Battle of the Bands: I’m Your Captain (Closer to Home) by Grand Funk Railroad

“I’m Your Captain (Closer to Home)” is a 1970 song written by American musician Mark Farner and recorded by Grand Funk Railroad as the closing track to their album Closer to Home. Ten minutes in duration, it is the band’s longest studio recording. One of the group’s best-known songs, it is composed as two distinct but closely related movements. Its title has been rendered in various ways across many different Grand Funk albums, including “I’m Your Captain”, “I’m Your Captain/Closer to Home”, “Closer to Home/I’m Your Captain”, “Closer to Home (I’m Your Captain)”, and “Closer to Home”.

The song conveys the pleas of a captain on a troubled sea voyage and facing a mutiny from his crew. Its use of an orchestra during the long repeated refrains of the closing movement served to differentiate it from much of Grand Funk’s work. Several interpretations of the song have been given; most revolve around the Vietnam War, and “I’m Your Captain” is popular among veterans of that conflict.

A truncated version of the song was a modest hit single when first released, but the track achieved greater airplay on progressive rock radio stations. Decades later, “I’m Your Captain” remains a staple of many classic rock radio stations. It is considered to be the standout track on the Closer to Home album, and considered by both Farner and others to be his best work as a songwriter. And with its melodic strengths and dramatic feel it is often considered one of the best rock songs of all time.

THEMES & INTERPRETATIONS: Over the years many interpretations have been posed by listeners of “I’m Your Captain”, including the literal one of mutiny on a voyage, but also ones involving drug addiction and ones by those who see resonance in Homer’s Odyssey and themes of returning home, such as college students returning from a long semester. Authors have seen the song as an “epic of paranoia and disease” and as a tale of a man who had lost control of his life in a fashion strong enough to invoke childhood nightmares. It has been used as the subtitle for a chapter of a novel dealing with war and addictions. Comparisons have been made to Walt Whitman’s poem “O Captain! My Captain!” in its use of the rank to mean Abraham Lincoln.

Farner himself does not explicitly state what the song is about, and indeed prefers that listeners be able to use their own imaginations when listening to songs in general. Nor did the other band members have any real idea of what Farner was getting at; Brewer has said, “I think it can mean a lot of different things to a lot of people.”

But the most common interpretations and resonances of “I’m Your Captain” revolve around the Vietnam War. The VH1 program Behind the Music said the song “became a subtle anti-war anthem.” Lee Andresen, author of Battle Notes: Music of the Vietnam War, sees it as portraying President Richard Nixon as “captain” of the United States, losing popular support for continuing the war.  Fellow Flint native Michael Moore remembers hearing it on the radio the day he went to his draft board (where he would file as a conscientious objector), and hoping the I’m getting closer to my home refrains would never end, as he felt America was his home and not Vietnam.

The song also found a following among American personnel in Vietnam, in part because the band’s working-class Flint origins were similar to those of many Americans serving in the war. It resonated with them as they tried to stay alive while waiting for the time when they could get closer to home, and then when they were finally returning from the war. It remains quite popular among Vietnam veterans and Farner has played it at several veterans’ benefits. Farner visited and performed at The Wall in November 2007, on the 25th anniversary of the memorial’s dedication. He later said, “The gig was a great spiritual and emotional experience. The ‘Nam vets I had the privilege to speak to were so gracious and personal with me, as if we were relatives getting back together after a long time apart. As you could imagine, it was really hard for me to sing ‘I’m Your Captain’ because there was a softball stuck in my throat and I couldn’t swallow it!” In 2010, Farner sang the song accompanying himself on acoustic guitar at the Vietnam Veterans of America’s National Leadership Conference, where he received the organization’s President’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.

This song one of my favorites of all time. Here is the Grand Funk version. However, don’t vote on this one; it’s here for your reference and enjoyment only. Be sure to put on your headphones and turn it up! Then take a listen to the two contenders below and let me know which cover version you prefer.

 

Contender #1:  HELLOWEEN – Helloween is a German power metal band founded in 1984 in Hamburg, Northern Germany. The band is a pioneering force in the power metal genre. Since its inception, Helloween has released fifteen studio albums, three live albums, three EPs, and twenty-seven singles, and has sold more than eight million records worldwide.

This cover is from their sixth studio album Master of the Rings, released in 1994:

 

Contender #2:  TOM LUM FOREST – Tom Forest, a computer programmer/software engineer living in Portland, Oregon is also a musician who has been making music since 1969 when he was a sixth-grader playing trombone in the school band. Some years later, in 1977, he bought a Pan guitar and taught himself to play. That started him on the path of a lifetime spent honing his craft, defining his style, networking with other musicians and creating music.

Regarding his music, Tom said, “I recorded my first album, “Rough but Pleasing,” in 2009. It and my second album, “Pretty as you Please,” were all covers. My third album, 2011’s “Roots of Happiness,” had a couple of originals. Subsequent albums have been mostly originals. My closest niche is probably folk-rock and/or singer-songwriter. I don’t have a band: I just hire musicians when I record an album. My leading influences are CSNY, Clapton, Santana, the Grateful Dead, Chicago, and the Allman Brothers.”

He recorded his version of “I’m Your Captain” in 2016. He arranged it as a duet with singer Sarah Billings, setting the arrangement apart from the original. As for the music, Tom said, “We lacked the strings, flute, and sea sounds of the original. But we added waves of guitars. I played the 12-string acoustic rhythm. Terry Robb is playing the six-string acoustic fills and early solo breaks. Both further set my version [apart] from the original, which has a six string acoustic rhythm and electric fills and leads. During the long instrumental break I add some 12-string leads and some more languid 6-string leads. Terry adds an acoustic slide part to the jam.”

I really like his version of the song. I’ve been listening to some of his music and it’s really quite good. You can find him here on SoundCloud or here on YouTube.

This cover of “I’m Your Captain” is from his album Pretty as You Please, released in June 2016:

 

 

TIME TO VOTE! Which version do you like better and why? When you’re done voting, please visit these other BOTB participants and check out their cool battles:

• Stephen T. McCarthy’s Battle of the Bands Blog
• Tossing it Out
• Mike’s Ramblings
• Curious as a Cathy 
• The Sound of One Hand Typing
• Shady Dell Music & Memories
• THE DOGLADY’S DEN 
• Jingle Jangle Jungle 
• Your Daily Dose
• Cherdo on the Flipside
• Janie Junebug Righting and Editing

Thanks for your participation and your votes! I’ll be back on the 26^th to post the results. Until then, rock on…