Our House (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song)

"Our House"
Single by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
from the album Déjà Vu
Released March 11, 1970
Recorded 1969
Genre Folk rock, Pop
Length 2:59
Label Atlantic
Writer(s) Graham Nash
Producer Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

"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. It reached #30 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. 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 in his relationship, house-ownership, and family life.

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 Helen Reddy (in 2007 it was featured on the UK TV show "Only Fools and Horses"), The Onyx, Phantom Planet, Sheena Easton, Kidsongs, Congress Alley and Sharon, Lois and Bram. It was also used as a commercial jingle for Eckrich sausage in the 1980s, and has appeared in various television shows and films, most notably in the Only Fools and Horses 1996 Christmas special, "Time on Our Hands", which was watched by 24.3 million viewers when it was broadcast in the UK.

References

  1. ^ http://www.laurelcanyonthebook.com/wp-content/uploads/LC-Nash.house.mp3
  2. ^ Laurel Canyon » Audio Interviews