I have very vivid recollections of a handful of songs that I recall loving when they were first released on the radio. I phrase it that way because a lot of the songs I love I discovered long after they were released. In the early 1980s when I was about ten, I remember I would roller skate around town listening to my Toot-a-Loop radio, one of the many, many things we have owned in the past and wish we had kept. I distinctly recall “Maniac” by Michael Sembello, “Talking in Your Sleep” by the Romantics and some others.
Years later in the Limewire era (anybody?) I would look up songs from my youth buried in my memory to download and hear again. One was definitely the song we’re talking about today. Madness is an English ska and pop band formed in Camden Town in 1976. The band had pivoted from a ska-based sound to pop when they issued their 1982 album The Rise & Fall, the UK release that featured “Our House”, the band’s signature and biggest hit. The LP was originally conceived as a concept album about childhood and was never released in North America. Instead, “Our House” was featured on a compilation simply titled Madness that was created for the US market and released some months later.
“Our House” was recorded at George Martin’s AIR Studios in London, produced by a team of Britons who also produced the hits “Come On Eileen” by Dexy’s Midnight Runners and “Don’t Go”, an old favourite of mine by Irish band Hothouse Flowers. “Our House” was written by the band’s guitarist Chris Foreman and by vocalist Chas Smash who has said that the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young album Déjà Vu had been significant to him in his youth and the song title “Our House” from that classic album had always stayed in his head. The song received orchestration from the prolific Englishman David Bedford, musician, conductor, composer and educator who had previously worked with Mike Oldfield. As we will see, Bedford’s contributions to “Our House” go a long way to giving this tune its enduring appeal and buoyant spirit.
“It’s my favourite song and the one I’m most proud of because it really was about my house; my father, my brothers, my sister. It means a lot and people love it too, which is always a bonus.”
– Chas Smash; vocals, bass, trumpet, dancing
A large part of what is apparent to me about this song and what no doubt continues to draw me to it is its inherent nostalgia; if you’ve spent any time here at Vintage Leisure, you may have gleaned that nostalgia is my thing. The origins of this song emerged when co-writer Smash (he went by many names; we’ll call him Chas Smash here) and the band were flying back home from America and Chas was thinking about his childhood home in North Finchley, a suburb of London. The band had been touring for two years and Smash was “thinking fondly about home. Your house is your reality anchor, where you go to rest. You’ve got to recuperate and have a shoulder to cry on, and that’s where you can be yourself”.
The band started to build the song in their rehearsal room and it went through a few different iterations until it began to emerge as a bouncy ode to childhood. While the finished product may sound like the simplest of compositions, great pains were taken to simply get the rhythm right and to figure out the middle eight. Then Bedford was brought in. I have read that Chris Foreman’s guitar sound on the song is “Western-style” and he “made it sound like a John Wayne Western” – which I don’t really hear – and then Bedford added strings in a similar vein. What I definitely hear is what Bedford describes as an “English Tamla Motown feel” that he was instructed to deliver by one of the producers. Chas concurs that the intended feel was Stax and Motown. As an aside, I found it comical to learn that Madness didn’t know the first thing about music theory; Bedford says that if you asked them what key they were in they wouldn’t have the first clue. This helps to make the band just regular fellas.
From the outset, the song is propulsive. I’m smitten right from the beginning by the powerful left hand piano statements by the band’s keyboardist Mike Barson. Additionally, listen particularly at this early point to the way Daniel Woodgate’s kick drum relates to his snare; something about the quick pops really urges the song out of the gates and down the track. Before a word is sung, the lads make it clear that horn punctuations and Bedford’s string chart will both be prominently featured during the next three minutes of bliss.
Vocalist Chas Smash comes in and I wish I could properly describe the feeling I get when I hear the verses of “Our House”; “mother’s tired, she needs a rest. The kids are playing up downstairs”. I can also recall feeling the same thing as a kid when I heard this song. There is something gentle and innocent, something wistful and nostalgic apparent just in the progression of these notes that lends the song its poignancy, a depth of feeling that runs underneath all the fun. The group vocal during the chorus and the bouncing piano notes (right hand, this time) all sound lovely and invite one to sing along. But there is drama even in the chorus with what I believe to be a key change when “our house, in the middle of our street” is delivered in a deeper tone suggesting melancholy. And even less subtle is the barely submerged line “something tells you that you’ve got to move away from it” sung right after “our house”.
Chris Foreman delivers a tasty guitar solo that may borrow from the Shadows before a bridge featuring double-time vocals delivered rapidly which adds to the momentum but listen closely for there is reason to pause here and ponder. I suppose there is nothing here to indicate the present is lacking but the fond remembrances of the past seem to indicate that gone are the days “when everything was true and when we would have such a very good time, such a fine time, such a happy time”. There comes next the acknowledgment that much of youth was “play” and there were dreams of a future that did not include separation. The lads speed through this part – almost as if they hate to bring it up and hope you won’t notice but…yeah. Things were better then. We’re back to “father wears his Sunday best” but this time Bedford’s gorgeous strings come to the fore. The boys then ride the chorus out.
The music video for “Our House” is a worthy companion to this great track. The band portrays a working class family complete with one of them playing the mother with a three-day beard. Notice in the early going that the colour template is beige; all the fellas are wearing variants of the tone and the wallpaper is also of this family. This makes it all look like sepia, like old photographs, which, of course, suggests the past. Clever. And I am transfixed by lead singer Smash and my eyes are glued to him as he lip syncs. There is something about his herky jerky head moves and gestures – his outfit and those gloves – that I find compelling. As an “actor” here, he puts on a good show. By the by, the terrace house in the vid is located at 47 Stephenson Street in north-west London. Let’s go there.
“Someone said to me, ‘Why did Our House translate in America? Why was it a hit?’ And I said that it’s essentially a Motown song, so it’s familiar. The issues within it were universal issues too – mum, dad, house, children, mucking around, going to work, ironing clothes.”
– Chas Smash
“Our House” topped charts in Canada, Denmark and Sweden and was an international Top Ten song reaching Number Five UK and Number Seven US; it was their only Top Ten Stateside but no matter. These blokes were always more loved in their homeland. They followed “Our House” with three consecutive Top Ten songs in England and continued to chart songs there for years after, not really dropping off until the 2010s; impressive. The song even inspired a wildly successful musical. Our House premiered in 2002 and featured lyrics by the band. The award-winning show toured nationally and internationally to rave reviews.
Now for some bad news. My regular readers will know that I’m not one to shy away from honesty when assessing any vintage leisure topics, the thinking being that acknowledging flaws does not necessarily remove the joy from anything. It occurred to me more recently that I had never in my life heard any other song by Madness. Must remedy that, mustn’t I? So, I did and it was a crushing blow. My opinion means nothing where Madness is concerned but listening to their greatest hits I heard nothing that even hinted at the exuberance of “Our House”. In fact, I found the other songs I listened to quite bland, even lifeless. Very disappointing. Maybe some of you hardcore fans fancy me a right wanker now. Maybe you can hip me to some Madness tunes I might like.
But this matters not. “Our House” by Madness is a perfect song and it is the greatest of gifts to me. The synthesis of English sensibilities, pop energy and a Motown groove create an irresistible tune. What gives the song its spine, though, is its wistful look at the past. It not only speaks of youth but it takes me back to my own youth. Nostalgia is a significant theme in my life and “Our House” has this at its core. All this – exuberant pop music, skilled musicianship, charming performances and somber reflection – combines to make it pop perfection and one of my all-time favourites.
Thanks, lads.
Quotes and info from 40 Years of Our House – SevenRaggedMen.com (2022)
SoulRide 