The House That Built Me

Author's Note: This is a text analysis on the song The House That Built Me by Miranda Lambert.

This is the house that you colored on the walls when you were three years old and got a time out. The house where you fell off your bed and got a black eye. Where you took your prom pictures. The house were the love of your life called you and asked you on a date. This is the house that built you. Miranda Lambert was thinking of memories of that sort while writing the song, The House That Built Me.

“But these hand prints on the front steps are mine.” This is something that I believe many people can relate to. Not specifically having your handprints on your door step. Things like an indent on the front door is where your dad ran into because he thought the door was open and you and your sibling laughed for days. I can really relate to this verse because it instantly reminds me of when I was younger and just learned how to spell my name, so I carved it into the wood on the windowsill. Memories of these are the ones that build you.

As you get older, we all are really like projects being built by our past. We are built by our dings, cuts, and indents. “I bet you didn’t know under that live oak
my favorite dog is buried in the yard,” a memory like this that Miranda including in her song is just a little example of the things that we carry with us forever and make us who we are.

Miranda Lambert’s lyrics remind me a lot of Dierks Bentley. He writes a lot about personal experience and memories from his past that I think really attracts people to his music. Both of their music, if it’s personal or not, are popular because what they sing about is so real and they don’t sugar coat anything. They talk about how life can sometimes not be fun and listeners really like that.

Once you reach the end of the song Miranda writes about how we will get lost and get hurt, but we will always find our way back home. “I thought if I could touch this place or feel this brokenness inside me might start healing.” That verse is a great example of being lost and finding yourself and remember what is really important; family.

I can really easily connect with a song like this because I have so many memories with my family and the house I’ve grown up in. Miranda did a wonderful job writing lyrics that will make the listeners remember memories like hers that she writes about. By the time I’m older I know I will get stuck in a rut every once in a while, but I always will remember the memories I have in the house that built me.