Here's my latest, a song about those of us foolish enough to have owned one. Recorded at 12am. I tried to use chords that I just learned from a tutorial, so it's NOT a polished recording.
Fixer-Upper
Here the living room without any walls
An entrance with no door
A railing winds down without any stairs
To a basement with no floor
Here’s a kitchen without a sink or stove
Windows with no panes
In a home where you don’t have a roof
You can expect a bit of rain
Chorus:
Just another fixer-upper
Get it before it goes
Just another fixer-upper
This little slice of paradise
Could be your own
Welcome home
Welcome home
Here’s the bathroom without a tub
A hole where the toilet should be
Check out this stately hallway without any lights
I guess that’s why it’s hard to see
Here’s a broken down awning
Without a porch
Leads to a pathway without stone
With a little bit of love and some elbow grease
No telling what kind of magic could be done
Chorus
@nancycunning Feb 2022
Oh, my stomach hurts. Just that first line took me back to being 9 years old sleeping on the floor in the living room until the plaster guy and the electricians and plumbers showed up at 7am, and my Uncle the roofer came inside from the pop-up camper in the yard. I can imagine you strumming on the floor or a beam of the missing roof, taking it all in. Great write.
@bethdesombre Feb 2022
I love the understated "In a home where you don’t have a roof/You can expect a bit of rain" as it follows the descriptions of the missing bits. And the optimism (or cynicism?) of getting around to "With a little bit of love and some elbow grease/No telling what kind of magic could be done."
@tseaver Feb 2022
Nice write: sounds like some of the places we looked at lately when buying a new house. "Get it before it goes," or a least, before it falls down, indeed.
@rayboneor Feb 2022
This swings along nicely. I love the quiet midnight vocal. The wry "welcome home" is great. You've really captured the dubious privilege of owning such a place, your tongue firmly planted in your cheek
@donna Feb 2022
A delightful song. Wonderful - and very entertaining - imagery. Such original lines. Lovely piece. :)
(I also like that the house could be an analogy for a relationship. ;) )
@splittybooms Feb 2022
I dig this kind of quiet vibe.
The subject matter...oy lol
I used to do drywall and painting with a cousin back in the day and there was this one house....good grief it was a wreck. I remember the kitchen for some reason had a stove that was on its side and the cabinets were so bad they might as well had been made out of cardboard. The windows were so gummed up you couldn't see out of them. Everything was so run down and worn out and I remember thinking the little bit of work we were doing was useless; the whole place needed to go.
This song put me back in that house, I could smell it again, could remember how the air even after the smell of paint was present, STILL smelled like old rotting wood.
But your song is making me think fondly of it, because long after we were done, I remember driving past it and seeing it all fixed up and looking like a proper cozy little home. Made me happy.
Your quiet vocals and the style you sing with here really pair so well with these lyrics. I feel there's so much more being said than just pointing out things wrong with a worn down house.
"In a home where you don't have a roof you can expect a bit of rain" - that's a GREAT line.
This song makes me think of a person who may be damaged, needs a lot of work, but with someone's help they could be a pretty nice addition to someone's life.
Yeah this sounds great to me, really like the way you delivered this.
And those new chords also work for my ears.
In my opinion, no polish needed (unlike that house).
@ductapeguy Feb 2022
That is an amazing classic vibe and a great lyric. In Toronto or Vancouver that house would go for north of a million abd there would be a bidding war.
@nadine Feb 2022
Wow, I just love the ideas people have for lyrics. I never thought about writing something about housing! Such irony...