our house

Madness had their most enduring hit with this bouncy tribute to domestic disturbances.  'Our House' composed by Chris Foreman and Cathal Smyth, with Foreman writing the music and Smyth the lyrics.   The song became the leadoff single for their experimental fourth album, 'The Rise & Fall'.  Producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley had produced the band from their first album and with their continued success were able to get them into London's AIR Studios.  The sessions included Suggs (Graham McPherson) on lead vocals; Mike Barson on keyboards and harmonica; Chris Foreman on guitar; Mark Bedford (Bedders) on bass; Lee Thompson on saxophones; Daniel Woodgate (Woody) on drums; and Chas Smash (Cathal "Carl" Smyth) on vocals and trumpet. 

Langer admits:  "Even though I think many of the album tracks were really good, you'd have to be a fan to get into them, but then we'd get a big single and we'd be off again, flying along. In fact, at one point they went to see Trevor Horn when Stiff thought it was maybe time for a change, but that's when 'Our House' popped out and so we maintained our relationship. I mean, we always had a great relationship with the band, but our professional relationship was maintained by their choice of songs or their songwriting and then us arranging the numbers and going through the studio process...Then there was Carl's really fast vocal in the last verse, almost pre-empting rap.  It was just so much fun and absorbing to work on that song, because you knew you were creating this very clever thing, without trying to be too clever."

Winstanley considers:  "Carl had come a long way in a short time.  On the first album he wasn't even in the band. Only the other six guys appeared on the sleeve, even though he was the one shouting 'Hey, you!' on 'One Step Beyond'. That's all he was at that point; the kid who got up on stage and did the introduction as well as the nutty dancing. Then they let him into the band for the second album, and he was great, because he really wanted to contribute. He learned to play the trumpet, and even though he wasn't the greatest trumpet player in the world, he played it on 'Our House'. It took him a long time to actually nail it, but he wanted to do it and we didn't say 'Nah, bollocks, let's just get a session guy in.'  On some of the tracks, including 'Our House', we actually did have a brass section, but Lee and Carl played as a part of that section, and on other songs Carl played the trumpet on his own. So, he really evolved from being the kid who just did the nutty dancing to someone who played the trumpet, learned to play the guitar and also wrote songs, including one of their biggest hits; certainly their biggest hit in America."

Hunt recalls:  “There were certain little techniques that we developed. One of them is that we’d all dress the same in the video. We’d decide on something that we were all going to wear, which I think is quite good because you stop being so anonymous. In a way you are becoming anonymous because you all look the same but it gives you a sort of group identity. In the video we’ve just done, we were trying to be a bit different but that was one thing that we kept – we were all wearing these little Prince of Wales check suits and white jumpers.  Another thing we’d do sometimes was Suggs would be a kind of narrator. He’d be telling the story. So in ‘Our House’ for example, we’re all dressed in cloth caps but he’d be dressed different and that kind of separated him from us.”

Suggs says:  “We’ve got the full spectrum, people who are mad, bad and dangerous to know, through to people who are lovely, cuddly and beautiful. The fact that all seven of us managed to keep it going is in itself an example of what’s possible within your own community."

'Our House' went to number forty-nine in New Zealand, seventeen in Australia, ten in the Netherlands, seven in the US, five in the UK, four in Switzerland and Norway, three in Ireland, and number one in Sweden. In the UK, it became their ninth in a string of nineteen consecutive top twenty singles.  It won Best Song at the 1983 Ivor Novello awards.  Madness holds the record for most weeks on the UK singles charts during the 80's with two hundred and fourteen weeks.  








http://www.madness.co.uk/













http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXA6CLTDekw






Father wears his Sunday best 
Mother's tired she needs a rest 
The kids are playing up downstairs 
Sister's sighing in her sleep 
Brother's got a date to keep 
He can't hang around
Our house, in the middle of our street 
Our house, in the middle of our ...
Our house it has a crowd 
There's always something happening 
And it's usually quite loud 
Our mum she's so house-proud 
Nothing ever slows her down 
And a mess is not allowed
Our house, in the middle of our street 
Our house, in the middle of our ...
Our house, in the middle of our street 
Our house, in the middle of our ... 
Something tells you that you've got to get away from it
Father gets up late for work 
Mother has to iron his shirt 
Then she sends the kids to school 
Sees them off with a small kiss 
She's the one they're going to miss 
In lots of ways 
Our house, in the middle of our street 
Our house, in the middle of our ...
I remember way back then 
When everything was true and when 
We would have such a very good time 
Such a fine time 
Such a happy time 
And I remember how we'd play 
Simply waste the day away 
Then we'd say 
Nothing would come between us 
Two dreamers
Father wears his Sunday best 
Mother's tired she needs a rest 
The kids are playing up downstairs 
Sister's sighing in her sleep 
Brother's got a date to keep 
He can't hang around
Our house, in the middle of our street 
Our house, in the middle of our ...
Our house, was our castle and our keep 
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, that was where we used to sleep 
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our street







Madness performed 'Our House' on 'The Young Ones':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW4jW-FDV3g





A musical called 'Our House' was based on the book by Tim Firth; featured songs by Madness; ran in London, Japan, and Israel; and won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xCqKZqbqyM





The band performed the song on the roof of the Buckingham Palace for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.