Come On Up to the House


Well, the moon is broken and the sky is cracked
Come on up to the house
The only things that you can see is all that you lack
Come on up to the house

All your crying don’t do no good
Come on up to the house
Come down off the cross, we can use the wood
You gotta come on up to the house

Come on up to the house
Come on up to the house
The world is not my home
I’m just a-passing through
You got to come on up to the house

There’s no light in the tunnel, no irons in the fire
Come on up to the house
And you’re singing lead soprano in a junkman’s choir
You got to come on up to the house

Does life seem nasty, brutish and short
Come on up to the house
The seas are stormy and you can’t find no port
Got to come on up to the house, yeah

You gotta come on up to the house
Come on up to the house
The world is not my home
I’m just a-passing through
You got to come on up to the house, yeah

You gotta come on up to the house
Come on up to the house
The world is not my home
I’m just a-passing through
You got to come on up to the house

There’s nothing in the world that you can do
You gotta come on up to the house
And you been whipped by the forces that are inside you
Gotta come on up to the house

Well, you’re high on top of your mountain of woe
Gotta come on up to the house
Well, you know you should surrender, but you can’t let it go
You gotta come on up to the house, yeah

Gotta come on up to the house
Gotta come on up to the house
The world is not my home
I’m just a-passing through
You gotta come on up to the house

Gotta come on up to the house
You gotta come on up to the house
Yeah yeah yeah


Words and music by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan
©1999 Jalma Music (ASCAP)



Produced by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan
Recorded and mixed by Oz Fritz and Jacquire King
2nd engineer: Jeff Sloan
Recorded at Prairie Sun Recording Studios, Cotati, CA


Tom Waits: Vocals and piano
Andrew Borger: Drums
Larry Taylor: Bass
Joe Gore: Guitar
Charlie Musselwhite: Harmonica
Ralph Carney: Saxophone
Nik Phelps: Baritone saxophone


Track 16 on the album ‘Mule Variations’ 1999
Time: 4.36


Live versions available on these bootlegs:

The Paramount Theatre, Oakland, June 9, 1999
The Paramount Theatre, Oakland, June 10, 1999
The Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, June 12, 1999
The Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, June 13, 1999
Cirkus, Stockholm, Sweden, July 14, 1999
Boot title: At the Cirkus
Metropol Theater, Berlin, Germany, July 18, 1999
Congress Center, The Hague, Holland, July 20, 1999
Congress Center, The Hague, Holland, July 21, 1999
Teatro Comunale, Florence, Italy, July 23, 1999
Boot title: Keep Eating
The Hummingbird Centre, Toronto, Canada, August 23, 1999
The Hummingbird Centre, Toronto, Canada, August 24, 1999
The Chicago Theatre, Chicago, August 26, 1999
The Chicago Theatre, Chicago, August 27, 1999
The Orpheum Theatre, Boston, September 19, 1999
The Beacon Theatre, New York, September 24, 1999
Hult Center, Eugene, Oregon, August 15, 1999