<P> Grand Funk Railroad were consistently despised by the rock critic establishment, and "I'm Your Captain" got some of the same treatment . In the 1979 Rolling Stone Record Guide, critic Dave Marsh relented only slightly by writing, "Wretched was the word to describe Grand Funk's music . Although the group occasionally achieve an interesting song --' I'm Your Captain' was about the best of the early ones ..." </P> <P> 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 . </P> <P> 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 . </P> <P> 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 . </P>

Who sang i'm getting closer to my home