STRANGER IN THE HOUSE
 (Lyrics and Music by Rick Springfield)

We don't talk much
We don't make love like we used to
And I stay guarded
I've got walls and triggers
I never thought I had
And so do you
But this is love
And that's the way we seem content to play it

I touch your clothes when you're gone
I let your scent wash over me
You cry at night and you wish just like a child
That we were how we used to be

There's a stranger in the house
In the house
There's a stranger in the house
In the house
There's a stranger in the house
In the house
And she looks like somebody from a lifetime ago

I stonewall you, you stonewall me
But we both know that
Hiding deep inside us
Lives the love that we try hard to lose
And never will
But this is war
And that's the way we seem content to fight it

I get so angry and confused 'cause
I want out but I want you
You can't decide between moving out or moving in
You don't know what to do

With a stranger in the house
In the house
There's a stranger in the house
In the house
There's a stranger in the house
In the house
And she looks like you
And he looks like me

Is this the same girl that, I fought so hard to win
And now I fight to lose her
Now I feel that it's just like skin to skin
And nerve to nerve
Strung out like wire
Is that the way we are content to live

We face off in anger
In rooms once filled with love
Looking for a chink in the armour
Where we can stab the blade
What are we thinking of

There's a stranger in the house
In the house
There's a stranger in the house
In the house
There's a stranger in the house
In the house
And she looks like somebody from a lifetime ago

There's a stranger in the house
In the house
There's a stranger in the house
In the house
There's a stranger in the house
In the house
There's a stranger in the house
In the house
There's a stranger in the house
In the house
There's a stranger in the house
In the house
There's a stranger in the house
In the house
There's a stranger in the house
In the house
There's a stranger in the house
In the house
There's a stranger in the house
In the house
There's a stranger in the house
In the house
There's a stranger in the house
In the house
There's a stranger in the house
In the house
There's a stranger in the house
In the house
There's a stranger in the house
In the house

(total playing time 4:01)

SONG FACTS:
This song appears on the the album Tao.

 According to US

I like this song...I really do. It's got a great beat, and even though the subject is a little touchy-the words have some real meaning. The one thing that I really don't like about it is that it is too repetitious. It's got no dynamics.... oh wait, off on a Hard to Hold tangent there. It's just that I would like the song so much better if Rick had more to say at the end then "there's a stranger in the house". Uh, yeah. We got it already.

When I was a teenager, I really saw this song as one where a couple have been together for a while, they are pretty complacent in their relationship, and now they want out. They still love each other, and go thru the motions of being a couple and don't want to hurt the other, so they stay. But in their hearts, they want to go.

As an adult, I'm seeing the stranger as marriage. It's a tough job on both sides, especially the longer you are in it. You change into different people over the years with more responsibilities, maybe children, careers, etc. "We don't talk much, we don't make love like we used to" "I touch your clothes when you're gone, I let your scent wash over me" I love this line. Is there not a better way to "feel" someone when they are gone? "You cry at night and you wish just like a child that we were how we used to be" I miss the dating stage. You can't go back to just holding hands after marriage, it just doesn't work anymore.

Rick compares the "stranger" to a she from a lifetime ago. I have always thought that women change more first off in a marriage. Rick is recognizing that at the beginning...he as the man still feels the same, yet he also feels that "she" has changed. Later in the song he admits to the stranger looking like both of them. He's finally realized that possibly he has changed but was afraid to admit it.

Lots of fighting in this relationship. Love and war, the basic meaning of a man's life. I have never argued with someone more than my husband, yet I don't love anyone any more than I love my husband (well, ok maybe our kids). Rick himself has said "anyone in a relationship longer than six months has arguments". Especially if you're married to an Italian as is the case with me :-) - Michelle P.

This is one of those songs where I like the song, kind of Just Because.......

As I hear it, it draws real clear images in my head of two people living in the same house, avoiding each other, not talking.......the line that draws the clearest picture is "I touch your clothes when you're gone  I let your scent wash over me" I just see Rick standing in a closet smelling clothes, missing the way things used to be.......

this is another great line:
I've got walls and triggers 
I never thought I had 
It's funny how the people who you care about the most are the ones that can get to you the most....

and along that same way of thinking:
Looking for a chink in the armour 
Where we can stab the blade 

The people that are the closest to you are the ones that know where to get you where it hurts - rlh