Long Way from Home (song)

"Long Way from Home" is the debut single by the American Southern rock band, Copperhead. It was released on September 3, 1991 as the lead single from their self-titled debut album via Mercury Records. The song was featured in the 1991 movie Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, a neo-Western biker film starring Mickey Rourke and Don Johnson, with a supporting cast including Chelsea Field, Tom Sizemore, Daniel Baldwin, Giancarlo Esposito, and Vanessa Williams. "Long Way from Home" was featured in the film's trailer and as the opening song for its official soundtrack.^[7]

"Long Way from Home"
Single by Copperhead
from the album Copperhead
Released	September 3, 1991 (1991-09-03)[1]
Recorded	1991
Studio	Ardent Studios
Genre	Southern rock[2] hard rock[3] blues rock[4]
Length	8:15
Label	Mercury[5]
Songwriter(s)	Neil Carswell[6]
Producer(s)	Tom Dowd Rodney Mills
Copperhead singles chronology
"Long Way from Home" (1991) "Busted" (1992)

Background and release

In 1991 the band recorded a four-song demo that their manager Dirk Peterson submitted a copy to music attorney Fred Davis, the son of Clive Davis which led to the band being signed to Mercury Records in mid 1991. Immediately upon signing to Mercury, the label had them re-record two songs from their four-song demo as a sampler to send out to radio stations across the country, one of those tracks being "Long Way from Home."^[8]

During the summer of 1991 Mercury and their parent company, PolyGram heavily promoted the band's sampler tapes which caught the attention of MGM who selected "Long Way from Home" to serve in the trailer as well as the film's opening song for their upcoming movie Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man starring Mickey Rourke and Don Johnson. Upon the song's addition to the movie's official soundtrack album, Mercury chose to release it as a single on August 6, 1991 making it the band's debut single.^[9]

Content

"Long Way from Home" is a southern rock anthem that blends elements of hard rock and blues rock, characterized by fast-paced guitar riffs, emotive vocals, and a steady rhythm section. Written in G Major with a tempo of approximately 133 beats per minute, the song is set in a standard 4/4 time signature and falls under the Allegro (fast and bright) tempo category. Despite its energetic pace, the track conveys a darker emotional tone, with lyrics exploring themes of alienation, personal struggle, and the longing for belonging. Carswell’s vocal delivery is complemented by Jon Byrd’s lead guitar work and Brad Durden’s keyboards, contributing to the song's dynamic shifts between calmer, reflective sections and more intense, rougher passages. The extended instrumental sections, particularly the guitar solo in the finale, showcase the band’s jam-band roots.^[10]

Commercial success

Although "Long Way from Home" was the band's debut single and was heavily promoted by Mercury, PolyGram and MGM for its involvement with Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, much like the film it was featured in, "Long Way from Home" failed to garner success and significant amounts of airplay, though it did receive a brief amount of radio time from regional rock stations.^[11][12]

Reception

Hard Rock 80 praised the song as "a real marvel," describing it as an eight-minute anthem that shifts between calm, reflective passages and rougher, more intense sections, culminating in a fast guitar solo that serves as a “breathtaking” finale. The cultural review site SensCritique gave the song a rating of 6.4 out of 10, reflecting moderate to positive reception among its user base. AllMusic awarded the track a 4-star rating, noting its construction with a vibe and instrumental style reminiscent of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird," and suggesting that Copperhead demonstrated the potential to help revive the southern rock genre in the 1990s.^[13][14]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Long Way from Home"	Neil Carswell	8:15
Total length:			8:15[15]

Personnel

• Neil Carswell – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
• Jon Byrd – lead guitar, backing vocals
• Brad Durden – keyboards, backing vocals
• Tony Hawkins – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Eric Suttlemyre – drums, backing vocals
• Tom Dowd - producer, engineering
• Rodney Mills - co- producer, mixing
• Diamond R Media - graphic design, artwork illustration