This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Father wears his Sunday best
Mother's tired, she needs a rest
The kids are playing up downstairs
Sister's sighing in her sleep (ah)
Brother's got a date to keep, he can't hang around
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our
Our house, it has a crowd
There's always something happening
And it's usually quite loud
Our mum she's so house-proud
Nothing ever slows her down and a mess is not allowed
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our (something tells you that you've got to move away from it)
Father gets up late for work
Mother has to iron his shirt
Then she sends the kids to school
Sees them off with a small kiss (ah)
She's the one they're going to miss in lots of ways
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our
I remember way back then when everything was true and when
We would have such a very good time, such a fine time
Such a happy time
And I remember how we'd play, simply waste the day away
Then we'd say nothing would come between us
Two dreamers
Father wears his Sunday best
Mother's tired, she needs a rest
The kids are playing up downstairs
Sister's sighing in her sleep
Brother's got a date to keep, he can't hang around
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our
Our house, was our castle and our keep
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, that was where we used to sleep
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our street, our house
Mother's tired, she needs a rest
The kids are playing up downstairs
Sister's sighing in her sleep (ah)
Brother's got a date to keep, he can't hang around
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our
Our house, it has a crowd
There's always something happening
And it's usually quite loud
Our mum she's so house-proud
Nothing ever slows her down and a mess is not allowed
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our (something tells you that you've got to move away from it)
Father gets up late for work
Mother has to iron his shirt
Then she sends the kids to school
Sees them off with a small kiss (ah)
She's the one they're going to miss in lots of ways
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our
I remember way back then when everything was true and when
We would have such a very good time, such a fine time
Such a happy time
And I remember how we'd play, simply waste the day away
Then we'd say nothing would come between us
Two dreamers
Father wears his Sunday best
Mother's tired, she needs a rest
The kids are playing up downstairs
Sister's sighing in her sleep
Brother's got a date to keep, he can't hang around
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our
Our house, was our castle and our keep
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, that was where we used to sleep
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our street, our house
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This is a great song to listen to and the lyrics can probably invoke sentimental feelings from almost anyone about their childhood days. I would have thought Madness would be more popular than this - maybe they were at the time and my theory is that they are one of thoae bands that is forgotten better than it remembered because they were not a high budget, world-touring band. Still sounds as good today as ever - as do several other Madness songs.
Maybe people are better readers than repliers,before they get a chance to put finger to keyboard they get hijacked by melancholic misadventure........if this site had a visitors counter it'd tell a different story me thinks, but anyhow, what a brilliant song eh?,....I'm 41 now but when I hear this it just slams me right back to the council estate in Bolton I called home......monkey madness
yeah dude. it's their house. remember that.
It's their best song.
its amazing how many idiots think this song is by Talking Heads
I wonder why Madness recalls playing and wasting the day away, them being two dreamers. Did the song writer refer to himself and a sibling who used to have a great time together? Anybody happens to know?
I believe they are talking about astrology..Your house is a position that a group of people belong to in astrology according to the date they were born. It would make sense especially when you look at the part that says brothers got a date to keep. The talk about dreamers, dreams, the house having a crowd, the people's different characteristics and etc show that it is very artistic, meaningful, symbolic and related to terms of astrology. This song is very unique and stylish. I give it two thumbs up and its always been a clever and awesome catchy 80's hit from the United Kingdoms pop culture movement era. I believe the 80's contained our best decade.
Its got to be satire. "Something tells you that youve got to get away from it" The role of moms possibly?
I think he's remembering when he left home. And he misses all the mundane day-to-day stuff that went on in his parents' house. He's describing a typical day in "our house" but then smack in the middle of that: "Something tells you that you've got to get away from it". He's nearing adulthood and he's starting to get the feeling it's time to leave the nest.
"She's the one they're going to miss in lots of ways". Most kids who come from the kind of traditional family this song describes, miss their mothers (and everything that Mom did for them as children) when they first leave home. Mom was always the nurturer, the mother hen, the cat herder. Dad "wears his Sunday best" and "gets up late for work". He filled his traditional role of providing for his family but was aloof and distant from the kids, so when they leave home they're going to miss Mom but not so much Dad.
"I remember way back then when everything was true and when We would have such a very good time such a fine time Such a happy time And I remember how we'd play simply waste the day away Then we'd say nothing would come between us two dreamers"
The bridge lyrics suggest that the first half was a flashback, as the tense changes from present to past tense and remains that way for the remainder of the song. Where the main verses refer to the past in the present tense, the bridge drags us out of the daydream and back to remembering the past as the past.
The 80's were great. This song definitely represents the decade! hehe
This song roks! ehat a good 80's ska band!!!!