Don’t it make you want to go home werd in augustus ’69 als single uitgebracht. Joe South had eerder dat jaar een grote hit gescoord met de protestsong Games People Play, maar dat succes wist hij niet te herhalen: dit keer kwam hij niet verder dan nummer 41 op de Billboard hot 100.
Zoals alle goede country gaat Don’t it make you want to go home over de kloof tussen wens en realiteit, in dit geval het universele verlangen terug te gaan naar een geïdealiseerd verleden en tot de trieste conclusie te moeten komen dat het verleden niet teruggehaald kan worden: “Now, the grass don’t grow and the river don’t flow/Like it did in my childhood days“.
Don’t it make you want to go home is talloze keren gecoverd, o.a. door Bobby Bare. De mooiste is wat mij betreft onderstaande bloedmooie gospelversie van Brook Benton.
Don’t it make you wanna go home, now?
Don’t it make you wanna go home?
All God’s children get weary when they roam
Don’t it make you wanna go home?
Don’t it make you wanna go home?
Whoa, the whippoorwill roost on the telephone pole
And the Georgia sun goes down
Well, it’s been a long time
But I’m glad to say that I’m
Goin’ back down to my hometown
Goin’ down to the Greyhound station
Gonna buy me a one-way fare
Good Lord’s willin’ and the creeks don’t rise
By tomorrow I’ll be right there
Don’t it make you wanna go home, now?
Don’t it make you wanna go home?
All God’s children get weary when they roam
Don’t it make you wanna go home?
Don’t it make you wanna go home?
But there’s a six-lane highway down by the creek
Where I went skinny-dippin’ as a child
And a drive-in show where the meadow used to grow
And the strawberries used to grow wild
There’s a drag strip down by the riverside
Where my grandma’s cow used to graze
Now, the grass don’t grow and the river don’t flow
Like it did in my childhood days
Don’t it make you wanna go home, now?
Don’t it make you wanna go home?
All God’s children get weary when they roam
Don’t it make you wanna go home?
Tell me, don’t it make you wanna go home?
Don’t it make you wanna go home, now?
Don’t it make you wanna go home?
All God’s children get weary when they roam
And God, how I wanna go home
Yeah
Don’t it make you wanna go home, now?
Tell me, don’t it make you wanna go home?
All God’s children get weary when they roam, now
Don’t it make you wanna go home?
I wanna know
Don’t it make you wanna go home, now?
Don’t it make you wanna go home?
All God’s children get weary when they roam
Don’t it make you wanna go home?
Whoa
Uitgelichte afbeelding: By Capitol Records – Billboard, page 15, 5 December 1970, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27042263
