"Our House" is a song written by British singer-songwriter Graham Nash, most famously recorded by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young on their 1970 album Déjà Vu. The song refers to Nash's brief affair with Joni Mitchell at the time Crosby, Stills Nash and Young recorded the Déjà Vu album. What is interesting about this song is the underlying complex moral struggle Nash was facing between the hippy era free love mentality and the desire for a monogamous relationship. While other songs on the seminal album explore the hippy notion of free love, this is the song of a man who yearns for stability, stability in his relationship, stability in house-ownership, stability in family life (with cats in the yard, etc).
Graham Nash shares the story behind the song in an audio interview [1] recorded in conjunction with Michael Walker's book Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock-and-Roll's Legendary Neighborhood [2] "...once you walked into that front door, everything disappeared ...and then I started to think, you know, God, that's an incredibly domestic scene, you know, here we are, Joni Mitchell and Graham Nash, and I'm, you know, put flowers in the vase and light the fire and stuff, and I thought, but you know, I love this woman, and this moment is a very grounded moment... in our relationship, and... I sat down at the piano and, an hour later, 'Our House' was done."
The song has been covered by a number of artists, including Phantom Planet and Sharon, Lois and Bram. It has also appeared in television shows and movies.
References
- ^ http://www.laurelcanyonthebook.com/wp-content/uploads/LC-Nash.house.mp3
- ^ Laurel Canyon » Audio Interviews
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