“Scroll down to the end of the article to listen to music.”
Introduction

There’s something about the word “home” that hits different when Dolly Parton sings it. You don’t just hear it — you feel it. Released as part of her 2014 album Blue Smoke, “Home” isn’t just a nostalgic look back — it’s a love letter to the dirt roads, creaky floorboards, and familiar mountain winds that shaped her soul.

Dolly grew up in a one-room cabin in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, sharing that space with 11 siblings. So when she sings “In my heart, I’m always there,” it’s not poetic fluff. It’s truth. The kind of truth that’s been lived — barefoot in the grass, shoulder-to-shoulder with family, with more love than money and more spirit than space.

“Home” bridges the gap between the glittering stages of the world and that quiet mountain porch she never really left behind. There’s a twang in her voice that softens every syllable, as if each note carries a piece of the Smokies with it. You can almost smell the pine, feel the summer heat, and hear her mama’s humming in the next room.

This song resonates not just because it’s personal — but because it’s ours too. We all have a place that built us, broke us, and called us back when the world felt too heavy. For Dolly, that place was Locust Ridge. For us, “Home” reminds us to keep that place close — no matter how far we go.

Video

Lyrics

Lookin’ outta my windowpane
Tears minglin’ with the rain
I’m so lonesome I could cry, just like old Hank
Starin’ down on the city street
Feelin’ empty and incomplete
There’s a place I need to be to fill my tank
A place I can go where I can be free
Where I can be happy and just be me
Home
Where the warm wind’s blowin’
And the river’s flowin’ along
Like a lazy bum in the midday sun
And I’ve gone fishin’ with my pole at the fishin’ hole
Where I can lay down my heavy load
And know that I am always welcome home
I left home I was seventeen
I had a lot of ambitious dreams
Seen a lot of those dreams come true
I’ve had good luck
I ain’t complain’ that’s for sure
I got a lot to be thankful for
One of those things is a magic door that opens up
Back to the time when I was a kid
To the sounds of the crickets and the katydids
It’s called
Home
On the front porch swingin’
And the fern pots hangin’
Home
With the church bells ringin’
And voices singin’ those
Old songs that mend my mind like a stitch in time
Where the tea is sweet and the love complete
Oh me, I wanna go home
I often think about where I have been
Where I am goin’ and that’s about when I think about
Home
Where the soul finds comfort and the heart finds pleasure
Home
Where the depths of love is hard to measure
It’s home
I hear you callin’, I hear you callin’
I’ll never be lost as long as I know
There’s place like that where I can go
Where I can restore my weary soul
On the mountain slopes and the soft blue smoke
Of home
Home sweet home
Home
Back to the hills with the whippoorwills of
Home
With the fireflies blinkin’ and the night stars winkin’
Home
Honeysuckle vine and Muscadine wine at
Home
Where the ginseng grows in the shady groves of
Home
With family and friends and joy that never ends
Home
There’s no place like it, no place like it
Home

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