Help w/lyrics: The House Song (PP&M)

Edward L. Stauff

unread,

Sep 6, 1994, 10:33:45 PM9/6/94

to

I need help figuring out some of the lyrics to "The House Song", as
performed by Peter, Paul & Mary. It's the one that starts:

This house goes on sale every Wednesday morning
And taken off the market in the afternoon.

The lyrics I'm having trouble with are in the final verse; I just
can't make them out from the record, and there are no liner notes.

How much will you pay to live in the attic?
The shavings of your mind are the only rent.
I left some wood there if you thought you couldn't
Or if there (SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING) has been spent.

Does anyone know what the lyrics should be?
(Please post rather than e-mail, thanks.)

Barrie McCombs

unread,

Sep 9, 1994, 10:47:48 PM9/9/94

to

From: e...@stauff.UUCP (Edward L. Stauff)
Newsgroups: rec.music.folk
Subject: Help w/lyrics: The House Song (PP&M)

I need help figuring out some of the lyrics to "The House Song", as

performed by Peter, Paul & Mary:
*****

How much will you pay to live in the attic

The shavings OFF your mind are the only rent
I left some WOULD there if you thought you couldn't
Or if THE SHOULDN'T THAT YOU'VE BOUGHT has been spent

*****
The corrections are in CAPITALS. My source is The Peter, Paul & Mary
Anthology, page 56. If you understand this song, please explain it! I
find it more weird than Don McLean's "American Pie".

Al KD1DJ

unread,

Sep 10, 1994, 12:54:01 AM9/10/94

to

In article <Sep10.024...@acs.ucalgary.ca>, bmcc...@acs.ucalgary.ca
(Barrie McCombs) writes:

*** If you understand this song, please explain it.

Well, to me the house was always a metaphor for the singer's life.
Childish laughter would be the memories of childhood. The "lady in
waiting" would be a love relationship remembered. A few missing stairs?
Well, there's quite a few things I can't remember quite right after 43
years, or maybe it means some failures or painful experiences. "On sale
every Wednesday morning" ??

Well, that could mean that the person is nearing the end of their life OR
it could mean they're tentatively seeking new relationships, friendships,
or people to share the life with.

My best guess and welcome to it.

Al Hicks, Westford, MA

patterson,george r

unread,

Sep 10, 1994, 11:19:41 PM9/10/94

to

In article <Sep10.024...@acs.ucalgary.ca>,
Barrie McCombs <bmcc...@acs.ucalgary.ca> wrote:

>I need help figuring out some of the lyrics to "The House Song", as
>performed by Peter, Paul & Mary:

>If you understand this song, please explain it! I
>find it more weird than Don McLean's "American Pie".

I no longer remember whether I got this from Paul's rap about it in concert,
or from a friend who claimed *he* got it there. Anyway, the story goes that
a young couple with one child (a daughter) had an old house in a small town.
The wife became pregnant again, so the man did a little fixup work on the
house so they could move to a bigger place. One Wednesday AM he put a for
sale sign out in the yard.

That afternoon his wife and daughter went shopping and were killed in an
auto accident. When they told the guy about it, he walked out and took down
the sign. He never went back to work or anything, and it soon became clear
that he'd totally flipped.

At the time the song was written, the utilities had been cut off, the
house was beginning to fall apart, and the guy was living on food that
people brought around. Every Wednesday he would put the sign back out in
the yard for a while. Every once in a while, someone who hadn't been warned
about him stopped to look at the house. The song is a fair approximation
of the tour he would give them.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| In a civilized and cultivated country, wild
George Patterson - | animals only continue to exist at all when
| preserved by sportsmen.
| Theodore Roosevelt.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------