THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,307) Peter, Paul & Mary — “The House Song”
This lovely, wistful, song was written by Noel Paul Stookey, “Paul” from Peter, Paul & Mary, and was a ‘67 A-side for the trio + the B-side of their ‘69 #1 hit “Leaving on a Jet Plane”.
Of the song, Matthew Greenwald writes:
Sort of a little interior drama, “The House Song” utilizes the theme of a house being abandoned and sold to relate to a crumbling love affair. The overall effect is quite melodramatic, and this is neatly echoed by the simple folk figures in the melody. The sense of grandeur, however, is underlined by a fine string arrangement and harmony vocals from Mary Travers. Although not the strongest song on Album 1700, it fits in with the bittersweet feel of the album’s other songs quite well.
And William Ruhlmann adds:
[It] was an extended metaphor that began a journey of self-discovery for the songwriter. “‘The House Song’ was a curiosity for me because it truly began as a song about a house and then transformed itself,” Stookey recalled. “It began walking, it became the shell of my life, and it was a beginning, really. ‘The House Song’ was very significant for me because it was the beginning of telling the truth about my life, which then required me, in a sense, to take seven years off to implement because prior to that I had not been playing with a straight deck.”
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