39: Sister's Sighing In Her Sleep

39. "Our House" by Madness {#7; 5/83} [Video: Our House.]

What Madness is this?

"Our House" is most definitely a "wheelhouse" song. I don't have a particular memory attached to the song, but it does give me a feel-good high school vibe. (Note: Not all high school vibes are "feel-good.")

In fact, back in high school (and maybe even in junior high) I used to write up my own Top 10 songs of the week list. (I listened to a lot of Casey Kasem.) I think I even expanded it to a Top 15 and/or a Top 20 for a while. Somewhere in a deep, dark, dank corner of the house or garage, I still might have one of the notebooks that contained these weekly self-made countdowns.

Even though I've been creating this list (The HondoJoe Top 200!) for almost two years, I hadn't even ever thought of those Top 10s from a bygone era until just now. Somewhere in a crazy corner of my memory, I seem to remember "Our House" being at #1 on my lists for several weeks in a row.

Maybe, when I have time, I'll look to see if I can find those old lists. (And when I say, "when I have time," I mean, "when the kids have grown up," because now that I've added a new baby to the "things I gotta take care of" list, I'm finding that temporal disturbances always seem to leave me with less time than I used to have.)

Now that's a great album cover! (No belly-buttons needed!)

Anyway, this is a great song. "Sister's sighing in her sleep" is an excellent line of alliteration. With references to brother, sister, father, and mother, it's like a modern rock version of a Primary song.

And, because I am very odd, sometimes I'll sing along, changing the words to, "Our house, we lived their with Meryl Streep." (I have problems, but as problems go, this is not one of my worst.)

COMING UP NEXT: Quiet understanding.