"The House That Built Me"

By Miranda Lambert

I know they say you can’t go home again
I just had to come back one last time
Ma’am I know you don’t know me from Adam
But these handprints on the front steps are mine

Up those stairs in that little back bedroom
Is where I did my homework and I learned to play guitar
I bet you didn’t know under that live oak
My favorite dog is buried in the yard

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness inside me might start healing
Out here it’s like I’m someone else
I thought that maybe I could find myself

If I could just come in I swear I’ll leave
Won’t take nothing but a memory
From the house that built me

Mama cut out pictures of houses for years
From Better Homes and Gardens magazine
Plans were drawn and concrete poured
Nail by nail and board by board
Daddy gave life to mama’s dream

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness inside me might start healing
Out here it’s like I’m someone else
I thought that maybe I could find myself

If I could just come in I swear I’ll leave
Won’t take nothing but a memory
From the house that built me

You leave home and you move on and you do the best you can
I got lost in this old world and forgot who I am

I thought if I could touch this place or feel it
This brokenness inside me might start healing
Out here it’s like I’m someone else
I thought that maybe I could find myself

If I could walk around I swear I’ll leave
Won’t take nothing but a memory
From the house that built me


In this song, Miranda Lambert personifies the house she grew up in, by saying it "built" her. This song really touches me everytime I hear it. Because I just recently moved out of the house that I've lived in all eigtheen years of my life, I can really relate. My parents built the home a year before I was born. My mom has always been a decorater, and she loves design magazines; so the lines "Mama cut out pictures of houses for years/From Better Homes and Gardens magazine/Plans were drawn and concrete poured/
Nail by nail and board by board/Daddy gave life to mama’s dream" perfectly explain the house that built me. My room was the back bedroom upstairs, and it was my favorite place in the house. As of right now, that house is the only place I've ever known as home. It is where I grew up, and became who I am today. My favorite dog is buried in the yard, just like the line in the song. This house will always have a special place in my heart, because it is where I spent my childhood, and I have had a hard time losing it. The lines "Ma’am I know you don’t know me from Adam/ But these handprints on the front steps are mine" show that although the current owner doesn't know the singer, she has many memories of growing up in that house. I like that she goes back and visits the house, maybe I will do that one day in the future when I'm grown.