Story Behind The Song

right now my mom still lives in the house i grew up in and my dad built but i know someday it could belong to someone new

Song Description

this song puts out the emotion of losing the family home to a new family

Lyrics

(Verse 1)
I took the long way 'round the block today
To see if the oak tree still leans that way
The driveway's paved, the gate is painted white
There's a motion sensor triggered by the night
A different car is parked where Dad's used to sit
And the porch light glows where we used to quit
Our games of tag and hide-and-seek
But the hinges don't have the same old squeak.


(Chorus)
Now there's a stranger's name on the mailbox door
And shoes I don't know on the hardwood floor
All the love we built, all the years we shared
Are ghosts in the drywall, thin and bared
I can't reach out and touch the past
It's a movie scene that moved too fast
Behind those windows, the light looks cold
It's a story bought, and a history sold.


(Verse 2)
I bet they painted over the pantry frame
Where we used a pencil to mark my name
Where every inch felt like a victory won
Now it's hidden under "eggshell" and "afternoon sun"
I wonder if they know where the cellar leaks
Or that the third step up is the one that speaks
They're making memories in the rooms we left
While I'm standing on the sidewalk, feeling the theft.


(Bridge)
It wasn't just brick, it wasn't just wood
It was the only place I was understood
But the keys were handed over when the grass turned brown
When I watched them take the family photos down
Now Dad's in the wind and Mom's in the stars
And home is just a number on a street of cars.


(Guitar Solo - Slow and echoing)


(Chorus)
Yeah, there's a stranger's name on the mailbox door
And shoes I don't know on the hardwood floor
All the love we built, all the years we shared
Are ghosts in the drywall, thin and bared
I can't reach out and touch the past
It's a movie scene that moved too fast
Behind those windows, the light looks cold
It's a story bought, and a history sold.


(Outro)
I'll keep on driving, I shouldn't have stayed
To see how a sanctuary starts to fade
The garden's different, the curtains are new
But I can't find a single trace of you
No, I can't feel the love...
It's just a house now.
Just a house on the hill.