Written by Ray Flanagan as part of Roots of American Music’s “Hough is My Home” series, a songwriting collaboration between ROAM teaching artists/musicians and senior adults who regularly attend the Fatima Family Center in Cleveland’s Hough community. Ray collaborated with Delores Webster, an 81 year old, life-long resident of Cleveland. Delores was part of Dr. Martin Luther King’s March on Washington and heard his “I Have a Dream” speech in person. While she has extensively traveled throughout the United States and beyond, and has fond memories of many different places along her travels, she simply says “There’s no place like home”. No matter where she was returning from, Delores remarked that “when you see that Terminal Tower, you know you’re back in Cleveland.”
No Place Like Home
My daughter saw me in my little brown dress
Up on the TV
It was 1963
By the reflecting pool, I heard Dr. King
Speak of a dream
and it wasn’t just a dream
CHORUS:
I’m always coming back
Every city has a Grand Street
There’s no place like home
There’s no place like home
I’ve been to all of the United States
I’ve traveled on
and the wind will do you in
1,000 elephants of experience
Can’t weigh me down
Cannot weigh me down
CHORUS:
First time I ever heard of dirty rice
I was at Popeye’s in Louisiana
Going down Bourbon Street
Eating pralines
Hearing the jazz bands play
I’ve been on cruise ships in the Bahamas
Listening to my girlfriends talking about all this drama
And the big curtain started to sway
Shoo shoo shoo
But when you see that Terminal Tower
You know you’re coming home
CHORUS: