This House

From 'Admin' EP
Sept 2023

They built the new estate on the fields at the edge of the forest.
Four hundred brand new and affordable homes, up near the radio tower.
Show homes showed us what our lives could be,
Two by two by two by two the people found their plots.

We were the first ones to move in.
The number on the door is how you know it’s yours.
Every neighbour’s home, you know your way around
The pictures might be different, but the walls are all the same

Seventeen and needing room to breathe
The last one to appreciate it, I’m the first one in this house to leave.

This house is smaller now
This house is smaller now

So you start brand new lives.
Everything together, both of you, all the time
Until the shadows on the scan appeared and the days you took as given, quickly turn into a gift.

The doctor sat us both down to quietly explain, there’s nothing they can do now.
He’s not coming to this house again.

This house is shrinking now.
This house is shrinking now.
This house is shrinking now.

So now it’s only you.
Do you really need so much space now you’re living life alone?
Even though the kids still call, you can’t quite place the voices, you can’t quite find their names.

One day everything you ever owned was emptied on the floor.
They reckon it’s not safe for you to live there anymore.

This house is vacant now.
This house is vacant now.

And now we’re there unpacking things.
Boxes inside boxes inside boxes full of everything you ever did.
Diaries of feelings that you’d never ever shown
Photographs of all the other houses you’d called home.

Every single thing, Is every single thing.
Every single thing, Is every single thing.

Your things, his things, my things, our things -
If we pack carefully we’ll can do it in one load.
With the man and his van, who’s taking it all away today.
Now there’s just the empty shell that’s left of where we’d been.
It’s all ready for the next ones to move in.

This house is empty now
This house is empty now
This house is empty now
This house is empty now

This house is ready to move on.
This house is ready now we’re gone.
This house is ready to move on.
This house is ready now we’re gone.

This house is ready now we’re gone.

Words & Music by Hello Midlands 2023
Image by RB Pictures