A House Is Not a Motel

"A House Is Not a Motel" is a song written by Arthur Lee and first released by Love on their 1967 album Forever Changes.

"A House Is Not a Motel"
Single by Love
from the album Forever Changes
A-side"Alone Again Or"
ReleasedJanuary 1968 (1968-01)
Recorded
  • September 10, 1967
Genre
Length3:25
LabelElektra
Songwriter(s)Arthur Lee
Producer(s)

Lyrics and music

The song was likely inspired by the song A House Is Not a Home written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, given that Arthur Lee was a fan of their work. It features a descending/ascending psychedelic melody and a folk-rock rhythm.[1] Lee's vocal performance has been described as snarling.[2] According to a friend, Lee got the line about blood mixing with mud turning grey from a Vietnam War veteran.[3]

The song begins with a 12-string guitar playing a riff in E minor. An electric guitar comes in after the second verse, playing a phrase on the top two strings. After the third verse, there is a drum break and twin guitar solo with strange vocal noises. It is one of the sparsest arranged songs on the album.[4]

Reception

Allmusic's Matthew Greenwald called "A House Is Not a Motel" " another one of Arthur Lee's meditations of his own personal world, and it's both beautiful and brutal at the same time." He praised the "acid-magnified imagery" and considered it to be one of the standouts on the album.[1] Considered to be "wonderfully dark" by The AV Club's Kyle Fowle, he wrote that it was "the most rock-oriented song, complete with blazing guitar solos that underscore the lyrical exploration of the chaos and inhumanity of war."[5] David Barker considered the song to be an inversion of "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Rolling Stones and believed that the house Lee was referring to was a church while the motel symbolised the decrepitude of the world.[3]

Treble magazine ranked the song as the 13th best song of the 1960s, calling it "an increasingly escalating series of apocalyptic visions sandwiched between folk-rock plucks and a fiery electric freakout."[6] The German magazine Musikexpress ranked "A House Is Not a Motel" number 429 in its list of the 700 best songs of all time.[7] Uncut listed the song as one of its 50 essential songs from the Summer of Love.[8] The Spanish magazine Hipersonica ranked the song 23rd best of the 1950s and 1960s.[9]

Other versions

Yo La Tengo covered the song on their 1986 debut album Ride the Tiger.[10] The Swedish band The Hellacopters covered "A House Is Not A Motel" on their 2005 album Cream of the Crap! Vol. 2.[11] The Duke Spirit released a version of the song on their 2006 EP Covered in Love.[12]

References
  1. Greenwald, Matthew. "A House Is Not a Motel Song Review". Allmusic.
  2. Barnes, Ken (August 6, 2006). "Arthur Lee, the legend rock almost forgot". USA Today. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  3. Barker, David (2006). 33 1/3 Greatest Hits, Volume 1. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 1441112340.
  4. Rooksby, Rikky (2001). Inside Classic Rock Tracks: Songwriting and Recording Secrets of 100 Great Songs from 1960 to the Present Day. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 44. ISBN 0879306548.
  5. Fowle, Kyle (February 10, 2015). "Forever Changes is a stunning indictment of The Summer Of Love". The A.V. Club. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  6. "Counter-Culture: The Top 100 Songs of the '60s". Treble. August 9, 2016. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  7. "Die 700 besten Songs aller Zeiten: Plätze 450 bis 401". Musikexpress (in German). March 3, 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  8. "Feed Your Head: 50 Essential Songs from the Summer of Love". Uncut. April 20, 2017.
  9. "Las 101 mejores canciones de rock de los años 50 y 60". Hipersonica (in Spanish). June 17, 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  10. Deming, Mark. "Ride the Tiger AllMusic Review". Allmusic. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  11. Deming, Mark. "Cream of the Crap!, Vol. 2 AllMusic Review". Allmusic. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  12. "Covered in Love (EP) (2006)". SensCritique. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
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