Paul Simon and Sabrina Carpenter Make “Homeward Bound” Feel Like a Hug at SNL50
A packed studio, a surprise pairing, and one song that everyone seems to know by heart, this SNL50 moment lands fast and stays with the audience.
Paul Simon and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Homeward Bound” duet turns the room into one big sing-along, even when only two voices are on the mic.
Paul Simon walks out to roaring applause, carrying the easy confidence of someone who has been part of TV music history for decades. He does not need a big setup; the crowd already understands what it means when he’s on an SNL stage.
Sabrina Carpenter joins him with the kind of bright, quick energy that fits live TV perfectly. She matches the moment, smiles through the noise, and looks ready to sing, but also ready to joke.
The introduction is simple and loud. Someone announces, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Sabrina Carpenter,” and the cheers go up again. Then comes, “This is the one and only Paul Simon,” and the reaction gets even bigger, like the audience has been waiting for that name all night.
Before a single lyric, SNL50 already feels like a party.
Featured Performance: “Homeward Bound” (Live) at SNL50
The moment opens with a story and a laugh.
Paul Simon reminds the audience that he first performed “Homeward Bound” on Saturday Night Live in 1976, alongside George Harrison. On an anniversary stage, it lands as more than trivia. It’s a bridge between eras.
Sabrina Carpenter fires back: “I was not born then. Um, and neither were my parents.” The room erupts. Simon pauses, then shrugs it off with a dry, “Well, then,” before adding, “I’m glad they’re getting a chance to hear it tonight.”
“Me too,” Carpenter replies, warmly. The tone is set: respectful, playful, and ready for the song to speak.
After the laughter fades, the studio settles into that rare hush. Carpenter opens with “Sittin’ in the railway station,” clean and unshowy. The simplicity pulls the room closer. “Ticket for my destination,” follows, the soft hums hanging in the air.
Simon joins in “On a tour of one-night stands,” and the duet locks in. His voice carries history; hers fits alongside it without forcing anything. Lines pass easily between them, “My suitcase and guitar in hand,” “For a poet and a one-man band”, until the chorus arrives.
“Homeward bound. I wish I were. Homeward bound.”
The audience doesn’t interrupt; they absorb it. The familiar lines, “Home where my thought’s escapin’… where my love lies waitin’”, are sung with care, each word given room.
Verse two keeps the spell intact. “Every day’s an endless stream of airport lounges, magazines,” rolls out naturally. Nothing is rushed. The harmonies grow tighter, quieter, more confident.
By the third verse, the room is fully locked in. “I need someone to comfort me,” lands without drama, and that plain delivery makes it hit harder than any big gesture could.
The final chorus leans into repetition. “Silently for me” stacks again and again, not louder, just fuller, until the harmony feels wide enough to fill the studio.
The last note lands clean. Then the applause explodes, layered, joyful, unmistakably SNL.
At SNL50, this doesn’t feel like a throwback. It feels like continuity. Simon connects 1976 to now, Carpenter makes now feel alive, and the show snaps back into its familiar rhythm.
Social Media: Where Fans Can Watch More SNL Performances
The performance is posted through the official “Saturday Night Live” channels, with more clips and highlights available on the Saturday Night Live YouTube channel.
For fans who want to keep up with new posts and behind-the-scenes updates, SNL shares content on the official SNL Instagram account, plus quick hits and show-night moments on the SNL Twitter page and the SNL TikTok account.
Full episodes are also available to stream on Peacock, where Saturday Night Live is available now, which is useful for anyone who wants the full SNL50 context around the performance.
Conclusion
Paul Simon and Sabrina Carpenter’s SNL50 duet works because it stays human, quick laughs up front, then a calm, confident performance that lets the song carry the room. The crowd response says the rest, those cheers are the sound of people knowing they just saw something they’ll replay. For anyone saving feel-good clips, this one belongs in the folder, and it’s easy to see why “Homeward Bound” keeps finding its way back to this stage.
