Faster Pussycat - House of Pain - Lyrics Meaning

"House of Pain" was the second single from Faster Pussycat's 1989 album "Wake Me When It's Over." The song reached #28 on Billboard's Hot 100 in the U.S. and the video was featured in heavy rotation on MTV.

"House of Pain" was the quintessential power ballad that was common among hard rock bands in the mid-to-late 80's and early 90's. However, rather than being about broken hearts and love gone awry, the lyrics of this particular song dealt with a deadbeat dad. The lyrics describe a young adult looking back angrily at his father's absence from his childhood and adolescence. He describes himself as a young boy waiting on the porch step for a father that wasn't coming home. He expresses frustration over not understanding the divorce of his parents and his father's disappearance.

Now, as a young adult, he is still angered by the pain and loneliness he endured without a father figure in his life. He feels that the pages of his life's script were rearranged through no fault of his own. The song closes with the spoken line, "Well, if I learned anything from this... it's how to live on my own."