Synopsis

Michael Franti performs against a stark black-and-white backdrop while documentary-style images of war, soldiers, civilians, and children bring the song's anti-war message into focus. The video moves between Franti's direct performance and footage showing the human cost of political decisions made far from the battlefield. Rather than following a fictional storyline, it works as a visual protest, contrasting the song's laid-back reggae groove with images of conflict and displacement. The result is an urgent plea for soldiers to come home and for the cycle of war to end.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was made for "Time to Go Home," the opening track on Michael Franti & Spearhead's 2006 album *Yell Fire!*.

• Its war imagery connects the song to Franti's travels through Iraq, Israel, and the Palestinian territories, experiences that also informed his documentary *I Know I'm Not Alone*.

• The black-and-white presentation gives the footage a newsreel-like quality, emphasizing the song's political argument rather than presenting a conventional performance narrative.

• Stay Human Films, the production company founded by Franti and Carla Swanson, produced the video.

• The song targets several connected subjects, including war, political power, capitalism, and the pharmaceutical industry. The video places the anti-war theme at the center.

• The official video was published on Michael Franti's YouTube channel on May 25, 2007.