Our House

"Our House"
Single by Madness
from the album The Rise & Fall
B-side	"Walking with Mr. Wheeze"
Released	November 12, 1982
Format	vinyl record 7", 12"
Recorded	1982
Genre	Ska/ Pop/ New wave
Length	3:23
Label	Stiff Records
Writer(s)	Chris Foreman (music) Carl Smyth (lyrics)
Producer	Clive Langer Alan Winstanley
Madness singles chronology
"Driving in My Car" "Our House" "Tomorrow's (Just Another Day)"/"Madness (Is All in the Mind)"
Music sample Our House

"Our House" is a single by English ska/pop band Madness, from their UK album The Rise & Fall and their US compilation Madness. Released in November 1982, it peaked at #5 in the UK singles chart and was their biggest hit in the United States, reaching #7 in the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983. Though Madness produced many successful singles over a period of twenty years, the enormous American popularity of "Our House" means that they are often regarded as one hit wonders in the USA (though technically they are two hit wonders in America, as their version of "It Must Be Love" also subsequently entered the US top 40). It won Best Song at the May 1983 Ivor Novello awards.^[1]

A musical called Our House, featuring Madness songs, ran in London's West End between October 2002 and August 2003. A recording of the show was broadcast on BBC Three and was released as a DVD.^[2] An altered version of the song was used in a Maxwell House commercial and the real version was featured in a montage for an episode of the BBC comedy, My Family. The original recording was also used as the theme for a 1998 ITV docusoap series, The Estate Agents, as well as for a 2004 American reality game, House of Dreams. The song also featured in a 2007-8 series of TV advertisements for Bird's Eye in which Suggs appeared, as well as an advertisement for the 2008 ABC reality game show Opportunity Knocks, and in episode 4 of season 3 of US TV show Brothers & Sisters, during the yard sale scene.

The B-side, "Walking With Mr. Wheeze", is an instrumental with occasional scratch mix effects. The title is a play on "Groovin' With Mr Bloe", an instrumental hit of 1970 by the session group Mr. Bloe.

Music video

The video depicts the band acting out the song's lyrics in an old mews. The song's lyrics mostly describe the daily activities in the house, with some of the band portraying the "family." The video cuts between scenes of the "family", the band playing in a living room, and exterior shots of various other houses including Buckingham Palace.

Track listing

• 7" single

1. "Our House" - 3:23
2. "Walking with Mr. Wheeze" - 3:31

• French 7" single

1. "Our House (Stretch mix)" - 3:45
2. "Walking with Mr. Wheeze" - 3:31

("Stretch mix" is a mostly instrumental edit of the Extended mix)

• 12" single

1. "Our House (Extended Mix)" - 6:00
2. "Our House (7" Version)" - 3:23
3. "Walking with Mr. Wheeze" - 3:31

• U.S. 12" single

1. "Our House (Dance mix)" - 5:02
2. "Mad House (Our House dub mix)" - 4'34

Parodies

The song was parodied on a Maxwell House commercial from Canada and Ireland in 2007.

The song was also sampled by ska band Kid British on their 2009 single Our House Is Dadless.

Eminem and Limp Bizkit collaborated on a heavily modified version of the song in 2000.

The song experienced a revival in 2008 when Mather House (Harvard University)'s rendition sprang to the top of the charts.

Charts

References

External links

• Classic Tracks: 'Our House' by Madness