New Insight on "Back Home"

Since I have been working on the paper, I have uncovered some more evidence in Yellowcard's "Back Home" to use in my paper. For example, I realized the lyrics "Sometimes I wish that it would rain here, and wash away the west coast dreaming from my eyes, there's nothing real for them to see here," pretty much sums up much of what this song is trying to accomplish. First of all, the point of this song is to let people back home on the East Coast know that life in California is not as glamorous as it looks in movies or on television. With this verse, Yellowcard is describing the fact that California is beautiful on the outside, but is really fake and shallow underneath. The band expresses their wish for rain, which would hopefully alert people to reality and sincerity, which life in California certainly is not. All in all, the subject of this song is that fact that life in California, even when you have "made it" like Yellowcard, is not something to be sought after. California is certainly not the utopia that everyone thinks it is.

Yellowcard's Back Home

Many people come to California in order to achieve their own "California Dream." While this dream can be different for different people, for many it means hopes of "making it," or simply to just find a more fulfilling life. People come to California with the images of perfection, beauty, youth, and easy living imbedded in their minds. However, this California Dream is often defaced once one arrives and realizes that this image of perfection that seems to embody everything California is often fake. In addition, people who come here to "make it" often end up waiting tables and never finding fame.

The song "Back Home" by Yellowcard from their album "Ocean Avenue" describes the feelings of sorrow and longing that often go hand in hand with the California dream. Yellowcard certainly knows all about the California dream, as they came from Florida to sign with Capitol Records. However, while they "made it," this song proves that they believe that everything is not perfect in California. Throughout the song, they certainly suggest that California is often fake and insincere. They tire of the constant perfect weather and wish to stop their hopeless California Dreaming and return to reality.

This song certainly refutes the California dream, as it describes how fake California can be and how people often have skewed views about the reality of California.

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