1985 and sent to radio stations on a radio only promo 12" vinyl. This remix wasn't commercially released until 1988, when it was included in the Japan-only EP Raw Tracks.

The song was remixed again in 1991 and had some instruments overdubbed. This version, called "Home Sweet Home ('91 Remix)" but commonly referred to as "Home Sweet Home '91", was released on the band's first compilation album Decade Of Decadence 81-91 and also released as a single to promote the album.

The song was re-recorded by Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington on co-lead vocals along with Mötley Crüe in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Scheduled for a concert in Nashville on September 10 as part of their "Carnival Of Sins" world tour, Mötley Crüe was anxious to do their part to help raise funds for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Upon learning that MTV/VH1/CMT's "ReAct Now" benefit concert was being broadcast from Nashville that same day, they joined the effort immediately. Nikki Sixx said, "Chester was originally scheduled to play the MTV 'ReAct Now' benefit concert in Los Angeles but when he heard what we were doing he wanted to help with this song and video and chose to do his performance in Nashville with us. He flew in late the night before and was in the studio early the next morning. Chester is a real artist that will be making a difference for a long time."

Following their performance, the band and Chester went into Nashville's Ocean Way Studio to record a special version of "Home Sweet Home". Oceanway Nashville teamed up with local engineers J.R. Rodriquez and Mickey Cones to help with the track. Studio manager Glenda Cones put the session together in record time. The single was produced by Grammy-winning producer Desmond Child and accompanied by a full, 26-person gospel choir and string arrangement section. Allen Kovac of Tenth Street Management served as executive producer. The song was mixed by Greg Collins. Mötley Crüe, Chester Bennington, Desmond Child, the various musicians and crew members, as well as the band's Tenth Street Entertainment management all worked for free to put together the track. Everything was done within 24 hours.

Nikki Sixx posted the following post-session message in his online journal: "First and foremost, we, the band, want and need to thank everyone behind the scenes who busted their asses to make yesterday such a magical day. Traveling through the night to get us set up and organized was no easy task, but everybody knew that this wasn't about them…it's about awareness and hopeful funds for the people of New Orleans who have been left destitute. Also Chester and all his people who did any and everything to get to Nashville need to be complimented as well. I think we speak for all the bands and artists who performed when we say thank you to everybody behind the scenes. Now is the time we're asking you to react. Please donate. Please pick up the phone or go online and make a difference. Don't wait, our government already did that…Do it now…thank you."

Chester Bennington later said, "The chance to perform with these guys for such a great cause is something really special. Hopefully, people will embrace it in the way it was intended. The song really does fit the sentiment and something special happened when we pulled it together. Everyone felt as if they were doing something really important."

The track was distributed by The Orchard, who initially made the benefit single available exclusively on iTunes starting on September 27, followed by wide distribution to more than 125 of the world's leading digital music stores, including eMusic, Napster, MSN, Real/Rhapsody, and Yahoo!/Musicmatch. In addition, The Orchard supplied the single through its distribution partnerships with the leading mobile companies around the world, the largest mobile network of any distributor, spanning over 200 global services including Sprint, Dwango Wireless, Zingy, 9 Squared, IAM Mobile, Arvato Mobile and Hudson Soft. One hundred percent of the proceeds were donated by the artists and The Orchard and evenly split between American Red Cross Hurricane Relief Effort and Mercy Corps.

A CD single release was planned for the song for traditional retail outlets and would include exclusive behind-the-scenes "making of" documentary, but it was never released. This version is sometimes referred to as "Home Sweet Home '05".

Artists who have covered "Home Sweet Home" include 30 Foot Fall, Limp Bizkit, Radio Cult, Rob Corddry, Todrick Hall, and Carrie Underwood. American country singer Justin Moore covered the song as a duet with Vince Neil on the 2014 album Nashville Outlaws: A Tribute To Mötley Crüe. Tommy Lee performed the song on piano when he guest starred as a singer on the TV series Californication at the end of the episode of "Lights, Camera, Asshole". This version also appears on the show's Season 4 soundtrack.

Tracklist

Digital Single

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1	Home Sweet Home (Featuring Chester Bennington)	Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil, Tommy Lee	4:12

Music Video

Home Sweet Home '05

The music video for the song was directed by Mötley Crüe's publicist Katie McNeil from Tenth Street Entertainment and shows videos of Katrina rescues, along with studio footage and a performance from the band at MTV/VH1/CMT's ReAct Now: Music & Relief benefit concert in Nashville, which raised about $30 million for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts via the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and America's Second Harvest (now Feeding America). The video made its debut as part of AOL Music's First View program on September 27, 2005 and was available exclusively at www.aolmusic.com for 24 hours before it appeared on all major music television outlets. It had it's premiere on Fuse's Daily Download on October 13, 2005.

Versions

Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Home Sweet Home	Home Sweet Home	4:12	September 2005	September 27, 2005
Home Sweet Home	Home Sweet Home OMG! Best Power Ballads Ever	4:44	September 2005	June 16, 2009	Choir intro.

Live

While "Home Sweet Home" was a staple throughout Mötley Crüe's live career, the song was only performed once with Chester. It was performed with him at the ReAct Now: Music & Relief benefit in 2005, an event that was held to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Chester performed under his own name at the event, too, with Julien-K members Amir and Ryan backing him. This project would later evolve into Dead By Sunrise - at the time of the event, the project was called Snow White Tan.

Personnel

Production

• Desmond Child - producer
• Allen Kovac - executive producer
• J.R. Rodriquez - engineer
• Mickey Cones - engineer
• Jules Gondar - ProTools engineer
• Greg Collins - mixing

Mötley Crüe is:

• Mick Mars – lead guitar, backing vocals
• Nikki Sixx – bass guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
• Tommy Lee – drums, percussion, piano, backing vocals
• Vince Neil – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica

Additional Musicians

• Chester Bennington - vocals

Lyrics

Home, sweet home
Home, sweet home
Home, sweet home
Home, sweet home

You know I'm a dreamer
But my heart's of gold
I had to run away and hide
So I wouldn't come home low

Just when the things went right
Suddenly it all went wrong
Just take this song and you'll never feel
Left all alone

Take me to your heart
Feel me in your bones
Just one more night
And I'm comin' on this
Long and winding road

I'm on my way
I'm on my way
Home, sweet home
Tonight, tonight!
I'm on my way
I'm on my way
Home, sweet home

You know that I've seen
Too many romantic dreams
Up in lights, fallin' off
The silver screen

My heart's like an open book
For the whole world to read
Sometimes nothing keeps me together
At the seams

I'm on my way
I'm on my way
Home, sweet home
Tonight, tonight!
I'm on my way
Just set me free
Home, sweet home

Home, sweet home
Home, sweet home
Home, sweet home

I'm on my way
Well, I'm on my way
Home, sweet home
Tonight, tonight!
Yeah
I'm on my way
Just set me free
Home, sweet home

Ooh, ooh
Just take this song
And you'll never feel left
All alone

Gallery

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  Original 2005 artwork

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  Alternative artwork used by Amazon and Spotify

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  OMG! Best Power Ballads Ever