#but what's the real price because the sneakers don't seem that much cheaper

[maddie-grove]

"Love's The Only House" is when I gave up on Martina McBride ("God Fearin' Women" not withstanding)

I remember being impressed with the chorus as a kid after hearing it in the car one time, but, when I went back and found it as an adult, I was astounded by...well, a lot of things, but chiefly the base disorganization. Like, let's break this down:

Martina sees a woman taking more items than are allowed into the express lane at the grocery store. (In the video, it seems like Martina is a clerk at the grocery store, but the lyrics make her sound like a fellow customer.) Martina scolds her that "don't you know that more is less," which seems besides the point. The woman brings up a whole different point by explaining that she feels overwhelmed and hates her life.

Love's the only house big enough for all the pain in the world! Love's the only house big enough for all the pain!

Martina runs into her ex-boyfriend and explains that she's married with a four-year-old girl now, and that he only wants what he can't have (her). Like, she hasn't seen this guy for at least five or six years, right? If this is news to him?

Love's the only house big enough for all the pain in the world! Love's the only house big enough for all the pain!

Martina reminds us that, "three miles from all this prosperity, you go across the river, and you see a ghetto there." Apparently this is a song about social issues, and presumably the incident at the grocery store illustrated some point about how life is too fast-paced. Still not sure what was going on with Martina's ex, though. Anyway, after giving us directions to the ghetto (in Nashville, I assume?), Martina informs us that "we've got children walking around with drugs and knives and pain to spare." I bet they are also stabbing each other with knives and forks, and calling each other names like "dork." Martina reflects that she has a "clean white shirt" (a nod to the weird racial politics of the song? Or merely an observation that these kids lack access to good dry cleaners?) as well as money, shelter, and fuel. These teenagers, she says, are "walking around in a culture of darkness." Judging by the metal detectors in the video and the 1999 release date, I think this is supposed to be about Columbine, but, again, there is some loaded dark/light imagery here.

Love's the only house big enough for all the pain in the world! Love's the only house big enough for all the pain!

There is a bridge (in which Martina is, fittingly enough, standing on a bridge in the music video). She vows to "get her hands dirty and make a stand." Not to be all "how dare you say we piss on the poor" about this, but, um. This does sound condescending re: the hygiene of the people she wants to help.

Martina is now in a parking lot, with a band playing out of tune and (I think) singing apocalyptic lyrics. Or maybe Martina is just having a little Taxi Driver monologue in her head. Presumably in the same parking lot, there is a pregnant "senorita" whose "Don Juan" has left her, due to his lack of role models. This does not seem terribly sensitive, and, also, did the writers of this song think Don Juan was Latino? The girl is now in the grocery store and wants to buy a carton of milk, but is too poor. Martina offers to buy it for her (she's in the grocery store, too, again) and also tells her to "come on down to my house" (literally or metaphorically?).

OH-WHOA!!! Love's the only house big enough for all the pain in the world! Love's the only house big enough for all the pain!

Like, I remember when that Taylor Swift song came out, and it was 33% about how homophobia is bad, but 67% about how people saying stupid shit about Taylor Swift specifically is bad, and it was a mess. And that is a masterpiece of coherence compared to "Love's the Only House."