Songfacts®:

• Michael Bublé wrote this song for his then-fiancée, Debbie Timuss, describing the pain of being away from her. His song "Lost" was also inspired by her, but it was about their break up after a relationship of eight years.
• This was Michael Bublé's breakthrough song. The lyrics sound as if they could be autobiographical, as someone who spends a lot of time on the road with great success is missing his home, particularly the woman he loves. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Mike - Santa Barbara, CA
• Bublé wrote this with his musical director Alan Chang and with Amy Foster-Gillies, who is the daughter of the songwriter David Foster (who wrote "Glory Of Love" and "You'll See"). Foster-Gillies' songwriting credits include "Home To Stay" by Josh Groban and "Stand Up For Love" by Destiny's Child.
  
  Chang and Foster-Gillies told AOL the story of this song. Chang started off: "He [Bublé] had the first few lines of the song written when he came to sound check one day. He was expressing the sentiment we've all felt of wanting to be home after being gone for a long period of time. When I first heard what he had to say, I felt it might be too much of a complaint, especially since it was about being stuck in Europe, where we happened to be. I thought to myself, 'Oh great, complain about being stuck in Europe.' But I thought basically it was a good idea, so I figured I'd just go with it and try to come up with music that would fit that theme."
  
  Chang and Bublé were unable to complete the song that day but their paths crossed again a few months later when they were taping the television show Las Vegas. Chang recalled: "Michael was doing a guest appearance on the show and I was there with him, and there was a piano in the room where we were waiting in between takes for the show. So I sat down at the piano, and we worked on it again and my part of it came together. Then we sent it on to Amy."
  
  Amy Foster-Gillies took up the story: "My dad introduced me to Michael before he was even signed to a record deal. I was living in Los Angeles at the time, so we became fast friends. He stayed at our house and he helped host my daughter's fifth birthday party. He's such a good human being and he promised me that any success that he had he would include me. I just thought to myself, 'Yeah sure.' But he did! The first opportunity he had to write an original song, he called me and asked me to help out. Just like Alan said, when I first heard the song I thought it was about bashing Europe too. I knew it shouldn't be like that because he goes to Europe a lot. So I really wrote the lyrics about just the difficulties of being away from home. I think it worked out really nice and balanced between sort of longing to be home but still knowing there is a gratefulness about where he is."
• This was used in the 2005 movie The Wedding Date.
• Westlife recorded this for their 2007 album Back Home.
• In 2008 Randy Jackson covered this on his Randy Jackson's Music Club Vol 1 album. Guesting on his version were Sarah Watkins, John Rich and Anthony Hamilton. Jackson explained to Reality Rocks why he chose the trio for it: "I always loved the song 'Home' by Michael Bublé and thought it would make a great Country song, so I got Sarah Watkins from Nickel Creek and my boy John Rich from Big and Rich for that, but then I put another good friend of mine, Anthony Hamilton, on it too. Because I truly believe that the further apart you think genres are, the closer they actually are."
• This topped the Adult Contemporary survey in July 2005. Three years later Blake Shelton reached pole position on the Country chart with his cover of Bublé's hit. This meant that "Home" became the first song to occupy the top slot of the AC and Country charts in versions by different artists since 1992, when "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston led the AC list, after Dolly Parton reached #1 on the country chart with her own composition in 1974 and 1982.
  
  The last song to top the Hot Country Songs survey after reaching #1 on another chart in a version by a different artist was "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing," a # 1 on the Hot 100 for Aerosmith in September 1998 and a #1 on the country list for Mark Chesnutt in February 1999.
• Blake Shelton's version was his first country chart-topper since 2004's "Some Beach."
• Bublé and Blake Shelton teamed up in 2012 to record a holiday version of this song for the Shelton's, Cheers, It's Christmas album. The collaboration happened after Shelton sent Bublé an email saying he hoped to record a yuletide-themed rendering of the tune. "I had the idea of doing a Christmas version of 'Home,'" Shelton told CBS Local. "Because the song would kind of lend itself to the holidays anyway. That's when you really miss home. I felt really stupid asking that question because he is Michael Bublé."
• Shelton and Bublé have performed the tune together on a few occasions over the years including during Shelton's Home for the Holidays special.
• "Home" won Single of the Year at Canada's Juno Awards in 2006, where Bublé was named Artist of the Year. It's Time also took the prizes for Album of the Year and Pop Album of the Year.