Coming Home

Album: Once Again (2006)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song is about a soldier in a war. In Rolling Stone magazine, Legend explained: "I don't have any personal experience, but I imagined what it would be like to be away from your wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, whatever, and not knowing if you'll make it home and could die at any point. And knowing that America is perpetually at war with somebody, either planning it or debating it."

    At the time, America was involved in wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
  • Legend wrote and produced this song with will.i.am, one of his main collaborators at the time. They started working together in 2003, when Legend worked on will's Must B 21 album. Will.i.am then worked on the track "She Don't Have to Know" from Legend's 2004 debut album, Get Lifted. "Coming Home" is part of Legend's second album, Once Again.

Comments: 2

  • Celeste from Evansvillewonderful music and singer
  • Nikki from Chicago, IlJohn Legend performed this song at the 2007 Grammy Awards during his performance with John Mayer and Corrine-Bailey Rae.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Lita Ford

Lita FordSongwriter Interviews

Lita talks about how they wrote songs in The Runaways, and how she feels about her biggest hit being written by somebody else.

Pam Tillis

Pam TillisSongwriter Interviews

The country sweetheart opines about the demands of touring and talks about writing songs with her famous father.

Jon Oliva of Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Jon Oliva of Trans-Siberian OrchestraSongwriter Interviews

Writing great prog metal isn't easy, especially when it's for 60 musicians.

Joe Elliott of Def Leppard

Joe Elliott of Def LeppardSongwriter Interviews

The Def Leppard frontman talks about their "lamentable" hit he never thought of as a single, and why he's juiced by his Mott The Hoople cover band.

Tony Joe White

Tony Joe WhiteSongwriter Interviews

The writer of "Rainy Night in Georgia" and "Polk Salad Annie" explains how he cooks up his Louisiana swamp rock.

Early Days of MTV

Early Days of MTVFact or Fiction

If you can recall the days when MTV played videos, you know that there are lots of stories to tell. See if you can spot the real ones.