Home About Fiction FAQ Contact Last December, Ben Harper covered Bruce Springsteen's "My Father's House" and "I'm on Fire" at the Kennedy Center Honors, honoring Springsteen, Mel Brooks, Robert DeNiro, Dave Brubeck and Grace Bumbry. In January, he released "My Father's House" as an .mp3 download for $0.99 to benefit Artists for Peace and Justice Haiti Relief (along with Eddie Vedder covering "My City of Ruins" from the same concert). What's interesting is that he omits several of the verses, including the one where the strange woman opens the door, giving the story a spiritual quality, which, hearing it again, was always there, but I'd never noticed it before. The lyrics to the original song are below, and the verses Harper sings at the Kennedy Center Honors are in boldface. (If you're curious, when he covered the song in an earlier tribute, he performed it in its entirety.) My Father's House by Bruce Springsteen Last night I dreamed that I was a child Out where the pines grow wild and tall I was trying to make it home through the forest Before the darkness falls I heard the wind rustling through the trees And ghostly voices rose from the fields I ran with my heart pounding down that broken path With the devil snappin' at my heels I broke through the trees and there in the night My father's house stood shining hard and bright The branches and brambles tore my clothes and scratched my arms But I ran till I fell shaking in his arms [short harmonica interlude] I awoke and I imagined the hard things that pulled us apart Will never again, sir, tear us from each other's hearts I got dressed and to that house I did ride From out on the road I could see its windows shining in light I walked up the steps and stood on the porch A woman I didn't recognize came and spoke to me through a chained door I told her my story and who I'd come for She said, "I'm sorry, son, but no one by that name lives here anymore." [long harmonica interlude] My father's house shines hard and bright It stands like a beacon, calling me in the night Calling and calling, so cold and alone Shining across this dark highway where our sins lie unatoned Home About Fiction FAQ Contact MattLally.com and its contents are © 2005-2010 Matthew George Lally. "My Father's House" is © 1982 Bruce Springsteen and CBS Inc.