It is similar to the style of many other of the band's hits, a mixture of rock and ska with Roland Gift's distinctive vocals, as well as a jazz-type trumpet solo.

The song tells the gritty realistic story of a runaway youth, and alternates from the first-person narrative, explaining how his arrival in the big city has not turned out as he expected, to the view of the parents in the chorus, expressing their wish that he would come home.

[5] David Bennun from Melody Maker wrote, "I can particularly recommend 'Johnny Come Home', FYC's first and best hit, which was far more revealing of their roots in the British ska scene than anything that followed; notably they had the nous to borrow not from their own former combo, The Beat, but from the much superior Specials.

'Johnny' was brisk, poignant and discreetly political, elevated by a desolate, roving trumpet and Roland Gift's plaintive, mannered vocal, and they never topped it.

'Johnny' puts a little Suicide creepiness, some fake opera, muted trumpet, and spare, pumping piano into a groove that moves on its keyboard bass.