Name: Empty House
Duration: 3 min 54 s
Channel: Bertram, Spayth/Spayth
Description: A Ray Bertram & Glenn Spayth collaborative production.

Empty House

W. Ray Bertram

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A Ray Bertram & Glenn Spayth collaborative production.

ray wendell wendell ray bertram ray bertram bertram a tourist in the land of reason

W. Ray Bertram

Just me. Just songs.

I was born with an undiagnosable brain dysfunction, having seizures, and with blue skin dur to oxygen deprivation. I would spend much of my youth on strong, mind-altering medication, I would ultimately end up being declared fully disabled on psychiatric grounds, and I've had to be committed to five different psychiatric facilities in three different states. These days, the primary thrust of my overall creative efforts is the advocacy work that I seek to do for the mentally ill and the mentally disabled. These are my songs.

Song Info

Genre

Country • Traditional Country

Charts

Peak #150

Peak in subgenre #21

Author

Bertram, Spayth/Spayth

Rights

Uploaded

September 21, 2012

Track Files

MP3

MP3 3.6 MB • 128 kbps • 3:54

Story behind the song

I love living out in the country.  I've lived in the big city and I've lived waaaay out in the country...and I always find the country preferable  :-)  Many things fascinate me and occupy my imagination about the country, too.  One of those things are the old abandoned, run-down houses and homesteads that you find dotting the land here ad there.  Silent, slow decaying sentinels of another day and time, I often wish that these old abandoned, dillapidated, and discarded dwellings could tell their stories and speak about the people who lived in the once upon a time and the lives that they lead there...and this song has it's roots in this fascination.  I drive by a couple of such old abandoned houses on a fairly routine basis as I make my trips to town and, over the years, every time I went by them this lyric grew in my mind a little bit more.  I was glad when it finally reached the point of production and I was even more glad when my close friend Tennessee singer/songwriter/musician/producer Glenn Spayth picked it up to work with.  I love Glenn today and working a project with him is always a wonderful experience - and this project, and the beautiful song that resulted from it, are certainly no exception.

Lyrics

Empty House


Verse 1:
When you left
 you packed up our life
 put it all in boxes
 stopped bein’ a wife
 You cleaned us out
 you took it all
 from the bedroom linen
 to the pictures on the walls
 But did you know
 my heart and soul were in there too
 and when you drove away
 most of me had went with you

(chorus)
 Now I’m sittin’ here
 as empty as this house
 things are quiet
 quiet as a mouse
 no one calls
 cause there’s no telephone
 the lights are on
 but there’s no one’s home

Verse 2:
There’s the walls
 where your pictures hung
 the hall still echos
 with the songs you sung
 I see reflections
 in empty window panes
 but they’re just ghosts
 playin’ cruel games
 and did you know
 my heart and soul had left with you
 you left an empty house
 and now I’m empty too

(chorus)
 Now I’m sittin’ here
 as empty as this house
 things are quiet
 quiet as a mouse
 no one calls
 cause there’s no telephone
 the lights are on
 but there’s no one home


"Empty House" (c) 2008 W. Ray Bertram, Glenn Spayth

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