# meaning of "you can never go home again"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 13, 2005, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345 "2005-12-13T01:10:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![teacher52](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@teacher52](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teacher52)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345/21 "2011-02-05T14:58:48Z")
You can’t go home again because it’s not there. “Home” where you grew up, the people and places and events of your early days, has changed just as you have. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345/22 "2011-02-05T15:09:06Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Either that, or your parents have moved without leaving a forwarding address. > 😃 I hate it when they do that, every single time. ---
**Author:** ![SuperAbe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@SuperAbe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperAbe)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345/23 "2011-02-05T15:40:23Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > **Spartydog** , I support you totally in recommending the book. But I’m going to nitpick only about the copyright date which was 1929. (The author was dead before 1940.) (Yes, this is a 5 year-old zombie thread, but there’s a small clarification to be made here.) _You Can’t Go Home Again_ was _published_ in 1940 - posthumously. Wolfe died in 1938, leaving YCGHA and _The Web and the Rock_ (1939) complete but not printed ([source](http://books.google.com/books?id=JvJxTAnB17cC&lpg=PA709&ots=Z4cTeLGsDs&dq=You%20Can't%20Go%20Home%20Again%20wolfe%20copyright%20%20date&pg=PA709#v=onepage&q&f=false)). The issue of _copyright date_ is considerably more murky… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345/24 "2011-02-05T16:04:27Z")
Re-reading this thread now, five years later … it’s just not the same. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345/25 "2011-02-05T17:00:28Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > Re-reading this thread now, five years later … it’s just not the same. ☹ _[Stares wistfully at his old post from his youth]_ ---
**Author:** ![GiantRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345/26 "2011-02-05T19:59:32Z")
> [@Ponster](#): > > I moved away from Ireland 8 years ago and can never “go back home” as it does not exist anymore as the Ireland that I left in 1997. This is what I understand by the phrase. That reminds me of a Black 47 lyric :“always remember / at the end of the day / you can always go home, / you just can’t stay.” I like that song a lot. I believe it’s called “American Wake.” ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345/27 "2011-02-05T21:59:59Z")
> [@GiantRat](#): > > That reminds me of a Black 47 lyric :“always remember / at the end of the day / you can always go home, / you just can’t stay.” > > I like that song a lot. I believe it’s called “American Wake.” Tough to go home again when your option are “castration” or a “one way trip to New York”!😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ron\_Townson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a88e4f/32.png) [@Ron\_Townson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ron_Townson)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345/28 "2013-08-27T01:25:06Z")
At 14 I left Hicksville, New York and hitch hiked to California with a buddy. Stayed for several months and came back “home”. I had just turned 15, but I was a man! Home wasn’t like it was when I left. Never felt comfortable there! Needless to say, I went back on the road for the nest 40 years…where I always felt comfortable! Strange. But I am glad I did what I did. BTW, where is that Stream? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345/29 "2013-08-27T02:50:57Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > IIt’s not home that has changed, it’s _you_. You return to a place hoping to recapture that part of your life, but you have moved on and that part of your life was not waiting around for you to recapture it. > > . This. I remeber right after I got divorced, I went to go look up an old GF of mine. Turns out she happened to be single at the time too. I was all excited about seeing thios girl again. Well, once we hooked up, we soon realized that the magic was gone. Really, she felt like a stranger to me. And I’m sure I seemed like a stranger to her as well. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345/30 "2013-08-27T04:28:56Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > This. I remeber right after I got divorced, I went to go look up an old GF of mine. Turns out she happened to be single at the time too. I was all excited about seeing thios girl again. > > Well, once we hooked up, we soon realized that the magic was gone. Really, she felt like a stranger to me. And I’m sure I seemed like a stranger to her as well. _It was raining hard in Frisco, I needed one more fare to make my night, A lady up ahead waved to flag me down, She got in at the light…_ Scary how for every scene and mood, somebody more artistic has always done it better. I really liked _The Go-Between_, particularly for that opening quote. As others have said, I also take it to mean - you can go home, but it won’t be the same after a long time. Everything changes. It’s just the changes were not obvious when they happened day to day around you. As a minor example, I went back to where I lived for several years when I was a child. It took me a few seconds to figure out the difference - the bald subdivision with a few sticks for landscaping was now an urban forest canopy giving the whole area a different look. (In the other neighbourhood, the whole block of 1930’s houses was replaced by one giant apartment building on its own bald lot. ) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345/31 "2013-08-27T05:26:45Z")
Obligatory [XKCD cartoon](http://xkcd.com/255/) ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345/32 "2013-08-27T06:50:44Z")
Especially true if you’re a zombie. ---
**Author:** ![ClintO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5ac83/32.png) [@ClintO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ClintO)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345/33 "2013-08-27T15:31:42Z")
I always liked, " You can always go back, but you can’t go back all the way." Bob Dylan The song was,“Mississippi” ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345/34 "2013-08-27T16:39:33Z")
The concept of a statute of limitations doesn’t apply to everything. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345/35 "2013-08-27T17:00:50Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > _It was raining hard in Frisco, > I needed one more fare to make my night, > A lady up ahead waved to flag me down, > She got in at the light…_ Yeah, but I prefer _The beer was empty and our tongues were tired And running out of things to say She gave a kiss to me as I got out and I watched her drive away. Just for a moment I was back at school And felt that old familiar pain… …_ ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_B.Phart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Capt\_B.Phart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_B.Phart)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345/36 "2013-08-27T18:46:31Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Obligatory [XKCD cartoon](http://xkcd.com/255/) That’s what happened when my sister and I decided to try our childhood sledging spot: “It’s going to look pathetic, and it used to be terrifying” - then we climbed to the top: “Holy crap! we used to go down that?” (though at least the rusty barbed-wire fence at the bottom that you had to lie flat to avoid was gone) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345/37 "2013-08-27T20:01:24Z")
Well, looking at the OP’s name, I kinda doubt he ever moved far away from home. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345/38 "2013-08-28T00:45:10Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Obligatory [XKCD cartoon](http://xkcd.com/255/) I think that’s a send-up of a cornball syrupy story I read decades ago (probably in something like Reader’s Digest) that started the same and ended with the guy just finding a little rusty sliding board in place of the huge one he remembered. I don’t know the source of that story. ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345/39 "2013-08-28T14:52:14Z")
You can, but it only works if you say “Home again, home again, jiggity jig.” ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345/40 "2013-08-28T17:07:37Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > Yeah, but I prefer > > _The beer was empty and our tongues were tired > And running out of things to say > She gave a kiss to me as I got out and I watched her drive away. > Just for a moment I was back at school > And felt that old familiar pain… …_ As long as we’re trading relevant song lyrics, there’s “Unanswered Prayers” by Garth Brooks. - Just the other night at a hometown football game, My wife and I ran into my old high school flame, And as I introduced them the past came back to me, And I couldn’t help but think of the way things used to be She was the one that I’d wanted for all times, And each night I’d spend praying that God would make her mine. And if he’d only grant me this wish I wished back then, I’d never ask for anything again . She wasn’t quite the angel that I remembered in my dreams, And I could tell that time had changed me In her eyes too, it seemed. We tried to talk about the old days. There wasn’t much we could recall . I guess the Lord knows what he’s doing after all. \* [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-you-can-never-go-home-again/335345.md?page=3)