Review: Eamon - "(How Could You) Bring HIm Home?"

Eamon - "(How Could You) Bring Him Home?"
(Jive Records, 2006)

Who would have thought that the man who penned "Don't Want You Back" (parenthetically titled "Fuck It") in 2004 had another hit single in him? Anyone who listened to his debut, by the same title, knew the Staten Island r&b vocalist wanted to bring do-wop vocals into the modern rap age, but perhaps the musical goals got lost in all the male rap posturing. Regardless, on his latest single (from a yet unannounced follow-up album), Eamon turns the break-up single on its ear, developing a hard-edged yet addictively layered revenge epic. The song's protagonist arrives home from Iraq after a tour of duty with nothing but love on his mind, and instead finds his wife having sex with another man on their living-room floor. He promptly shoots the man, and spends the rest of the song trying to explain to the poor woman why he did it.

It was that love that made me lose my head
And now it's too late
One day too soon
You'll regret it for the rest of your days
I never thought that I'd do something like that
But when I saw you two it hit me like a heart attack ...
I never thought I'd lose my temper like that
It's a fucked up situation, he's not coming back
Why did you bring him home?

The song ends with the man questioning whether God could ever forgive him for what he's done. As he cries out: "Please God forgive me for what I did, this day will stay for as long as I live! 'Cause if you walked in and seen what I seen, I know any man would have done just the same!" A background chorus repeatedly intones "No!" punctuating the finality of exactly what he's done. It's a wrenchingly surprising ending to a song that could have been a complete cliche. Instead, it becomes one of the more memorable efforts in the genre, a song that's sure to become a smash in the urban market as we head into the usually ho-hum holiday single season. While I rarely review singles on their own merit, this one deserves a listen.