Eric Church "Homeboy" Mp3 Review

Yesterday brought the release of Eric Church’s newest single, Homeboy.  The song is currently only available by mp3 download, as Church's new CD is yet to be released. I’m not the first to review this song and it has been on Youtube for quite some time now.  The Youtube crowd seems to love the song and others seem to bash it. I believe it is either a “love it” or “hate it" song. Therefore, I thought it would be best to make my own review of the song.

The song starts off musically with an acoustic guitar and seems like it will be a slow song.  However, this song goes through many different changes musically and gave me mixed feelings about it at first. It will eventually grow on you. I still can’t say that the musical arrangement is my favorite, but after listening to the song several times, the words are what helped make my decision on the song. 

The words seem to be what is controversial about the song.  Church sings about two brothers, one that has stayed in the small town they grew up in and one that has moved to the city. The brother in the city has broken ties with his family and is living a “hip hop” lifestyle that includes crime and drugs.  The small town brother believes that the other brother is going to regret his decisions he is making and will ultimately wish he was back in the small town.  Therefore, “homeboy” both refers to the brother’s lifestyle and also the other brother telling him to come home, boy.  I personally think it is a clever play on words.

Now, I have seen some others say this is the worst song of the year and that it is even racist.  I don’t believe that.  Color isn’t even mentioned in the song and homeboy is a termed used for everyone now.  As far as being the worst song, it is far from it. I really like the song. If you are a Eric Church fan, I think this is one you will want to add to your collection.