House Of Love

When my sometimes writing partner, Ted Perlman, presented me with this title and the track to go with it, I thought, “I don’t want to write a song about a whore house.”

First of all, I’ve never been to a whore house and I didn’t want to write about a subject outside the scope of my experience. The very best song about a whore house, “House of the Rising Sun, ” was written years and years ago, and had pretty much locked up the song-about-whore-houses genre for all eternity.

Fortunately, Ted’s moody arrangement, provided plenty of clues as to what kind of house this would be.

It’s rare that I get a completed track to write to, especially one that has so many good, emotional details. It made my job easy, in that I didn’t really have to think about what I was going to write, I simply had to listen to the story the music was telling and then translate that story into English.

It always helps to have someone really good singing your words. Kellie Coffey is better than good. Her sweet, sorrowful vocal style was the perfect match for this song and helped tie all its elements together beautifully.

Of the many songs I’ve written over the course of my career, House of Love is one of my all-time favorites.

Click here to listen to House of Love

House of Love
Philip Cody and Ted Perlman

I wake up aching for your tender touches in the night
A reassuring smile to fill the world with light
But in this lonely place I find no comfort anywhere
Only the echoes of your footsteps on the stair

And I keep thinking about you
And I keep hurting for you
And I’ll learn to live without you

This used to be a house of love
We had a life here
This used to be a place
Where you and me could always be

Throughout these chilly rooms I struggle with the memory
Of all that might have been and all we used to be
There is a part of us in every nail and every board
Sentimental luxuries  I know I can’t afford

But I keep thinking about you
And I keep hurting for you
And I’ll learn to live without you

This used to be a house of love
We had a life here
This used to be a place
Where you and me could always

Fall apart and come together
And give each other the strength
To weather the stormy seas
That raged around you and me

This used to be a house of love
We had a life here
This used to be a place
Where you and me could always be
This used to be a house of love
We had a life here
This used to be a place
Where you and me could always be

Filed under: Songs

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!