The lyrics for this song are based on this short excerpt from an article in Arizona Highways magazine: The house isn’t all straight corners, and it’s a little hard to keep clean. But this is just home. Just natural. When it leaks, it leaks; then I just patch everything right back up. — Michael Kotutwa Johnson
His short comment reminds me of the homes in Minnesota where I grew up. One had a root cellar only accessible when we lifted the living room carpet. The house had been built from a one-room cabin with rooms added over the years.
Another home had a deep hole in the basement for coal or wood to fire the previous furnace. I was often afraid to go near that hole, thinking I might fall in and never hit bottom. There were many things to love about both those homes.
My Home Lyrics
The frame is leaning to the westA crooked line across the floorI gave up trying for the bestAnd settled for the open doorThe angles never meet just rightThe carpenter was likely blindBut in the fading golden lightIt’s just the place I had in mind
But this is just the way it goesThe only shelter that I knowIt’s a natural thing to lose your wayWithin the walls of yesterdayNo polished stone or marble hallCould ever hold me like this wallIt’s bent and broken, gray and oldBut it’s the only truth I hold
The clouds begin to gather thickThe tin roof starts its hollow songThe rain is coming fast and quickTo reveal where the joints are wrongA steady drip upon the bedA puddle forming by the chairI pull the hat down on my headAnd find a bucket sitting there
I’ll find a hammer and a nailI’ll find a piece of scrap and glueAgainst the thunder and the galeI’ll make the rotten wood feel newI patch the holes to stop the floodUntil the sky turns blue againIt’s in my bones and in my bloodTo fix the places where I’ve been
But this is just the way it goesThe only shelter that I knowIt’s a natural thing to lose your wayWithin the walls of yesterdayNo polished stone or marble hallCould ever hold me like this wallIt’s bent and broken, gray and oldBut it’s the only truth I hold
But this is just the way it goesThe only shelter that I knowIt’s a natural thing to lose your wayWithin the walls of yesterdayNo polished stone or marble hallCould ever hold me like this wallIt’s bent and broken, gray and oldBut it’s the only truth I hold
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