| "Mama, I'm Coming Home" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Ozzy Osbourne | ||||
| from the album No More Tears | ||||
| B-side | "Don't Blame Me" | |||
| Released | 18 November 1991 (UK)[1] February 1992 (US) | |||
| Recorded | 1991 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:11 | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| Songwriters |
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| Ozzy Osbourne singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Mama, I’m Coming Home" on YouTube | ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [3] |
"Mama, I'm Coming Home" is a power ballad by English heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne from Osbourne's sixth studio album No More Tears, which first released on 17 November 1991. The song features Osbourne on vocals, Zakk Wylde on guitar, Bob Daisley on bass, and Randy Castillo on drums. Lyrics were written by Lemmy. Two music videos were also produced to accompany the song's release.
The single is Osbourne's only solo Top 40 single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in his lifetime, peaking at No. 28; his only other top 40 hits being his duet with Lita Ford, "Close My Eyes Forever", and his feature on the 2019 Post Malone song "Take What You Want", both of which peaked at number 8, while "Crazy Train" peaked at number 39, two weeks after his death on July 22, 2025.[5] It also reached number 2 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks.
At the "Back to the Beginning" concert held on July 5, 2025, which marked Osbourne's final stage appearance, this song was the only one on Osbourne's set of 5 songs that did not belong to his debut album Blizzard of Ozz.
As Zakk Wylde recalled in a 2022 interview, "I remember me and Ozzy originally did that on a piano in my apartment in North Hollywood...I transposed it to guitar when we got in the studio when we were working on the record, and then y'know it sounded great...the song started off with the pedal steel kind of thing. I mean it just sounded great...I mean everybody's performances and everything like that but I mean just the overall sound of it – the guys knocked it out of the park for sure."[6]
According to American Songwriter magazine, the lyrics are inspired by Ozzy's realization that he would be dead if he did not get sober, and the song is dedicated to his wife Sharon for staying with him during his crazier early days.[7]
Two music videos were created for the single. The first was a surreal video that Osbourne disliked because he felt the video's plot did not match the song's concept. A second music video was then created with Samuel Bayer as its director, which subsequently augmented Osbourne's interest. Osbourne compared the effects in the second video to the hazy smoke effect seen in the video for Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", which was also directed by Bayer.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of music website AllMusic stated the song "may not appeal to Ozzy's headbanging hardcore following, but it's a very good hard rock ballad and one of his finest singles."[3]
| Chart (1992–1993) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[8] | 42 |
| Canada Top Singles (RPM)[9] | 43 |
| Germany (GfK)[10] | 27 |
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[11] | 48 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[12] | 62 |
| UK Singles (OCC)[13] | 46 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[14] | 28 |
| US Mainstream Rock[15] | 2 |
| Chart (2025) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[16] | 36 |
| Czech Republic (Singles Digitál Top 100)[17] | 9 |
| Global 200 (Billboard)[18] | 45 |
| Greece International (IFPI)[19] | 94 |
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[20] | 25 |
| Norway (IFPI Norge)[21] | 30 |
| Russia Streaming (TopHit)[22] | 95 |
| Slovakia (Singles Digitál Top 100)[23] | 33 |
| Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[24] | 20 |
| UK Singles Chart (OCC)[25] | 45 |
| UK Rock & Metal (OCC)[26] | 4 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[27] | 48 |
| US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard)[28] | 6 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Canada (Music Canada)[29] | Platinum | 80,000‡ |
|
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
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