Fine Young Cannibals – Johnny Come Home

It was around 1989 when I first heard these guys. It was around the time that She Drives Me Crazy was released. I had just broken up with my first proper girlfriend, so after wallowing in self-pity with Temptation tapes in my car…I listened to this band as well. They had been around since 1985, but I really noticed them 4 years later. Better late than never.

Fine Young Cannibals formed after The Beat split, with bassist David Steele and guitarist Andy Cox teaming up with singer Roland Gift, who had been acting and singing. This song was one of the key early songs of what the new band was, less ska bounce, more tension, and sharper. The production has that clean guitar and a vocal that sits right on top. Gift’s voice is the signature, and the track is built to frame it.

The song, like most of their songs, has a great dynamic to it. You can feel it build and fall and rinse and repeat. In the mid-80s, when a lot of pop was glossy and loud, Fine Young Cannibals made something that was clean and sharp.

After their second and last album The Raw & the Cooked blew up, they were suddenly one of the biggest bands in the world, and that kind of pressure can crush a band. They were also a band that worked slowly and carefully; they weren’t the type to crank out an album every year. So basically, they split up at the height of their fame. You know what? I totally respect that, and they left on top.

They did release a few songs for benefit albums and released a song called Flame in 1992 for their greatest hits package. Roland Gift does do an occasional tour now under the name Roland Gift presents Fine Young Cannibals, but not the original band.

This song peaked at #9 on the Billboard 100, #16 in Canada, #13 in New Zealand, and #8 in the UK in 1985.

Johnny Come Home

Nobody knows the trouble you feel
Nobody cares, the feeling is real

Johnny, we’re sorry, won’t you come on home
We worry, won’t you come on
What is wrong in my life
That I must get drunk every night
Johnny, we’re sorry

Use the phone, call your mom
She’s missing you badly, missing her son
Who do you know, where will you stay
Big city life is not what they say

Johnny, we’re sorry, won’t you come on home
We worry, won’t you come on
What is wrong in my life
That I must get drunk every night
Johnny, we’re sorry

You’d better go, everything’s closed
Can’t find a room, money’s all blown
Nowhere to sleep, out in the cold
Nothing to eat, nowhere to go

Johnny, we’re sorry, won’t you come on home
We worry, won’t you come on
What is wrong in my life
That I must get drunk every night
Johnny (Johnny), we’re sorry, won’t you come on home
We worry, won’t you come on home
Johnny, won’t you come on home

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

25 thoughts on “Fine Young Cannibals – Johnny Come Home”

  1. Funny how music is therapy. FYC were massive as they were all over Much Music here in Canada. Dude had a great voice and they had a decent run for a bit.

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      1. Not too many acts split up when their huge thats for sure. The other act that did that was The Police when Sting and his ego told Andy and Stewie to piss off lol…

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  3. Pingback: Fine Young Cannibals – Johnny Come Home – MobsterTiger

  4. One of those couplets that says so much with so few words:
    “What is wrong in my life
    That I must get drunk every night”

    Great song. The first video makes me worry about the guitarist’s and bassist’s knees. Do they have any ligaments holding them together? And the drummer shows what you can do with only three pieces.

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    1. That is a telling point…you are correct.

      They are moving all over the place I will say. One thing that draws me toward them is that bass. They also had a hit out of Suspicious Minds and that bass in that one is incredible.

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  5. Great song. Both albums were aces start to finish… believe it or not ‘She drives me crazy’ is on the lower part of ranking if their songs now (probably because it’s played so much) but it’s still a good single. Too bad they split so soon. I did hear last fall they were supposed to be working in a comeback, but you know, we’ve heard that about the Kinks for ten years and nada, so not holding my breath

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    1. Yea…I looked up to see if they were thinking about it but from all I gather no…but yea that would be cool! Dave, I’ve never posted them before if you can believe that! They will be forever stuck with that period of my life…in a good way though.

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      1. well that’s good that it helped you! It’s a bit like Phil Collins and ‘Face Value’… good album for sure but it really resonated with angsty teen me even though obviously I’d not gone through a nasty divorce like him, but the feelings of loneliness and single-ness resonated. I still like the record but it doesn’t quite speak to me the same way

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  6. Very different as this song seems to be about a message of longing, regret, and the plea from family for a troubled, runaway youth to return home. It highlights the harsh realities of urban life, loneliness, and addiction, encouraging reconnection with family support systems.

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